An iconic scene was shot on nearly every corner of the city.
Reasons to Love New York
New Yorkcelebrates the citys timeless, peerless connection to movies.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
New York is not the easiest place to shoot a movie.
(Thats why they invented Hollywood.)
The city is crowded, cranky, and expensive.
So why do filmmakers keep coming back?
The architectures not bad either.
From the early days of silent shorts, the movies have always loved shooting on New Yorks streets.
But as cameras got smaller and more mobile, the movies gradually returned to New York.
(The data came organized by Zip Code; dots have been placed broadly inside the corresponding areas.)
Some are iconic onscreen moments that require little explanation.
Others are the character actors of the cityscape, recurring parameters you might never have noticed.
We began this project in February 2020, just before the coronavirus sent us into a quarantined hibernation.
Tap or click each number on the map below to read more.
1.101 Park Avenue
1.
Like any good salesman, hes happy to talk about why filmmakers keep showing up to 101 Park.
It helps, too, that Kalikow is a movie lover.
Theres a certain thrill you get when you host a film shoot, he says.
In more than 30 years of shoots, he has no real horror stories.
At this, Kalikow shrugs, My favorite car is the Ferrari, he says.
Its always the villains car.
(It was actually the Avengers Quinjet.)
The destruction of an office building, that breaks my heart.
2.Cortlandt Alley
2.
3.Shakespeare Steps, the Bronx
3.
Take, for example, the steep stairs that connect Shakespeare and Jerome Avenues in Highbridge.
Then Joaquin Phoenix thrusted his pelvis to Rock and Roll Pt.
Now, to some locals annoyance, they are forever and alwaysTheJokerStairs.
4.The Grays Papaya on 8th Street
4.
5.The Grays Papaya on 72nd Street
5.
6.33rd Street and Sixth Avenue
6.
Its hardly the most picturesque location today, but Herald Square occupies a notable place in movie history.
7.United Nations Building
7.
I wasnt going to do an exploitation piece that would embarrass them.
8.88-39 69th Road
8.
The home of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) inSpider-Man.
9.36 Fuller Place
9.
The home of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) inThe Amazing Spider-Man.
10.43-25 43rd Street
10.
The home of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) inSpider-Man: Homecoming.
11.Hoyt-Schermerhorn Subway Station
11.
The extra platforms at Hoyt-Schermerhorn have hostedThe Warriorsand the 90sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
And the spur between them was the site of thethrilling subway actionin the originalTaking of Pelham One-Two-Three.
12.The Ansonia
12.
But what a resume!
13.Fifth Avenue Between 64th and 65th Streets
13.
Two Janes, one block.
In 1971sKlute, shes a jaded prostitute confronting an out-of-town P.I.
(Donald Sutherland) with the sin, the glitter, the wickedness of the city.
14.Stuyvesant Avenue Between Lexington Avenue and Quincy Street
14.
But dont come looking for the location of Sals Famous Pizzeria: That was a set constructed on-site.
15.Otto H. Kahn House
15.
Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow lived here inA Perfect Murder, as did Dane DeHaans Harry Osbourn inTheAmazing Spider-Man2.
16.Benjamin N. Duke House
16.
Anyone whos visited the Met has likely wondered about the red-brick mansion that sits just across Fifth Avenue.
17.Harry F. Sinclair House
17.
This French Gothic mansion has long served location scouts looking for a bit of old-world glamour.
18.The Apthorp
18.
Meanwhile,Networkused the interior as the home of William Holden.
19.43 Fifth Avenue
19.
Imagine them all stuck in the elevator together.
20.17 Little West 12th Street
20.
Glenn Close, cinematic gentrifier!
(Bridget Fonda visits inSingle White Female.)
21.Tiffanys
21.
Makes list of New York City filming locationsWhat aboutBreakfast at Tiffanys?
Well, thats one thing weve got.
22.58th Street and Sixth Avenue
22.
InMidnight Cowboy, this intersection is the here in Im walkin here!
23.285 Prospect Park West
23.
24.Seagram Building
24.
25.Gunther Building
25.
For the first few years of the new millennium, it seemed like every movie character lived in Soho.
26.Plaza Hotel
26.
27.Coney Island
27.
28.Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8
28.
29.American Museum of Natural History
29.
30.The Dakota
30.
Ive heard of hellish experiences with co-op boards, but this is ridiculous!
line cut from the first draft ofRosemarys Baby.
31.Brooklyn Bridge
31.
(Hudson Hawkmight have justified this trauma had it made passable use of its license, sniffed theTimes.
32.47th Street Between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
32.
The Safdie brothers spent years absorbing the frenetic culture of the Diamond District before makingUncut Gems.
Only the exterior scenes of Adam Sandler wheeling and dealings were shot on location.
Sandlers shop was a set, malfunctioning door and all.
33.392 South 5th Street
33.
Everyone knows that Eddie Murphys Prince Akeem moved to Queens to find his queen inComing to America.
What they might not know is that his grubby walk-up was actually shot in South Williamsburg.
34.Queensboro Bridge
34.
35.Bethesda Terrace
35.
36.Flushing MeadowsCorona Park
36.
37.Staten Island Ferry
37.
38.110 Longfellow Avenue
38.
And thus their long running war continues.
39.339 Convent Avenue
39.
40.160164 West 129th Street
40.
The building still exists, but its now a church.
41.7B, a.k.a.
Horseshoe Bar, a.k.a.
The smokey, unpretentious watering hole has popped up inThe Godfather Pt.
II,Angel Heart, bothCrocodile Dundeemovies, andThe Night Before.
The exterior even played the Life Cafe in the La Vie Boheme section of theRentmovie.
42.Times Square
42.
I had to make deals with every store.
This guy and his buddy, they ran out.
Somehow theyd gotten past security.
43.Lexington Avenue Between 52nd and 53rd Streets
43.
One of the most famous New York movie moments never appeared onscreen at all.
(A special effect aided by a hidden fan.)
But you wont see any footage from that night inThe Seven-Year Itch.
Claiming that the sound wasnt any good in New York, Wilder re-shot the scene on the Fox backlot.
But that had always been the plan; the location shoot was simply a savvy publicity stunt.
44.The Original World Trade Center
44.
45.Katzs Deli
45.
46.86th Street and 20th Avenue
46.
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where the 10 miles from Manhattan might as well be a million.
47.Empire State Building
47.
48.Grand Central Terminal
48.
49.135 Central Park West
49.
When movies shoot in New York residences today, they prefer the HGTV look.
50.Red Hook Houses
50.
51.56-26 Maspeth Avenue
51.
Unfortunately, the diner was the site of a major fire in 2018.
When it reopened, there was no more food service; it was a film location only.
52.Washington Square Park
52.
53.Plymouth and Washington Streets
53.
Pre-gentrification DUMBO, spotted when Al Pacino takes a turn behind the wheel inScent of a Woman.
We used to be able to block off empty streets, says the films location manager Andrew D. Cooke.
You cant really do that anymore.
54.Van Brunt Street
54.
But in those pre-Ikea days, Selbys world of ambient violence had not disappeared entirely.
One day, there was police tape up, recalls location scout Andrew D. Cooke.
Film people, we look at that and go under it.
We suddenly heard a voice: What are ya guys doing?
We looked down and there were two things covered with a sheet.
Somebody had gotten murdered.
The small thing was the head.
The big thing was the body.
55.TWA Terminal at JFK
55.
Mid-century glamor, embodied in the space-age architecture of JFKs TWA Terminal.
(In 21st-century New York, the location has become a highly Instagrammable hotel.)
56.51 Prospect Place
56.
57.12-17 38th Avenue
57.
This unglamorous corner of Queens was home to Amy Adamss aspiring cook inJulie & Julia.
(In real life, the pizza place on the ground floor is now a tax center.)
The rooftop dinner was shot a few blocks away, while the interiors were in a studio.
58.Calvary Cemetery
58.
The preferred cemetery of John Wick, a man who knows his cemeteries.
59.76-02 Roosevelt Avenue
59.
60.Silvercup Studios
60.
61.Sackett Street and Henry Street
61.
The Cammareri Bros. Bakery, where Nicolas Cage lost his hand, and lost his bride, inMoonstruck.
62.83-22 Baxter Avenue
62.
Thank you for subscribing and supporting our journalism.
More reasons to love new york
Tags:
