Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City
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Throughout the history of cinema, there have been few places Hollywood loves more than New York. The city and its surrounding areas have been portrayed in many different ways in countless films over the years – meaning that a trip to The Big Apple is practically the same as visiting a movie set. Here are our picks of some of the most iconic, quirky and surprising New York locations immortalised in your favourite films.

By Victoria Luxford

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Katz’s Deli, East Houston Street, Manhattan – We start with perhaps the most famous (and obvious) of NYC movie landmarks: the spot where Meg Ryan faked an orgasm in When Harry Met Sally (you can even sit in the spot where the “event” happened). However, the 130-year-old deli has also been host to everyone from Johnny Depp (in Donnie Brasco) to Frank Sinatra (1977’s Contract on Cherry Street).

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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The Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan – This gorgeous Manhattan hotel has played a major role in films such as The Great Gatsby, Sex And The City and Bride Wars, but was most famously the setting for much of Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, featuring a cameo from current US president Donald Trump, the owner of the hotel at the time.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Bethesda Terrace, Central Park, Manhattan – Known to many fans from the ending of TV movie Angels in America, the gorgeous fountain and terrace was most recently featured in John Wick: Chapter 2, in Keanu Reeves’ tense climatic meeting with Ian McShane.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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The Empire State Building, Manhattan – Where do even you start with this iconic landmark? The building was blown up by aliens in Independence Day, climbed by King Kong several times, and appeared in hundreds of exterior shots (essentially any film set in New York). The building’s observation deck was pivotal to classic romantic drama An Affair to Remember, as well as its ‘90s rom-com homage Sleepless In Seattle. The deck is still open to the public – just don’t expect Tom Hanks to be waiting for you!

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Joe’s Pizza, Greenwich Village – There’s no shortage of pizza places in The Big Apple, but how about the spot where Peter Parker used to work? The real-life pizzeria featured in the opening scenes of 2004’s Spider-Man 2, but its award-winning fare has made it a city institution in its own right, counting Selena Gomez and Leonardo DiCaprio among its famous customers.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Stuyvesant Avenue, Brooklyn – Another New York institution is BlacKkKlansman director Spike Lee, the Brooklyn native who put his neighbourhood on the map in breakthrough drama Do the Right Thing. The area’s Stuyvesant Avenue became a film set for the movie, and still stands today (although the pizza place at the heart of the story was a fake set built for production).

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Grand Central Station, Manhattan – Another location with too many credits to mention, this transportation hub was a favourite of director Alfred Hitchcock (North by Northwest, Spellbound). While not quite as prestigious a production, the station was the backdrop of the flashmob finale for Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake in romantic comedy Friends With Benefits.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Coney Island, Brooklyn – This historic amusement park was the focus of cult movie The Warriors, in which a New York gang makes a desperate dash to Coney Island after being framed for murder. The 1979 classic’s finale was shot at the location, which also played host to a cast reunion screening of the film in 2015.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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The Corner of Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street, Manhattan – Every day on a relatively quiet corner of New York, thousands of people walk past the location of one of the most famous moments in movie history. The scene in The Seven Year Itch where Marilyn Monroe’s skirt is blown up by the breeze from the subway was originally shot on the southwest corner of Lexington and 52^nd – although noise from the crowd of onlookers rendered the footage useless, and the scene was re-filmed in a Hollywood studio. Still, the iconic picture from the original shoot was taken here, and brave fans can recreate the pose to this day.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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55 Central Park West, Manhattan – While the biggest Ghostbusters-related tourist spot is the firehouse in Tribeca, a significant but less famous location is 55 Central Park West, the home of Sigourney Weaver’s character in the film …and home to the demon Gozer. It still stands nearly 35 years later, albeit slightly shorter in real life and untroubled by supernatural entities!

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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339 Convent Avenue, Harlem – Like everything in the world of Wes Anderson, the mansion at the heart of 2001’s seminal comedy The Royal Tenenbaums is quirky and distinctive. The house, called 111 Archer Avenue in the film, can be found on Convent Avenue in Harlem and looks completely unchanged from the film, becoming a place of pilgrimage for lovers of Anderson’s work.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Tiffany and Co, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan – Over half a century later, there’s still something enduring about the opening scene of Breakfast At Tiffany’s, where Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly eats her breakfast while staring in the window of Tiffany and Co. on Fifth Avenue. The film immortalised both Hepburn and Tiffany’s, and the dreamlike opening can be recreated by anybody passing the store’s famous windows.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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The Church of St. Mary The Virgin, 46^th Street, Manhattan – You may remember the name, but what you may not know is that the performing arts school at the heart of 1980s Fame was in fact an abandoned church! The filmmakers were denied permission to shoot the movie in the school it was based on, so the church stood in for the school’s exterior and features in the outside dance number.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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New York Public Library, Manhattan – The city’s gorgeous public library has been the setting for many movie classics old and new. It was the place Jake Gyllenhaal escaped the apocalypse in The Day After Tomorrow, and where Sarah Jessica Parker was jilted in the first Sex and the City film. Most famously, however, it was is the first thing we see in Ghostbusters, and features the first haunting of the iconic film.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Sutton Square, East 58^th Street, Manhattan – The intersection leading down to Sutton Square Park not only has a magnificent view of the Queensboro Bridge, it also played host to a truly classic movie moment: It’s where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton sit in the Oscar-winning Manhattan, in a shot immortalised by the film’s poster. The bench they sit on was a prop brought in for the movie, but the benches nearby provide plenty of chances to grab a similar view.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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St. James Theatre, Broadway, Manhattan – Almost a character in and of itself, the theatre at the centre of the Best Picture-winning dark comedy Birdman is a real Broadway theatre, which closed for 30 days to accommodate production. The theatre currently stages Frozen: The Musical, which hopefully is less shambolic than the play featured in the film!

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Ventilation Building, Financial District, Manhattan – This imposing, box-like building served as the headquarters for The Men In Black in Will Smith’s 1997 smash. Its actual purpose, as the name suggests, is slightly less glamorous. Or maybe that’s just what they want us to think…

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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Flushing Meadows Park, Queens – While many stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are set in New York, the superhero franchise rarely films there. One notable exception is the second Iron Man film, where the iconic World’s Fair moments in Flushing Meadows became the Stark Expo and the location for the film’s final battle.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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43^rd Street, Long Island City, Queens – Speaking of Avengers, Tony Stark’s young protege Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, sneaks home to his 43^rd Street apartment undetected by Aunt May, but caught by school friend Ned. Much of the film was shot in Atlanta, Georgia, but the apartment building the web-slinger lives in is actually a real place in Queens. A must for Tom Holland fans!

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City.
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23 Wall Street, Manhattan – Harbouring much darker intentions was Tom Hardy’s Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, with one of the villain’s first diabolical acts being a strike on the Gotham Stock Exchange. The exterior edifice was the landmark building 23 Wall Street, formerly owned by JP Morgan and placed in the heart of Manhattan’s Financial district.

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Movie Capitals: On Location In New York City

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