Straddling the line between fiction and reality, I took a couple of pop-culture tours that took me by popular television and movie scenes. They were a lot of fun and took me to parts of the city I never would have seen on my own. I booked the tours through Screentours.
From Seinfield: Soup Nazi's Kitchen
It's true, he really does have specific rules to follow and his line wraps around the corner at lunchtime every day. He makes enough money during the winter months, $20,000 per day, to close for the summer.
This was the location for Meg Ryan's bookstore "The Shop Around the Corner" in "You've got Mail". It's amazing how different it looks in real life. The shop is tiny. But it's located in the Upper West Side, where the writer/director lives and she likes to showcase her neighborhood because she loves it so much.
Brownstones in the Upper West Side.
The Plaza Hotel
The most filmed building in NYC, featured in Home Alone, Almost Famous, Serendipity, It Could Happen to You and so many more.
The Pulitzer Fountain
In front of the Plaza in many movies
Empire Diner in Chelsea
Igby Goes Down, Home Alone 2, MIB 2, Manhattan
Countless numbers of movies & TV shows filmed here, such as: King Kong, Sleepless in Seattle, Spiderman, Elf, Love Affair, An Affair to Remember, Mad About You, Spin City and even I Love Lucy
The Flat Iron Building
Spiderman and the tv show "Veronica's Closet" - yea, i watched that show a couple of times, it was pretty cheesy though.
Brownstones on St. Luke's Place in Greenwich Village.
St. Lukes Place has been filmed in many shows, but most popularly...
...The Cosby Show
Me on the front steps of the Cosby's house
The Cosby's neighborhood, St. Luke's Place
The man who owns this building never even watched the show. He lives in the 2 lower floors and rents the 2 upper floors, often to actors and artists. Greenwich Village is very well known for its artist atmosphere.
The "Friends" Apartment building.
On the corner of Bedford and Grove in the Village
"Central Perk"
whenever they film in the city, they change logo and the awnings to Green
Moi in front of the Friends Apartment
Ugly Naked Guy's Apartment
One more shot
Moondance Diner - SOHO
where Monica from Friends worked and where Kristen Dunst's character worked in Spiderman
Ghostbusters Headquarters
I knew that I wanted to go to Central Park but wasn't comfortable walking through it alone, so, knowing that there's safety in numbers, I took this next tour which was a walking tour of Central Park with famous movie points of interests highlighted. It was a great tour, but the weather was so hot and humid during this part of the afternoon (3p-5p) that it ended up being quite an exhausting trip. The tour started with over 20 people, but because of the heat and thick, humid air, people kept dropping out and leaving the tour. It was unfortunate, because they missed a lot of cool sights that were highlighted. It's amazing that I only saw about 1/3 of the park on the tour in 2 hours. There's still so much more to see.
Pretty much immediately after walking into the park, I saw this gentleman meditating. The park has a way of creating calm in the midst of chaos.
The Pond - At the south end of Central Park.
Turning a complete 180 from the bridge at the Pond is the Plaza Hotel.
The view of the Plaza Hotel from the Pond. Also, that tall building behind the Plaza is Chandler's office in 'Friends'.
Gapstow Bridge at the Pond.
Several 'Home Alone' references on this tour since Macauley Calkin's character stayed at the Plaza hotel. At this part of the Pond is where Macauley Calkin's character met the bird lady of the park.
Skyline view from Central Park.
Wollman Rink. In the winter it's a skating rink, featured in 'Serendipity' and 'Stepmom'.
Sheep Meadow is 15 acre green meadow for relaxing and sunbathing. This is where Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges contemplated life in the Fisher King.
Bethesda Fountain
Me at the edge of the Lake
You can rent rowboats and gondolas from the Boathouse, it's usually tradition for the woman to do the rowing while the man enjoys the views.
Bow Bridge - considered one of the most handsomely designed cast iron bridges in the world and is featured in classic film shots of romantic wedding proposals and the like.
Looking past the Lake is the San Remo Apartments on Central Park West. Central Park West is address to many actors and actresses. I believe our guid said that one of the tenants of the San Remo is Dustin Hoffman.
San Remo Apartments
Tavern on the Green
The Garden Terrace at the Tavern on the green
