8 Must-Visit Filming Locations in New York City

This supernatural comedy film put a modest firehouse on the corner of North Moore Street and Varick Street in Tribeca on the map for film fans. The exterior of Hook & Ladder Company 8 was used as the Ghostbusters base and today still functions as an active in-service firehouse. Stroll by and you’ll see a Ghostbusters logo hanging on an interior station wall, along with fire trucks and firefighters. While there are no tours available, it's said that film fans walking by have been invited inside for a peek. Either way, it was only the exterior that was used in the film—interiors were shot at a studio in Los Angeles.

Though Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in the popular HBO series was located on the Upper East Side (East 73rd Street, to be exact), the actual building exterior is downtown in Greenwich Village. Streets and sidewalks are narrow in this neighborhood—not leaving much space to linger outside 66 Perry Street—but Carrie’s recognizable brownstone stoop is well worth seeking out. While visitors can’t go inside the building, you can snap pictures out front and explore the maze-like streets of Greenwich Village afterwards. Stop into nearby Magnolia Bakery for a cupcake, as seen in the show.

Superheroes on screen are often found fighting crime in the Big Apple, from Wall Street in Lower Manhattan (Batman) to the shining torch of the Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor (Superman). Times Square in particular has been the backdrop for numerous comic book characters on screen in recent years including Spider-Man, Captain America, and The Incredible Hulk.

From 1994 to 2004, Thursday night belonged to the shenanigans of six friends in Greenwich Village. While the famous café—Central Perk, where the crew sipped coffee—is not an actual site in New York City, the exterior of the apartment building where Monica, Rachel, Joey, and Chandler lived still stands. Wander the tree-lined streets of the Village to find 90 Bedford Street, a low-rise building with New York’s signature fire escapes. Visitors can’t go inside this private building, although you won't miss much as the interiors were filmed in California.

Jerry Seinfeld, along with neighbor Cosmo Kramer, unlucky friend George Costanza, and former flame Elaine Benes could often be found in Seinfeld episodes sitting in a booth at Monk’s Café. The exterior for the café is actually Tom’s Restaurant, a diner on the corner of 112th Street and Broadway in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Morningside Heights near Columbia University. Interior shots were filmed on a soundstage, not at Tom’s, but the diner is open today for visitors to kick back in a booth for an affordable omelette or big salad after snapping pictures outside.

The CW network drama that followed the lives of Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, and friends featured many real New York City locations such as Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the rooftop at the Standard Hotel. The character Chuck Bass also invests in The Empire Hotel, which is a frequent backdrop in the show. When near the Lincoln Center, stop in to relax in the hotel bar or sip a drink on the rooftop.

In addition to unraveling the mystery of who Ted Mosby marries, How I Met Your Mother also features several New York landmarks such as the Empire State Building, Corner Bistro (famous for its burgers), and the American Museum of Natural History. But visitors who go searching for MacLaren’s, the downstairs bar where Ted’s crew is often found, won’t find an exact replica. MacLaren’s isn’t a real pub, but it was inspired by a bar with padded booths on West 55th Street called McGee’s.

Based on a Truman Capote novel, Breakfast at Tiffany’s stars Audrey Hepburn as New York socialite Holly Golightly. And the Academy Award-winning film of course features Tiffany & Co., the iconic jewelry store on 5th Avenue, in a scene where Holly gets out of a taxi early one morning wearing a black dress, pearls, and large sunglasses with her breakfast in a paper bag. The film also showcases Holly’s apartment on a brownstone-lined block—follow in Hepburn’s footsteps with a stroll along East 71st Street at Lexington Avenue.