Classic New York Movie Sites Tour
Tickets
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Classic New York Movie Sites Tour
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call Zerve at (212) 209-3370
Other Tour Options
Variations of the New York Movie Classics Tour:
Private Group Tours
If you’re interested in doing a private tour for your group,
check out our private group
tour page for details!
NY TV & Movie Sites Tour
If the Classics Tour isn't available during your desired time, check out our flagship New York TV & Movie Sites Tour, which runs daily at 11am.
Press
-Entertainment Weekly, Jan, 2008
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Gift Certificates
Want to give the gift of the Silver Screen to the movie buff or couch potato in your life? Give a TV & Movie Tour Gift Certificate!
For under $50 you can give an experience to remember! On Location Tours gift certificates make great gifts. Perfect for any movie lover or TV trivia master! Tour NYC or DC!
Gift certificates are available only for public tours.
Tour Highlights:
- See Marilyn Monroe's subway grate from The Seven Year Itch (1955)
- Visit Holly Golightly's brownstone from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
- Sit on Woody Allen & Diane Keaton's bench from Manhattan (1979)
- Visit Grand Central, seen in The Godfather (1972), Superman (1978)
- Admire the Plaza Hotel, as seen in The Way We Were (1973)
- Check out locations from Taxi Driver (1976) and Marathon Man (1976)
- Visit famed apartment building, The Dakota, and Strawberry Fields
Details:
When: Check availablility and purchase tickets
Where: Near Broadway and 51st Street
Cost: $38 + $2 ticket fee
Duration: Approximately 3.5 hours
What You’ll See On Tour
Spend a day of nostalgic fun on this exclusive sightseeing tour around the Big Apple. New York is the most filmed city in the world and we'll take you behind-the-scenes of some of your favorite classic films that feature the city. Experience the evolution of NYC on screen with our tour guides. Not only will you get a taste of New York film history, but you'll receive a great sightseeing tour of Midtown and Uptown Manhattan aboard a comfortable coach bus, complete with movie screens to view the locations on the silver screen, as well as in person. This New York tour is a must-see for all classic film aficionados.
Upper West Side
Originally named the "Bloomingdale District," this neighborhood hosts world-renown shopping and residential buildings. It has been a setting for many movies and television shows because of its pre-war architecture, colorful community and rich cultural life. The following areas within the Upper West Side have been spotted in classic films:
Columbus Circle
Our New York sightseeing tours start at this celebrated location, which hosts the Time Warner Center and The Shops at Columbus Circle. Named after Christopher Columbus, Columbus Circle is a major landmark and point of attraction in Manhattan located at the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South (59th Street), and Eighth Avenue. Here you’ll get to see locations from scenes in the romantic comedy It Should Happen To You (1954), starring Judy Holliday. In this classic, Holliday plays Gladys Glover, a model who has just lost her job, and through a fluke suddenly becomes famous and has two men clamoring for her attention.
You’ll also see locations from the Golden Globe winner Crocodile Dundee (1986), a comedy about a crocodile hunter from the Australian outback who comes to New York City. Crocodile Dundee stars Paul Hogan, and was directed by Peter Faiman. The 1976 crime drama Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese, features scenes filmed in Columbus Circle as well. An all-star cast featuring Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster makes this classic a must-see.
Finally, Columbus Circle was featured in the original Superman. Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and Christopher Reeve play major roles in this classic. The film, released in 1978, was Oscar nominated. “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” Come on our Classics Tour and feel like you were right there as Superman saved Metropolis.
Central Park West
The sightseeing tour then sets out on the elite Central Park West. This famous avenue is the address of several famous residences, including The Dakota, where John Lennon lived with Yoko Ono, who still resides there. Central Park West is the setting for residential scenes from Three Men and a Baby with Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson. The 1987 comedy is about three bachelors who find themselves stuck taking care of an infant and realize just how hard it can be.
The historic restaurant Tavern on the Green, located inside Central Park, was used as a location in Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson’s collaboration, Heartburn (1986), in which Rachel Forman (Meryl Streep) discovers her husband Mark (Jack Nickolson) has been having an affair with a member of their social circle while she waddled around pregnant with their second child. See the location where the couple tied the knot at Tavern on the Green.
Another hit, Ghostbusters (1984), was filmed in this area as well. Kicked out of their cushy university scientist positions, three oddball professors played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis, decide to set up shop in an old firehouse and become the Ghostbusters, trapping pesky ghosts, spirits, and poltergeists for money. Tavern on the Green is where Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) fights with the “terror dog” outside the restaurant’s Crystal Room. Ghostbusters was nominated for two Oscars, and won various other prestigious awards.
Oliver Stone’s Wall Street was a hit when it was released in 1987. Ambitious stock trader Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) will do anything to make it to the big leagues, even if it means going against his morals. He soon learns from Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) that on Wall Street, “greed is good.” Tavern on the Green is the restaurant where it is revealed that Fox has been wearing a wire.
This is also the restaurant where Woody Allen shares a meal with his mother in his 1989 movie New York Stories, which follows the lives of three New Yorkers. Oscar-winner Misery (1990) featured Tavern on the Green as the site of Paul Sheldon’s (James Caan) novel release party. In this creepy classic, a famous novelist is rescued and kidnapped from a car crash by an obsessed fan that is apparently not very happy with the outcome of her favorite books.
Finally, Stella (1990) is an adaptation of the 1920 Stella Dallas novel, starring Bette Midler. This is a story about a determined and courageous woman who is raising a daughter on her own, that ends with a selfless sacrifice to make her life better. Tavern on the Green serves as the location for the New York wedding of Stella’s daughter, Jenny (Trini Alvarado).
Lincoln Center
Reminisce further on the New York tour, passing through the world’s leading performance arts center, Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center hosts about five million visitors yearly. This site was used in several films including West Side Story (1961), The Producers (1968), Ghostbusters (1984), Serpico (1973), Marathon Man (1976), and Moonstruck (1987).
Nearby Locations
- Emerald Inn was the bar from The Apartment (1960)¸ the five-time Oscar winning film starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine
- The Dakota Building, mostly known for the site where former Beatle, John Lennon, died, was featured in Oscar-winner Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
- Museum of Natural History made a cameo in Splash (1984) and its Hayden Planetarium in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979)
- The famous Central Park hosted the most movies including Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Manchurian Candidate (1962), Love Story (1972), Marathon Man (1976) and Hair (1979).
Upper East Side
The Classics Tour then makes its way to the affluent Upper East Side neighborhood. This is home to many of New York’s elite. The Upper East Side is full of famous museums, elite schools, and luxury boutiques. It is also the location for movies such as Mike Nichol’s Working Girl (1988), which filmed scenes in the Covenant of Sacred Heart, originally the 1904 Burden Mansion which was designated a historic site in 1974. Working Girl tells the story of a secretary longing to get ahead in her career.
Marathon Man (1976), Arthur (1981) and Working Girl (1988) all employ Carnegie Mansion/National Design Museum in both exterior and interior shots. Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier both star in Marathon Man, about a graduate student who gets caught in the middle of an international conspiracy involving stolen diamonds, a Nazi war criminal, and a rogue government agent. Meanwhile, Arthur is a famous comedy about a happy drunk who happens to be heir to a fortune, and is being forced into marriage with a woman he does not love. This movie starred Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore, and won many awards including two Oscars.
The famous Guggenheim Museum is seen in Manhattan (1979) and Someone to Watch Over Me (1987). Manhattan, one of Woody Allen’s most famous films, stars Woody Allen himself with Diane Keaton, and Meryl Streep. The movie about divorces and affairs in New York City was nominated for two Oscars and a Golden Globe Award.
Nora Ephron’s romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally (1989) features one of the world’s largest art galleries, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Harry and Sally discuss dating in the Egyptian Pavilion. When Harry Met Sally is an unforgettable classic about the age old question: Can men and women be friends without sex getting in the way?
The Met Life Building’s roof top helipad is featured in Coogan’s Bluff (1968), Only When I Larf (1968) and in an establishing shot from Live and Let Die (1973).
PS 6’s now non-existent Copper Kettle was used in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
The Plaza Hotel, the most filmed building in New York, hosted countless films including North by Northwest (1959), Barefoot in the Park (1967), the appropriately named Plaza Suite (1971), The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Arthur (1981), Brewster’s Millions (1985), Crocodile Dundee (1986), Big Business (1988) and King of New York (1990).
The prominent toy store, FAO Schwarz, on Fifth Avenue—home of the giant foot piano—is the setting for Big (1988), starring Tom Hanks.
Midtown
The Classics Film Tour then heads over to midtown Manhattan, home of the most commercial section of New York City. Here, movies such us Manhattan (1979) and Moscow on the Hudson (1984) utilize Bloomingdale’s exterior, one of the most popular and luxurious department stores in New York City. Moscow on the Hudson, starring Robin Williams, follows a Russian musician through Bloomingdales, where he meets some new friends and finds out that adjusting to American life is harder than he thought.
The famous opening scene from Taxi (1978) was filmed at the Queensboro Bridge/Riverview Terrace, where you can also see Silver Cup Studios, the largest independent, full-service film and television production facility in the northeastern United States.
You will walk right by the famous subway grate where Marilyn Monroe’s timeless scene in Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch (1955) was created in midtown Manhattan. This truly classic comedy stars the legendary Marilyn Monroe convincingly playing a temptress who moves in upstairs from a normal family man whose wife and children are out of town. The movie won a Golden Globe, and the scene featuring Marilyn Monroe in her white dress over a New York City grate became one of the most famous images in America.
The luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel made an appearance in The Out of Towners (1970), The Great Gatsby (1974), Hannah and her Sisters (1986) and the hilarious Coming to America (1988). Glance at St. Bart’s Church where Arthur (1981) was filmed, and the Seagram Building, a location from both Baby Boom (1987) and Scrooged (1988).
This central business district portion of the tour also features a walk to the largest train station in the world, Grand Central Terminal, home to great restaurants such as Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse, Metrazur, The Campbell Apartment, and the world-famous Oyster Bar & Restaurant. If shopping is your thing, there is a store for every one—Papyrus, L’Occitane, Oliviers & CO., Li-Lac Chocolates, Oren’s Daily Roast, Origins, and many others. Grand Central Terminal is where scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) were filmed. This classic film is full of excitement as a New York advertising executive, played by Cary Grant, is chased across the country by a gang of spies who have mistaken him for a government agent. The main character makes his escape from New York through the famous Grand Central Terminal.
Grand Central was also featured in Midnight Run (1988), where Robert DeNiro plays a bounty hunter who has to transport his catch, Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas, from New York to Los Angeles in order to collect his payment. Since “The Duke” is apparently scared of flying, DeNiro drags him through Grand Central Terminal to take a train to L.A. The Cotton Club (1984), Superman (1978) and The Godfather (1972) were also filmed in this historic New York City location.
* In an effort to stay current, we are constantly updating our tours with new locations and cannot guarantee the presence of locations mentioned on our site. If you have a particular interest in locations from a specific TV show or movie, please let your tour guide know and we will do our best to accomodate your request.