I Want To Be A Part Of It…New York, New York And On Location Tours!

Riddle me this…What do The Stardust Diner; films The Amazing Spider-Man, Ghostbusters and The Devil Wears Prada; TV shows Friends, Seinfeld, The Office and Will & Grace; and superstars Lady Gaga, and J-Z and Beyoncé have in common? Need a hint? You’re in a New York state of mind! Need another hint: You’re sitting on a comfortable bus traveling through Manhattan revisiting some of the most memorable sites in the city used in both movies and television series. And, yes, you can also find out where aforementioned Lady Gaga, J-Z and Beyoncé live!

The answer is…drum roll please…the On Location TV & Movie Tour!

Led by our tour bus guide, Max Brand, an actor (HBO’s Mildred Pierce, Above Average Presents) and comedian, we began our journey on Saturday, August 27th with this veritable fountain of pop culture factoids and trivia at the famed Stardust Diner. This was the site in the in the 2011 movie New Year’s Eve where Sarah Jessica Parker’s character and her 15-year old daughter’s friends stopped for a bite after the ball dropped.

Traveling from Broadway and 51st Street, we went from Midtown/Times Square to the Flatiron District, Tribeca, Greenwich Village, and Chelsea…and back to Midtown. And we immediately passed The Soup Kitchen, best known for its appearance in the season seven episode of Seinfeld titled “The Soup Nazi.”

DID YOU KNOW? After the episode aired, Jerry Seinfeld and members of the cast and crew went to the take-out Soup Kitchen for lunch. The owner, Al Yeganeh, yelled at them and claimed that the publicity had ruined his reputation. After Seinfeld offered an apology, Yeganeh screeched, “No soup for you!” and ejected them from his restaurant. Art imitates life!

With three stops along the way, Washington Square Park and the locations for the the iconic firehouse in the Ghostbusters franchise and the apartment building on sitcom Friends, the pop culture information from Max Brand was fast and furious about an endless array of films and TV series. Think Superman, Home Alone 2, Breakfast at Tiffanys, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, An Affair to Remember, This Is Us, Sex and the City, How I Met Your Mother, Gossip Girl, Die Hard 3, Russian Doll, Will & Grace, Girls, Veep, The Newsroom, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

DID YOU KNOW? The role of Peter Venkman on Ghostbusters was originally written for John Belushi. Tragically, he died while Dan Aykroyd was writing the script and another member of the Saturday Night Live cast, Bill Murray, inherited it. But ghost Slimer was heavily inspired by Belushi. And Eddie Murphy, meanwhile, was originally offered the part of Winston Zeddemore, which was played by Ernie Hudson.

Naturally, there were crowds aplenty at the location of the Friends apartment building at 90 Bedford Street at the corner of Grove Street. The NBC classic, which aired from 1994 to 2004 and never finished a season outside of the Top 10, produced a total of 236 episodes.

DID YOU KNOW? While Friends remains a fan favorite 18 years after concluding, there was a previous TV series that had the same title. This earlier version also called Friends was a one-hour dramedy in 1979 from producer Aaron Spelling about three eleven-year-olds coming of age in California. One of the stars was Jill Whelan pre-The Love Boat.

Founded in 1999 by Georgette Blau, On Location Tours is back in full swing post-pandemic. Other tours in New York City include Sex and the City Hotspots, When Harry Met Sally Tour, Gossip Girl Sites, Central Park TV & Movie Sites, and Holiday Lights & Movie Sites. There is also the Downtown Chicago TV & Movie Sites Tour, the Boston Movie Mile Tour, among others, as well as private and virtual tours. And if it is the old movies you love there is always the New York Classic Film Tour. Count me in on that one!