There are endless attractions throughout the city of New York, but while museums and historic sites are entertaining and educational there are a few lesser known attractions that deserve your attention as well. Our favorites include tours of some of New York’s most famous destinations - the apartments, hotels, and offices of your favorite on-screen personalities.

Tour groups like On Location Tours, Inc offer regular bus tours to some of the hottest destinations, but you’re more than welcome to look them up on your own as well. Her are a few of our favorite television and movie backdrops in New York City!

Hook and Ladder 8

The Hook and Ladder 8 building is located at 14 North Moore Street in TriBeCa. This building served as the location for the official “Ghostbusters” headquarters. This is an active fire department building, though most of the guys who work there are welcoming to visitors who ask politely to take a peek inside. They’re lighthearted and friendly and might even let you take a peek at the Ghostbusters memorabilia that litters the walls.

Bedford and Grove Streets

On the corner of Bedford and Grove Streets you’ll find a tiny West Village apartment building. It is here that the cast of Friends supposedly spent hours laughing and talking. In reality, much of the New York based sitcom was actually filmed on a set in California, but many of the apartment building scenes and the Washington Square Park sequences were filmed live in New York. The famous balcony, however, doesn’t really exist and was part of the California set. None of the apartments in this building have patios or balconies.

Bleecker and West Fourth

The famous apartment stoop where Carrie Bradshaw spent so much time during Sex and the City actually does exist in New York City, though not where you might think. Despite Carrie’s E. 73^rd street address, the real building used in the show sits on Perry Street, between Bleecker and West Fourth. Another hot spot from this series is Magnolia Bakery, not far from the actual house, where the girls gouged themselves on gourmet cupcakes. They really are yummy!

The Plaza Hotel

At Central Park and Fifth Avenue you’ll find the Plaza Hotel and not far you’ll stumble upon the famous FAO Schwartz toy store featured in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Macaulay Culkin, aka Kevin, spent a luxurious vacation without his family in the city of New York before ruining a robbery planned by the movie’s villains. Both great places to stay or play, even if you haven’t seen the movie.

10 St. Luke’s Place

In The Cosby Show, the Huxtable family lived in Brooklyn. The house they used during filming, however, was located at 10 St. Luke’s Place in the West Village. Stop by and relax on the stoop for a few minutes. No one will mind!

Hogs & Heifers

Hogs & Heifers, a tiny bar down in the Meatpacking district, was the inspiration for the movie Coyote Ugly. Now you’ll find plenty of Coyote Ugly bars in major cities around the country, but don’t forget that if you aren’t in the New York redneck dive bar you aren’t at the original location. Locals pack the bar by day while tourists line the walls each weekend!

On Location Tours, Inc.

On Location Tours, Inc does deserve mention of its own. If you don’t want to explore NYC on your own, this incredible tour group will take you throughout the city by bus. There are a handful of different tours available, including:

• New York TV & Movie Sites (including Friends, Men in Black, Gossip Girl, I am Legend, and more - totaling over 40 sites);
• Sex and the City Hotspots (dedicated to your favorite show - including stops at favorite bakeries, The Pleasure Chest, SoHo, and local bars);
• Soprano Sites (featuring some of the New York spots used in the filming of the hit HBO series, including the diner where Tony sat during the final episode); and
• Central Park Movie Sites (featuring locations from movies filmed with scenes in Central Park, from Breakfast at Tiffany’s to When Harry Met Sally and more).

If you’re looking for something new and exciting to do while in New York City, take a few hours or an afternoon to hunt down some of your favorite television or movie hot spots. You’ll have the opportunity to relive childhood memories and maybe even catch a close-up glimpse at places you might not have seen otherwise.

Find out which of your favorite television and movie locales were real - and which were not. Regardless of the outcome, you’ll have an incredible time exploring the city!

Image credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Popularity: 2% [?]