Apartment Hunting: TV Cribs
- Rebecca Root
- May 4, 2015
- 3 min read
Carrie’s Fifth Avenue hideout, Monica’s purple paradise, the luxe pads in Hitch - these are the apartments we’ve seen on our screens and, in my case, based my future aspirations on.
After being a slave to sitcoms like Sex and the City and Friends for years, it seemed clear that if you moved to New York you’d immediately get the swanky apartment, buff guy and high flying job that comes with that Manhattan lifestyle...right?
Reality, it turns out, is a little different. It seems pretty unlikely that Carrie Bradshaw, on a writer's wage, and Monica Gellar on a chef's, could have afforded such roomy spaces in city hotspots when today most closets rent for thousands a month.
Fairly quickly on arrival you realise that if you're not willing to sell of an organ it’s bye bye dream house and hello affordable suburbs. We can but dream though and there is nothing to stop us perusing those properties that once had us dreaming of a New York lifestyle brimming with doormen and balconies.
Sex and the City: Carrie Bradshaw’s
Series Location: Carrie's beautiful brownstone is set in the Upper East Side, 245 E 73rd Street, between Park and Madison.
Real Location: The famous stoop that Carrie totters down to meet her various dates actually lies in the West Village at 64 Perry Street.
What To Know: This idyllic, tree-lined street holds many a beautiful 1866 home all complete with steep front steps and and fancy flowerbeds. However, in the past residents haven't been too thrilled with all of the Carrie wannabes crooning for a snap so it's suggested you make a quick dash for a photo and then oblige the request for a charitable donation.
Currently, number 64 is sporting a less than fashionable piece of blue tarp and a chain across the threshold. While it doesn’t make for a glamourous shot, sliding next door you'll get just as good a picture.
Friends: Monica Gellar’s apartment
Series Location: The gang of 6 hangs out downtown in Greenwich Village at 495 Grove Street at apartment number 20.
Actual Location: While still in Greenwich and near the series location, the exterior used in the series is actually on the corner of Grove and Bedford.
What To Know: This one is a real disappointment. There is no Central Perk lying underneath said building but in fact a small restaurant called Little Owl, which bears no resemblance to our favourite coffee shop. The building is also just a standard NYC block corner. Unrecognizable from the show, you only know you’ve reached it when you spot the small group of snap happy tourists standing on the corner opposite.
Also for those die hard fans, you'll notice that this apartment block doesn't have any balconies. So how does Rachel fall from the balcony, Joey break in and Ross get locked out? The powers of TV editing.
Hitch: Sara Melas' apartment
Film Location: Sara's swanky and super stylish apartment is set in Soho among the designer boutiques and high end cafes.
Actual Location: This apartment is one that actually shares its actual location with the movie. It's at 80 Greene Street right by Spring Street that Hitch passes out after intoxicating himself with allergy medicene.
What To Know: Staying true to NYC movie embellishment, it's unlikely that on a gossip columnist's wage Sara could afford such a lavish pad where prices usually peak at around $25,000 a month.
However, we'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that dead granny passed it down or that she's on a very jammy rent controlled programme. Either way, you can easily pass by this apartment and you'd be getting a double whammy as it's the same building that holds Derek from Zoolander's place too.
Comments