Reel to Real Filming Locations: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

A crime wave has hit New York City and reporter April O'Neil finds herself a victim shortly before being rescued by Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael. Not the painters and sculptors, the ninja turtles. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Together they practice ninjutsu under the tutelage of their master rat Splinter, who had all mutated after a mysterious chemical entered in the sewers. The crime wave culprits are the Foot Clan, led by the notorious Shredder. After an attack by The Foot, the turtles and April retreat to her family's country home with vigilante Casey Jones while Splinter is held captive at The Foot's hideout. Soon a battle royale takes place where Shredder is disposed off, The Foot are defeated and Splinter is freed.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise began as series of comics. What really made them come out of their shell ;-) was the toyline, which debuted in 1988. It was one of the last sets of action figures I played with as Nintendo quickly became the go-to after school activity. 1990 saw the release of the first TMNT film. Costumes were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The movie was a huge financial success and had the biggest opening weekend of an independent film at that time. It was followed by two more films in the early 90s before an animated film was released in 2007. Like many franchises, it was rebooted in 2014.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was filmed in Brooklyn and New York, NY and Castle Hayne and Currie, North Carolina

Location: The Foot Hideout Exterior

Address: Southpoint Park - Roosevelt Island, New York, NY

City/Charity/Island Hospital was a historic hospital at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island. The skyline has changed a bit, but you can see The Chrysler Building and The Empire State Building...

Interiors were filmed at the old Roanoke Cement Company located at 6411 Ideal Cement Road in Castle Hayne, NC. I did not have time to stop on a recent trip to The Carolinas, but Paul Slattery at Then & Now Movie Locations got some great shots.

Location: Raphael's Movie Theater

Address: Central Park West & W 61st Street, New York, NY

This is also the area where The Stay Puft Marshmallow walks in Ghostbusters (1984).

Location: Chief of Police Office

Address: 60 Centre Street, New York, NY

This popular New York City filming location can be seen in Wall Street (1987), Night Court (1984-1992) and Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1983) music video.

Location: April & Raphael's Subway Station

Address: Hoyt Street & Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY

The platform Raphael is standing on was closed off at the time of my visit. This subway station was also used in Coming To America (1988) and Michael Jackson's Bad (1987) music video.

Location: Danny's Subway Station

Address: Bleeker Street & Lafayette Street, New York, NY