Reel to Real Filming Locations

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Gossip Girl (2007-2012)

Hey, Upper East Siders (and everyone else). Gossip Girl delved into the lives of privileged teens and their families north of 59th Street and east of 5th Avenue. Among Manhattan's elite are it girl Serena van der Woodsen, queen bee Blair Waldorf, playboy Chuck Bass and golden boy Nate Archibald. And then there's noble Dan Humphry... from Brooklyn. Their ups and downs are blogged about constantly by the unseen Gossip Girl. An endless parade of backstabbing, love triangles, scandals and murder followed in its five seasons. Gossip Girl was hailed as a guilty pleasure with its soapy plotlines and purdy cast (including yours truly, but more on that later). XOXO

Gossip Girl was filmed in New York, NY

Location: Grand Central Terminal

Address: 89 E 42nd Street, New York, NY

Location: The Palace Hotel

Address: 455 Madison Avenue, New York, NY

Home to Serena van der Woodsen and Chuck Bass for a time...

The interior is a sight to see, especially at Christmastime...

Location: Blair Waldorf's Apartment Building

Address: 1136 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Location: Nate Archibald's Townhouse

Address: 4 E 74th Street, New York, NY

And of course there was scaffolding, like 99% of the NYC locations I need to visit...

Location: The Humphrey Loft

Address: 455 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY

Location: Constance Billiard School for Girls/St. Jude School for Boys #1

Address: 1220 5th Avenue, New York, NY

Several different locations were used for the school, most notably the Museum of the City of New York...

Location: Constance Billiard School for Girls/St. Jude School for Boys #2

Address: 75 E 93rd Street, New York, NY

Another location used for the school is the Francis F. Palmer House...

This was also seen as The Reardon School on The Undoing (2020).

Location: Serena & Nate's Bar

Address: 15 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY Campbell Apartment

Located just around the corner from Grand Central...

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Location: Blair's Meeting Spot

Address: 1000 5th Avenue, New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art

I didn't get a chance to stop by on my last trip to get an exact matching shot, so here's one from a while back...

Back in 2009 and 2010, I was an extra on Gossip Girl a few times. The first was the prom episode. This was a major self-esteem day. I was originally booked as the prom photographer, but when a few people didn't show up, they said "eh, you could pass as a high school senior" even though I was 31 at the time. Move over Gabrielle Carteris and Stockard Channing!

In the season 3 episode "The Freshman" I can be seen on the stairs of The Met...

The following spring I was a guest at Darota's wedding. They made me wear that yellow shirt and tie against my will...

Locations Visited: October 2016, December 2019

Locations Master List

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Signs (2002)

Crop circles are popping up all over the place and Graham Hess' cornfield is no exception. While the designs are out of this world ;-) the former priest and his family must defend themselves against an alien invasion. After recalling the last words with his late wife Colleen, Graham quickly realizes what Ace of Base was singing about. The aliens are soon defeated, Graham's faith is restored and he can once again command that pagan Tracey Abernathy to do penance.

The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered. Whoops, that was the tagline for Independence Day (1996). M. Night Shyamalamadingdong's third outing, Signs, is the only one of his offerings I really liked. That alien sighting at the birthday party still freaks me out. Future controversialist Mel Gibson provides a sympathetic performance, future Joker (2019) Joaquin Phoenix provides some much needed comedic relief and who didn't think Abigail Breslin was the cutest five-year-old ever. And I thought I left a lot of glasses of water around.

Signs was filmed in Doylestown, Newtown, Morrisville and Buckingham Township, PA

Location: The Two Aldo's Pizzeria
Address: 19 S State Street, Newton, PA

At the time of filming, Mom Mom's Gourmet Take N Bake was located here. They have relocated 156 N State Street and now New Age Astrology Readings occupies the space...