The city is launching a series of podcasts showcasing New York sites made famous by TV and movies, and the first two downloadable walking tours focus on Lower Manhattan.
Narrated by actors Julianna Margulies and Matthew Modine, the two hour-long tours take listeners through Tribeca, the Civic Center and the Financial District. In Tribeca, cinephiles will recognize the Ladder 8 firehouse on N. Moore St. from “Ghostbusters” (the insignia is still on the firehouse’s wall) and the Odeon from “Bright Lights, Big City.”
Closer to City Hall, the New York County Courthouse will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched “Law & Order,” and fans of “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “The Verdict” may recognize Tweed Courthouse as the location of those movies’ court battles.
The second podcast picks up at City Hall itself, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made several cameos on “Law & Order” and “30 Rock.” Just to the south, Eve Mendes and Will Smith shared a romantic moment in City Hall Park for the movie “Hitch.”
After winding down Broadway past Trinity Church (featured in 1974’s “The Great Gatsby”) and the U.S. Customs House (featured in “Working Girl), the second tour ends at the Battery Park promenade, which has a view of New York Harbor that many films have captured, including “Desperately Seeking Susan” and “Men in Black.”
To download the free podcasts, go to nyc.gov/film.
