PHOTOGRAPHS GARY LATHAM
LOCATION, LOCA TION, LOCATION
Even if you’ve never been to New York, you probably feel that you know the place. Like nowhere on Earth, its geography is mapped in our imagination. And, in no small part, this is because we’ve already seen it at the movies – be it Audrey Hepburn arriving on Fifth Avenue or an evil alien invasion appearing over Manhattan. A few spots are familiar to millions, but others go unnoticed by passers-by, unaware they are in the presence of a Hollywood great.
FILM POSTERS: THE LADD CO/EMBASSY INTERNATIONAL PICTURES/RONALD GRANT ARCHIVE, PALOMAR PICTURES/PALLADIUM PRODUCTIONS/RONALD GRANT ARCHIVE, PARAMOUNT PICTURES/RONALD GRANT ARCHIVE
GANGSTRES
Start a gangster movie pilgrimage in Brooklyn – specifcally Dumbo (nothing to do with the airborne elephant, it’s actually short for ‘Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass’). These days this is an affuent, bohemian neighbourhood of organic food stores and little galleries– but in the 1920s it was a dishevelled manufacturing district. Sergio Leone chose it as the setting for his crime saga Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Head to the corner of Washington and Water Street to see the view made famous from the movie poster: warehouses framing a prospect of the Manhattan Bridge, with the Empire State Building visible under its arches.
⚫ Next, catch the F train from York St to Broadway-Lafayette St
Not to be confused with the much bigger and more famous St Patrick’s Cathedral, the 19th-century St Patrick’s Old Cathedral (free; oldcathedral.org) is an eerily quiet sanctuary from the busy streets of Little Italy. It sees few visitors – though its cool, stark interior welcomed a small congregation at the end of The Godfather (1972) in the scene where Connie Corleone’s infant son is baptised (the baby boy was played by director Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter, Sofa Coppola).
Keep things in the Corleone family by stopping by Vazac’s Horseshoe Bar(108 Avenue B) – a 20-minute walk to the east in Alphabet City. In the 1930s, this was a canteen for Polish workers (you can still see the faded signage outside), but it’s long since evolved into a boisterous dive-bar – with smoky-wood interiors lit by fashing neon signs and fashing pinball machines. Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) sipped pints here in Crocodile Dundee (1986) and, under more violent circumstances, Vazac’s starred in The Godfather Part II (1974) when the Rosato brothers attempt to strangle Frank Pentangeli. ‘Often actors like the place when they’re flming here, and come back later for a drink in disguise,’ explains bartender Erin Lynn O’Connor from behind the hefty timber bar. ‘I had to pretend not to recognise Scarlett Johansson last week. The only problem is when the flm crews rearrange all the bottles – that can make my life diffcult.’