You remember Gossip Girl. A teen drama set in New York, following the privileged lives of the young elite around Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The show was full to the brim with scandal, romance, secrets, and of course, gossip, all shared via the voice of Gossip Girl, an anonymous blogger who narrated the series.
The show was a cultural phenomenon that perfectly captured the mood of its time, and as any hit show would, it still has fans to this day.
In many ways, New York was one of the main ‘characters’ in the show, and many of the locations used for filming have become iconic must-see destinations for fans visiting the Big Apple. It stands to reason then that lots of people want to know where Gossip Girl was filmed. They want to know the most famous filming locations so they can go and take Instagrammable snaps.
Obviously, the show was filmed in New York because that’s where it was set. But let’s get a little more specific shall we? Let’s look into some of the most famous filming locations of this much loved TV show.
How Filming Works
The first thing to know before I dive in, is that filming locations are all trickery.
Just because they show us an external view of a building, that doesn’t mean the scenes taking place inside that building are actually shot there. They might be, but often, they are filmed somewhere else entirely.
A good example from Gossip Girl would be The Humphrey Loft.
Although it is located in Brooklyn at 455 Water Street, all of the scenes that supposedly took place inside the home of the Humphrey family were filmed in a private residence in Long Island, in a building called The Foundry.
Often, interior shots are filmed on sets inside studios, and not on a location at all. They will build what looks like the inside of a building on a soundstage and film on that.
This is all to do with controlling the sound during recording, and also keeping costs down and logistics simpler. Hiring someone’s actual apartment for 6 series would be costly, and difficult with regards to schedules. Much easier to show an external shot, then film the rest on a set.
Iconic Gossip Girl Filming Locations
Since Gossip Girl was about Manhattan’s social elite, there were some pretty fancy locations used for filming.
Here are the most iconic among them:
The Met Steps (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Location: 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
This was the unofficial throne of Blair Waldorf and her clique, where they held court during school lunch breaks. The higher up the steps someone sat, the higher their social status, so Blair was obviously always at the top.
Anyone can visit here and sit on the steps. Plenty of people have recreated the famous scenes shot here. You aren’t supposed to eat on them though, despite what you saw Blair and her girls do, so keep your sandwiches in your bag.
The Palace Hotel
Location: 455 Madison Avenue
The Palace was used throughout the series, but most famously it is where Serena lived when she came back to New York in Season One. Chuck lived there, too. Often referred to as “Serena’s Lair” by the narrator, it was the site of a few dramatic moments and also where the W Magazine party was held.
The hotel is actually called The Lotte New York Palace in real life, and you can visit for drinks, food, to use the spa, as well as staying there. It’ll cost you, though!
The Empire Hotel
Location: 44 West 63rd Street, near Columbus Circle
Although it was only introduced in later seasons after Chuck inherited it from his father, The Empire Hotel became one of Gossip Girl’s most important locations. Many of Blair and Chuck’s most important conversations took place here, either in the lobby or on the rooftop bar.
The Empire is still running, and they fully embrace their role in Gossip Girl. Not only can you visit, but they even have a ‘Gossip Girl Rooftop Experience’ you can book if you fancy it.
Constance Billard & St. Jude’s School
Location: 1220 Fifth Avenue
Constance Billard & St. Jude’s School is fictional, but the location the show used to represent it is the Museum of the City of New York. This is the elite private school where the main characters from the show studied. It was a social battleground and many of the show’s power struggles and rivalries played out on the front steps.
It’s really easy to find this location, right next to Central Park, and the steps are openly accessible so it’s another place you can get some pics for your socials.
Central Park
Location: 59th Street to 110th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West (8th Avenue)
Everyone knows where Central Park is. It’s obviously a real place and was used as itself in the show. The site of romantic encounters, secret meetings, and moments of personal reflection, Central Park is open to the public and arguably the most accessible filming location of them all.
Key areas used within the park include:
- The Bow Bridge – Crosses The Lake. Best access via Terrace Drive
- The Mall – Stretches from Central Drive/East Drive to Terrace Drive
- The Bethesda Terrace – Off Terrace Drive
- The Conservatory Garden – Access via the Vanderbilt Gate
- The Loeb Boathouse – Off East Drive
Grand Central Terminal
Location: 89 E 42nd Street
This is the location of Gossip Girl’s opening scene, where Serena first appears. It pops up again a number of times in the show, but this opening scene alone makes it an important filming location.
It’s a working train station so it’s completely free to enter. You might want to stand at the top of the steps and get a friend to take a picture of you just like Melanie91 took one of Serena. You can also find The Campbell bar in the Southwest corner of the station, where some other scenes were filmed.
The New York Public Library
Location: 476 5th Avenue
They used this one a lot. The New York Public Library was where Blair and Chuck got married for a start, but a variety of galas and fundraisers were held here in the show. They used the Astor Hall.
This is yet another location that is open to the public, so anyone can wonder in and have a look around. Gossip Girl fans can easily spot the areas where their favourite scenes were filmed.
Others
A few other important but less used or smaller locations are:
- Butter, 70 W 45th St – Upscale restaurant Serena liked to visit
- The Campbell, 89 E 42nd Street – Bar in Grand Central mentioned above
- The Dakota, 1 W 72nd St – They used the exterior of this apartment building as the Waldorf’s home
- Dylan’s Candy Bar, 1000 8th Ave, Columbus Cir – Blair’s favourite sweet shop. The brand is still trading but this specific store has closed
- ONieals, 174 Grand St – Historic bar in the West village which was a favourite of Nate’s.
- The Pierre Hotel – 2 E 61st St – Luxurious hotel used for high society events including the Cotillion Ball
- Gramercy Tavern, 42 E 20th St – Blair’s favourite restaurant
- Sant Ambroeus, 1000 Madison Ave – Upscale Italian restaurant popular with the show’s characters
Guided Tours
So popular are these locations, that there are even companies selling Gossip Girl Location Tours.
People can book on and be taken around New York from one location to another, with a tour guide filling them in with facts and trivia about the show and where/how it was filmed.
Most companies have a few different packages with different levels of immersion, so you can go as hard as you want. Some include stop offs at bars, some take you round on a rickshaw type thing, they are all a little different.
They can set you back anything from around $80 per person to up to $200 depending on the company and package you choose, so if you want to save money you can always use my list above and do it yourself.