As a New York City private tourguide over the years, people always want to see their favorite movie & TV locations because New York is full of them. In this blog I’ll mention many of them from the “Carrie Bradshaw” brownstone in SEX & THE CITY, to the white marble mansion on WHITE COLLAR to many other locations.
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING is a television show produced for HULU and most was recently viewed on ABC is a quirky mystery/comedy entering its 4th season. It’s about a group of neighbors doing a true crime podcast in their Upper West side luxury apartment building dubbed The Arconia- and they actually stumble onto various murders and assorted crimes. It stars Steve Martin (also a producer), Martin Short and the youngest Selena Gomez as a very unlikely group of curious neighbors.
Lately this is the building every tourist asks about…I’ve had tourists from South Carolina, Texas and most recently even the country of Denmark ask me about this iconic apartment building used as a location. In real life, the Arconia—a grand 1908 apartment building is actually The Belnord and it’s located on W. 86th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. It has a very large and grand interior courtyard garden which as recently been restored. Over the years, the building’s fortunes have gone up and down. Like many New York luxury rental buildings from a century ago, it was full of rent-controlled tenants for decades and there simply wasn’t the money to pay the taxes and do the necessary upkeep a luxury building needs. In recent years it’s become an expensive condominium building with apartments selling for many millions. Movie star Matt Damon lived there recently until he purchased his new place in Brooklyn Heights. My old friend Diana Barrows lived there as a child star when she was appearing in the original Broadway cast of ANNIE.
My sources say that ONLY MURDERS…was originally based on another grand New York apartment building, The ANSONIA Apartments, located 12 blocks further south on Broadway. It was originally built as a hotel by eccentric millionaire E. Stokes and had a large lobby fountain with live seals and a roof garden with a petting zoo. Famous tenants over the years included Babe Ruth, Ziegfeld, Caruso and Angelia Jolie. The ANSONIA wasn’t available for filming so producers turned to their second choice, and the BELNORD became the ARCONIA.
Come take a private tour with Jim and see much more. Reach out to me at JimDykesNYC@gmail.com.
