It's a great love affair between New York City and TV shows, as you surely already know. How many of us fell in love with New York City while seeing a scene that was recorded in Central Park or on Fifth Avenue? And how can we not remember the most iconic series of all times: Friends!
Although the show has been finished for a while, many of us still want to see the iconic building in New York City where Rachel, Monica, Joey, and Chandler lived. This post will describe where to find the apartment building that was featured in the popular TV Show Friends.
The show is meant to take place in New York City, as everyone is aware. Yet, it was actually filmed at a Los Angeles studio. So, there's no need to search the streets of New York for the famous Central Perk, as the coffee shop never existed outside of the Warner Bros. studios. Similarly, the fountain that can be seen in the series' opening credits was also filmed in a studio, which people mostly confuse with Central Park's Cherry Hill Fountain (read more about it in this post).
In order to set the story and the characters in the New York setting, images of the city are consequently inserted during post-production. In season after season, we found the home of Joey, Rachel, Monica, and Chandler to be a beautiful, typical New York City apartment building. This time though, the building does indeed exist, and we'll describe how to locate it in New York in the following sections.
It can be found at 90 Bedford Street, on the corner of Grove Street. As the facade hasn't really changed since the end of the show, it's fairly easy to recognize.
For the show's true fans, the location has evolved into a true place of adoration throughout the years. While Friends has been over for almost 25 years, the number of people who regularly crowd in front of this famous building is still astounding!
There is actually a pop-up exhibition called the Friends Experience that has replicated many of the best sets in this well-known television series if you really want to visit Central Perk and some of the other settings from the program.
Two floors of interactive exhibitions feature precise recreations of some of the most well-known Friends sets.
Ever wanted to take a picture of yourself on the orange couch? The opportunity is now yours! Learn more
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