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The Blacklist was the highest rated new show of the 2013 fall television season and one of the first to get renewed for a second season. Many critics have wrote favorably about the show’s lead star James Spader and the show’s wonderful use of location shooting, some of which, takes place in NYC. Though the show technically takes place in Washington D.C., it doesn’t make any real attempt to hide the fact that filming takes place in New York City (like when the Meatpacking and the very recognizable Whitney Museum under construction double as Belarus). Here is a listing of some of the more obvious and not so obvious NYC locations featured in NBC’s The Blacklist in Season 1. Jump here for Season 2.
The climax of the 14th episode involved a shoot out between the FBI and the Russian mafia at the awesome-looking Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. Its military roots date to the 1660s and prior to closing in 1994, it was possibly the longest continually-manned military installation in the country. Its most prominent feature is Battery Weed, which was completed in 1861. When it was decommissioned, it was transferred to the Park Service and is now open to the public.
The fort earned its current name in 1864, named after fallen Brigadier General James Wadsworth, who died during the “Battle of The Wilderness” during the Civil War. Until 1997 the Fort has been used as the site for the United States Chaplin School, the headquarters for the New York Naval Station and in fictional universes the Headquarters for G.I Joe.
Currently the Fort is used as the starting point of the annual NYC Marathon and the end point for the 5 Boro Bike Tour.
In the final moments of the tenth episode Anslo Garrick (No. 16), James Spader’s character Red Reddington calls agent Elizabeth Keen (whom some suspect is his daughter) to bid her farewell. Red makes this call on a completely fictional phone booth outside of the famous Tiffany & Co. Jewelry store on 727 Fifth Avenue.
Founded in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young, the jewelry emporium has been a Fifth Avenue staple since 194o. The flagship store has been featured in such films as Sweet Home Alabama and the Audrey Hepburn timeless classic Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
In the second episode, Keen and Reddington go to Montreal to meet a contact of Red’s who will supposedly give them The Freelancer’s next victim. The French restaurant they go to is actually Schiller’s Liquor Bar in the Lower East Side. A sign on the bar that normally says “Liquor Bar” has been covered over with “Bar à Huîtres,” a popular name for brasseries in Paris.
In the middle of the 14th episode, Liz and Red go undercover to obtain a mcguffin called the “the effigy of Atargatis.” This effigy is located in a vault inside the Syrian Embassy, in Washington D.C. In actuality, the scenes where our leads dance and sneak through flimsy security is actually filmed inside the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Located on 934 Fifth Avenue, between 74th and 75th streets, the former home was built by McKim, Mead and White for financier Payne Whitney. It’s also been used for Law & Order SVU and Gone with the Wind. Previously only open for special events, in September 2014, the bookstore Albertine was open accessible to the public.
In one of the opening moments of the 12th episode The Alchemist, Liz visits Red inside one of the most beautiful buildings in NYC, the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Located on 12 Eldridge Street in Chinatown, it is one of the first Synagogues built by the Eastern European Jews who immigrated to the U.S. Designed by brothers Peter and Francis William Herter, the Synagogue has incredible stained glass windows, hand-stenciled walls and brass fixtures.
In 1996 the Synagogue was made into a National Landmark and 11 years later in 2007, after twenty years of restoration, the Synagogue was once again restored to its former glory.
Read about our tour of Eldridge Street Synagogue.
Toward the end of the 15th episode Red meets with Cowboy, a private bounty hunter. Their encounter takes place outside the Yonkers Metro North Station. Built in 1911, the building was designed by Warren and Wetmore, one of the firms responsible for the look of Grand Central. Like Grand Central, the Station features Gustavino tiling and is the only station that services stations north and west of the Albany.
Take a look at these great photographs of the Yonkers Train Station and read acomparison between the Yonkers Train Station and Grand Central
During the sixteenth episode Cowboy is trailing Liz’s husband Tom and his partner Lucy across the Honeywell Street Bridge in Long Island City. During this final moments on the show, we see a hideout used by Tom, and learn of his plans on getting Red. When Cowboy begins to drive after him, we see that the hideout is located on Honeywell Street in Long Island City.
During the 19th episode Red and Liz are watching Tom, who had called in sick to his teaching job. He spends some time “reading” a newspaper in Madison Square Park. Of course, this park is known by many as the place they will more than likely die of heat exhaustion, because of the egregiously long summer lines at the park’s Shack Shack rather than the fact that it was once a burial ground.
Besides possibly hour long wait for burgers, the park is known to feature art installations year round, including a Water Tower Installation That Inspires Hope.
The chase from the park continues into the Municipal Archives, where Liz gets spotted by Tom unaware. Since the 1950s the Municipal Archives have been where the records of NYC’s municipal governments are stored. According to the City’s website the Archives possess “more than one million photographic images in fifty collections including pictures of every house and building in the city, ca. 1940.” Also included are the records of every single mayoral administrations from 1849 to present day.
In episode 20, the pretentious names of The Blacklist criminals continue to mount up with “The Kingmaker” being the case-of-the-week. A meeting between The Kingmaker and another character takes place on a dining/sitting are in Chelsea Piers. Currently being used as a sports and recreation facility that offers golf, restaurants and other activities, the Pier was actually a ship terminal in the early 1900s. It’s doubly convenient as a film location because The Blacklist films on a soundstage in the complex.
Chelsea Piers was suppose to be the location where the Titanic was suppose to end its first journey across the Atlantic, and thanks to James Cameron and Celine Dion, we all knew what happened there. Not only being featured on The Blacklist, Chelsea Piers has been featured in numerous other television shows including Law & Order and its many spin-offs, and is the headquarters of CBS Sports.
In case you are curious, we have Vintage Photos of Chelsea Piers, before it became the sports and entertainment complex it is today.
At the end of the 21st episode “Berlin”, everything that has been building up throughout the season comes to a head. The showdown between our two protagonists before the season finale takes place in the middle of Cobble Hill Park. It is not the first time the seemingly peaceful environment of Cobble Hill Park has been awashed with men with guns and military training. During the Revolutionary War, Cobble Hill Park was apart of a line of defense against the British and where it got its namesake.
Looking for season 2 film locations for The Blacklist? Check them out here. All film stills courtesy of NBC.
To know what number his name is on The Blacklist, contact the author @TatteredFedora, just do not tell the FBI please.
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