As you know by now, the Friends apartment interiors were not actually in New York City. They weren’t even real apartments. They were well-designed sets built in an LA studio for filming purposes only. They didn’t even have fourth walls! But the exterior shots of the apartments WERE real, taken of a real building in the real New York City. They’re all ready to be in the background of a killer selfie the next time you’re in NYC, if you know where to look.
Head to Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, found in its lower West Side blocks. You’ll find the Friends’ apartment balconies at the corner of Grove Street and Bedford Street. The Village is referenced many times throughout the series and is also home to the real restaurant that inspired the creators to build Central Perk.
From that street corner, you can gaze up at the apartments and imagine just what it would be like to be Rachel, newly independent in the big city, or Monica, cleaning the last speck of dirt off its cozy-cool window ledge. You can picture Chandler and Ross dangling from the fire escape after some shenanigans went wrong or Joey stepping out the door of the building with a girl (or two) on his arm. This is the New York scene that Friends taught us to love, and we wouldn’t trade it for the world. Just watch out for smelly cats.
Sources: Hooked on Houses, Friends Central, FriendsWikia.com
