Growing up to be a part of a generation where visual media has taken over pretty much everything, movies have, in a way, become the norm in society. If you’re sad, you watch a movie; if you’re happy, you celebrate it with a movie, If you want to learn something, there are movies. If you want to teach something, you can make movies.
Being a movie buff, it has always fascinated me how movies take inspiration from the real world to create something so far from reality—a world that is so magical. It makes even the most basic elements of our daily lives so extraordinary, and charming, the things we see, the experience we have, even the places we live in or aspire to live in or travel to someday in the future. Movies have given all of us very high expectation as to what we want from our lives, what we want to do in the future, and even what we want to see, visit or experience.
For someone who has always wanted to experience life as it happens in movies, it’s been a little disappointing to realise that it is not factual. However, what if I were to tell you that you can, at least, travel to and visit some of the most magical locations that inspired a bunch of your favourite movies and TV shows of all time? What if I were to tell you that not all of the locations you saw were sets, but actual places?
King’s Cross Station in London
The location that inspired the shooting for one of the cult favourites, Harry Potter, King’s Cross Station, is a passenger train station located on the outskirts of Central London in the London Borough of Camden.
In order to accommodate the East Coast Main Line, the Great Northern Railway opened the station at Kings Cross in 1852, on the northern fringe of Central London. You probably remember the famous scene where Harry and the Weasley family walk straight through a brick wall at King’s Cross Station to reach Platform 9 and a half, even if you’ve only seen the first Harry Potter movie once. Throughout the film series, the magical Hogwarts Express platform is seen and mentioned numerous times. It has grown to such a degree of notoriety that King’s Cross Station has formally designated the platform between platforms nine and ten. Fans of HP now visit there frequently for pictures.
Painted Ladies in San Francisco
A classic show for the 90s kids, Full House, featured the Painted Ladies, which is situated in San Francisco. You might remember these buildings from the scene where the Tanner family has a picnic in front of a picturesque row of colorful houses in the opening credits of Full House. While most of us often think of these background visuals as the set, those houses do, in fact, exist.
In American architecture, Victorian and Edwardian homes and structures that were repainted in three or more colors to accentuate or beautify their architectural characteristics are known as painted ladies. This practice began in the 1960s. In their 1978 book Painted Ladies: San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians, Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen coined the phrase for the first time in reference to Victorian homes in San Francisco.
Apartment Building at 90 Bedford Street in New York City
One from another one of the cult favorites, mostly all of us remember, Friends. Over the years, Friends has developed a cult following of sorts, so it seems logical that the apartment complex that served as the backdrop for exterior shots of the characters’ residences became a popular tourist destination. The show’s two major flats’ interiors were actually set in Burbank, while the greenish-gray facade that was used for the exteriors may be found in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village at the corner of Bedford and Grove Streets.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
One that became a favorite for many of Gen Z and millenials quite quickly. Breaking Bad’s house at 3828 Piermont Dr. NE in Albuquerque, New Mexico—it’s the home of Walter White—is recognized by all its viewers. While it’s the most popular location that a Breaking Bad fan would immediately remember, there are several other locations around the town that inspired the show and can be visited by tourists, including the car wash and the popular restaurant.
Point Dume, Malibu
Despite having a similar appearance to other beaches on the California coast, this quiet beach is actually part of one of the most well-known narrative twists in movie history. When the characters from the first “Planet of the Apes” movie stroll along this exact beach, they think they are on a different world. However, they soon discover the Statue of Liberty’s ruins. Even though the movie’s props have been removed, enthusiasts still frequent Point Dume to take pictures. Point Dume is a bluff that protrudes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu, California. The northern tip of Santa Monica Bay is formed by the point, a lengthy cliff.
Skopelos, Greece
A location that I’ve always wanted to see ever since I watched the classic movie, Mamma Mia!, a 2008 musical romantic comedy that was based on the songs of pop group ABBA. Greek island Skopelos is located in the western Aegean Sea. Skopelos is one of the several islands that make up the Northern Sporades island group, which is located north of the island of Euboea and east of the Pelion peninsula on the mainland. The vivid hues and breathtaking architecture of the Greek island shown in “Mamma Mia!” are difficult to forget. Fans can visit the real island where the movie was filmed, Skopelos, in the western Aegean Sea, even though the tale is set on a fictional island. You may even board a bus excursion that brings visitors to a number of well-known filming sites, such as Kastani Beach and the Agios Ioannis Chapel.
Tom’s Restaurant in New York City
Tom’s Restaurant is a diner in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights district. It can be found at 2880 Broadway, which is at the intersection of West 112th Street. It is located on the first floor of Armstrong Hall at Columbia University, which also houses the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The exterior images of the famous Monk’s Cafe sequences from Seinfeld were shot on location in New York, but the interior scenes were staged! The restaurant that served as Jerry and his friends’ regular haunt in the comedy was Tom’s Restaurant, which is still in operation today in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan. You may taste the meal for yourself by going to the corner of Broadway and West 112th Street, as reviews claim it’s really fairly great.
Apartment Building at 455 Water Street in Brooklyn
This one’s for all the Upper East Siders, or the Brooklynites, or both or none. It doesn’t matter; there’s a place for everyone here, unlike the show Gossip Girl, XOXO.
You may recall Dan Humphrey from Penn Badgley’s Gossip Girl as living in the brown brick apartment building or the loft, as we know it that was close to the Manhattan Bridge. Actually, you can get a glimpse of the building’s interior if you go to Water Street in Brooklyn’s opulent DUMBO area. Although there are NYC Gossip Girl excursions, most of them concentrate on Manhattan sites and omit the adored Brooklyn facade.
