The Most Filmed Alley in NYC? Never Heard of It.
“Men in Black”
“Ninja Turtles”
“Highlander”
“Gotham”
“Kate & Leopold”
“Boardwalk Empire”
“Nine ½ weeks”
“Law and Order”
“NYPD Blue”
And even “The Smurfs”
All of those movies share one thing in common — not an actor or a director or a line— it is an alley.
Cortlandt Alley runs three blocks between Franklin Street and Canal Street, bridging Tribeca, Chinatown, and Soho. As one of the few remaining alleys in New York, film crews travel far for the opportunity to shoot in this “gritty” alley that portrays the darker side of the city, while those living a block away pay no attention to this alley that they walk down every day.
In the early eighties, Cortlandt Alley was only a dumping ground filled with factory buildings. “It was dangerous. It was lonely. It was desolate,” said Colin James, 67, who has worked in the alley as a super for 22 years. But as of today, the surrounding neighborhood has dramatically changed, evolving into a cleaner and safer area despite what it may appear at first glance.
Redbrick walls covered with washed-out graffiti and peeled-off stickers, hidden locked metal doors, layers of old-school rusty fire escapes, the slow dripping of sewer pipes, and the deafening noise of the vents — this alley leads one into a different New York. “It’s old New York, old, dangerous New York,” described Philip Lu, 55, who works as a property manager across the alley.
The old New York is slowly fading away — half of Franklin Place and all of Theatre Alley have been renovated into modern high-rise buildings and luxury apartments are being constructed around the alley. Cortlandt Alley represents a part of New York that is being forgotten and replaced, a segment of history that continues to spark the imagination of filmmakers.
This side of New York is a dream for filmmakers — the perfect alley to shoot a murder scene, a street fight, an adrenaline-fueled police pursuit, and any crime-related scene. To make the alley seem even more dangerous and dingy and shady, film crews have sometimes pasted papers on the walls, staged bags of garbage on the sides, and purposely dirtied the environment.
In an interview with CityLab, Nick Carr, an experienced location scout in New York said:” The big thing I always get asked to find are dank dilapidated alleys, and New York City has, like, five alleys that look like that. Maybe four. You can’t film in three of them. So what it comes down to is there’s one alley left in New York, Cortlandt Alley, that everybody films in because it’s the last place.”
In contrast to the high status the alley enjoys among the filmmakers, the locals see an entirely different Cortlandt alley. For those who work nearby, the alley is nothing more than a private space for relaxation and a quick escape from the hustle of New York life. “It’s just a smoking area for us,” said Jay Agustin, 30, who works in a clinic by the alley.
Moreover, many who live in the neighborhood are completely unaware of this alley. When asked about Cortlandt Alley, Ana Cartier, 48, a local resident who works as a school crossing guard in the neighborhood said: “Don’t know about it, never heard of it.”
“It’s just a generic alley,” commented Lu. However, the normality of the alley is exactly what makes it attractive for some. Zilahi Zoltán, 37, a Hungarian tourist who was visiting New York for the first time, was amazed by the alley, especially the fire escapes. “This is a view,” he claimed. “It is typical New York.”
Unfortunately, that would be misinformation spread. This “typical New York” is in fact, so typical that no born-and-raised New Yorkers have seen. It is a fictional character that exists only in one’s farthest dreams and fantasies.
But that’s ok. New York is the city of dreams, isn’t it?
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