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The owner of Carrie Bradshaw's NYC apartment is getting serious about keeping tourists away
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Jan 13, 2025
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Photo by Debra L Rothenberg / Getty
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Jan 13, 2025
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“Sex and the City” fans may soon have to clear another hurdle to visit one of the show’s most popular New York City locations.
The owner of 66 Perry St. in the West Village, which stood in for the exterior of Carrie Bradshaw’s fictional apartment on the original HBO show, is asking the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission for permission to install a steel and cast iron gate at the base of the brownstone’s steps to keep away tourists. Because the building is in the Greenwich Village Historic District, any changes must be approved as in keeping with the neighborhood’s historic character.
The application was first reported by “Feed Me,” a business and culture newsletter.
The owner of the brownstone has tried using signs and a chain to deter tourists.
Photo by Emily Nadal
The person listed as the owner of the building did not respond to requests for comment. But her application to the landmarks commission described the reasons for the request in a full-page statement: An endless parade of fans, influencers and content creators has been wreaking havoc on the block for more than a decade now – and many of them come right up to her door to take pictures or make videos.
“My home is now a global tourist destination,” she wrote in her application. She said that after “20 years of hoping the fascination with my stoop would die away and fans would find a new object for their devotion,” she had acknowledged the need for a more formal barrier between her front door and the show’s fans.
At the advice of the Sixth Precinct, which serves the West Village and Greenwich Village, the owner strung a chain across her stoop with a “No Trespassing — Private Property” sign many years ago, to no avail, according to her request to the commission.
“They climb over the chain, pose, dance or lie down on the steps, climb to the top to stare in the parlor windows, try to open the main entrance door, or, when drunk late at night, ring the doorbells,” the statement reads. “We’ve also had graffiti painted on the steps and initials carved into the main door frame.”
The owner, who has submitted a 16-page document complete with architectural notes and examples of other approved gates in the neighborhood, blames herself for bringing this unruly element to the neighborhood.
“I felt sorry for the young location scout who was a recent grad from NYU Film School,” the statement reads. “He told me if he didn't secure THIS house, he would lose his first real job in the business."
Tyson Bidner, now an executive producer of “The Bear” on FX, confirmed that he was indeed a fresh NYU graduate when he scouted 66 Perry St. as the exterior of Carrie’s apartment – though he didn’t recall being afraid of losing his job.
“There’s probably some truth to it, though,” Bidner said in a phone interview. “I probably knew how great it was and how important it was to the show."
He said being invited back is always the first priority for a location scout, especially in television, where one location might end up being used for years.
“I’m sure I had a spiel about how she’d be taken care of and how well we’d treat it,” Bidner said.
Rob Striem, another location scout on early seasons of “Sex and the City,” said some of the sites made famous by the show had a happy result. After he scouted Onieals pub on Grand Street in SoHo, it became the fictional bar where Miranda’s eventual husband Steve worked as a bartender.
“For years, tour buses of tourists would stop at that place three times a day and they’d line up cosmopolitans for all these European housewives,” Striem said.
Striem said he does remember that the tensions over the Perry Street location had begun before the original series even wrapped, recalling the general commotion around the house as the block was regularly shut down due to filming there.
“I feel so bad for the lady,” Striem said. “I do remember groaning when we had to go back to Perry Street, by the end. Like ‘Oh, who’s going have to call that woman.’”
The agenda item to hear the proposal for an iron gate at 66 Perry St. is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Tuesday on the Landmarks Preservation Commission website.
“I wish her luck,” Bidner said.
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new york city
television
Ryan Kailath
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