When I first moved to the West Village, I wondered why people were clogging up the sidewalks on Perry Street and taking pictures in front of this beautiful brownstone. Then I learned the exterior of 66 Perry Street had been used for Carrie Bradshaw’s home in the popular HBO series “Sex and the City.” Since then, the site became a global tourist attraction–much to the dismay of the home owner and the other residents of this charming block.
People in love with the show pause in front of the building to take pictures, but it doesn’t just end there. Over the years, obsessed fans have run up the steps, peered into the windows, rung the doorbell, tried to open the door, painted graffiti on the steps, scratched initials into the door frame. This madness has gone on for two decades. The show ran from 1998-2004 but still airs in syndication worldwide.
Following the advice of the Sixth Precinct, the owner erected a chain across the steps. And she installed private property signs and other signs about keeping the noise down and not climbing on the steps. Obviously that hadn’t worked so the owner, Barbara Lorber, petitioned the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to build a steel and cast iron gate. She needed permission because the building is in the
Greenwich Village Historic District. This past January, the Landmarks Commission approved her request. Even Village Preservation testified on her behalf.
I’ve never understood the attraction of posing for a picture in front of a building that appears in a show. The interior of Carrie’s apartment was shot elsewhere. Then the fans stop at the nearby Magnolia Bakery to buy their overly sweet cupcakes. While that may be good for business, the little park across from the bakery now looks like a dump what with all the garbage cans overflowing with cupcake boxes.
When the bakery was featured in “Sex and the City” it caught the eye of designer Marc Jacobs who decided to locate several stores in the neighborhood, all now closed except one. But his arrival on Bleecker Street opened the floodgates and completely changed those blocks.
When I moved here in 1997, Bleecker Street still had a neighborhood vibe — with a pasta shop, a card shop, a new age store, the Biography Bookshop, many antique furniture stores, even a laundromat. That’s all gone now.
Today Bleecker Street is jam packed with cute high-end designer shops. I always thought the show being filmed here hastened the uber gentrification of a historic district that was quaint and charming long before these upscale interlopers arrived
Sarah opened a shoe store
I have not missed the irony that Sarah Jessica Parker, who played Carrie Bradshaw, later opened a shoe store with her own line on the corner of Perry and Bleecker. It has since closed, one less stop for the tourists.
The invasion of fans has clearly made life hell for the residents of Perry Street between Bleecker and West 4th Streets. I’m sure whatever the owner was paid to allow them to film there couldn’t possibly be enough to compensate for the loss of privacy at all hours of the day or night.
I walked by on a freezing cold Saturday afternoon in January and seven or eight people stopped to take pictures within 10 minutes. I guess that’s a testament to the enduring popularity of the series, but I would hate to be living in this building or on this block. I saw tourists walking in the middle of the street as if this were a movie set and there were no cars. I watched a guy pose on the steps of a similar looking building, circumventing the chain on the steps of the Carrie house.
And though Parker and her family reside in the neighborhood, Carrie is a fictional character who lived on the Upper East Side. But that does not stop the fans from coming to worship at the West Village shrine. I’m glad the owner got permission to erect that gate and hope Perry Street residents finally get some peace.
I laughed at the writer in the New York Post who thinks the home owner should be grateful her building is part of NYC history. He called her plea for the gate West Village whining and wildly over dramatic. I gathered his humorous rant stemmed from being peeved he’s stuck in the noisy East Village, where I lived for decades.
I’m curious to see what the gate will look like. The designer is tweaking it with input from Landmarks Preservation. And will it be effective? We’ll see.
In a weird twist of Greenwich Village synchronicity: I’ve been listening to old Joni Mitchell albums as I read local resident Henry Alford’s fantastic new book I Dream of Joni. As I was streaming Mitchell’s album “Clouds”, I was jolted as young Joni sang “In a Bleecker Street café, I found someone to love today.”
I pictured her chain smoking in a café that no longer exists. I felt nostalgic for the pre “Sex and the City” era when the neighborhood still lured artists and dreamers.
By the time I came to NYC, there were cafes on all four corners of Bleecker and MacDougal. That was the late 70’s, but I presume Joni was singing about the Village, not the West Village (although that’s where Dylan could afford to live – those were the days). Actually, it may have started with one or two, grown to four, then shrunk back down to none – my memory isn’t what it used to be. I suppose Bleecker sings better than MacDougal (or Cornelia for Cafe Cino).