The Filming Locations of Annie Hall, Part 1 – New York, You’ve Changed

64 Comments

1. Another great post. Looking forward to part 2. I’d like to read in a future post about your process for finding all the locations from the old films. Do you really on your knowledge of the city, dialogue and other context clues in the films, and third-party research (e.g., books about the film)? It must take a lot of work to track all this stuff down. I’m glad you do it.

2. Hi
   I spotted two errors concerning the movie theaters that Alvy frequents. The first concerns the lobby he is exiting as patrons are purchasing tickets and entering it to his left, that’s the Paris theater on West 58th street, just off of 5th Avenue, not the Beekman. Also, the theater lobby that both he and Annie are waiting in is not the Beekman’s, but the late, lamented New Yorker’s.

   Great blog, by the way.

   Regards, Ruben

   1. Thanks for the info, fixed!

3. So what is the joke that audiences never catch?

   1. My guess: the joke is that, when Alvy says something like “I’ve always had an over-active imagination”, the blonde popsy in the red romper winks and mugs directly to camera — which means that you the audience-member would also have to have an over-active imagination to see a blonde in a movie winking at you.

      (A bit of a clunky explanation for a delightfully subtle gag — sorry!)

4. I lived around the corner from the Beekman when I first moved to NYC, it was a real neighborhood asset. Its neon marquee was spectacular: http://nyneon.org/Amusement-04.htm

5. the scene outside the plaza theatre ,next to the soda shoppe, reminds me of the new IFC movie house (old waverly)on 6th ave. could this be right?

   1. I also was reminded of the IFC/former Waverly at 6th Ave & W. 3rd St.

   2. I was reminded of the Waverly as well, but from the photos I could find, the marquee has always had that sort of blunted triangular shape that it has now; it’s not straight across in the front. Was thinking (hoping?) it might be the old Metro theater on Broadway and 99th, but doesn’t look quite right either.

   3. I believe the Plaza Theater was on 58th St. bet. 5th/Madison. It had a beautiful wood-paneled lobby. One of the more comfortable old-style neighborhood movie houses.

6. ….a great post about a great NYC centric movie….looking forward to pt.2 ….mac

7. Fun! I wonder if while you were scouting the Hamptons you happened to find the majestic home from Woody Allen’s often-overlooked “Interiors?”

   1. I thought that was in Deal NJ

8. Just wanted to say that I absolutely love this blog. Been reading for a long time and it always makes me miss Manhattan. Keep up the great work!

9. Great post. Looking forward to the next installment.

   Speaking from a publishing perspective (I work for a major NYC book publisher), the idea of a book like this is a great one. However, the problem would be getting permission from the studios to use the number of stills you’d need for the Then/Now comparisons. Studios are loathe to give permission for too much material, and if you had in mind to do more than one film per book, the rights issues (and potential royalty sums) could make the project untenable for many mainstream publishers. Still, it is a great idea, and might be made to work.

   1. i think Fair Use is your pal, for that sort of book. I do clearances for a living, and I doubt that any studio would even try a cease and desist.

10. I’m going to take a shot in the dark on this, but I would venture to guess Annie’s Hamptons house may have been on Peconic Bay or perhaps Long Island Sound. My reasoning is that “dock” you refer to looks more like a fishing pier and likewise does not appear to be designed to handle a pounding ocean. Also, there are still many houses that look like Annie’s around Greenport and East Marion.

    I was recently watching a different movie on cable. The shots looking east were Breezey Point and the shots looking west were Montauk (about a 100 miles apart). The film maker wanted us to believe it was Southampton.

    1. I don’t believe there are piers of that sort extending into Long Island Sound in the East End. Much of the Sound shoreline has a steep drop-off to beach level, making pier-building impractical. Peconic Bay is more likely.

    2. The dock is in Glen Coves North Country Colony. It was torn down because of restore and insurance cost. It was the beach I grew up at. I remember them filming the movie there when I was a kid.

11. jumping ahead, i’m pretty sure the “we use a large vibrating egg” scene was right around waverly place and gay street in the village….

12. When we first saw the film in 1977, the bunch of us exclaimed “that’s Dune Road.” We agreed the house was one of a handful of small homes between Triton Lane and Dolphin Lane, on the ocean side. All of which have been replaced by the conspicuous palaces you cited. Of course, back then, we didn’t have the video avaiable to us to check right away. The dock was somewhere else. There surf and littoral drift of the sand make a dock impossible.

    If I recall correctly, in this film Woody also mentions “the crabs at Sam Wo’s” as one of his reasons for living. Sam Wo was at 39 Mott Street, right at the crook in the road. It was the greatest Cantonese place ever. Linoleum floor, flourescent light, tea in glasses, slide the pressed ducks aside to access the bathroom, open all night.

13. Dune Road is indeed the most likely location for the Hamptons scene. As I understand it, large houses used to be uncommon along the road because the risk of storm damage was too high. Enactment of the federal flood insurance program in the late 1960’s made it much easier to build in such risky locations. Although the program was nearly a decade old in 1977, many of the details were still being worked out and there hadn’t yet been a building boom in locations such as Dune Road.

    Whether the taxpayers should be subsidizing insurance on huge Dune Road houses, which will be _former_ houses if a hurricane or even a strong tropical storm makes a direct hit, well, that’s another issue for another time 🙂

14. Such a wonderful public service for the Giuliani administration to get rid of that eyesore and public nuisance, the Thunderbolt roller coaster, in the middle of the night with no warning. It could have fallen on someone! That is, if they climbed over the fence and stood under it for a few decades. And the 1895 Kensington Hotel definitely did not meet the new Italian design standards for the boardwalk. Who cares if it was the oldest remaining building in Coney Island? I know I’ve really enjoyed looking at that vacant lot the last 12 summers.

15. Great detective work!

    As a onetime Coney resident, I have a feeling that Steve’s Clam Bar might have been farther east, with the Cyclone in the background, but I could be wrong about that.

16. I disagree about the Plaza location — there was a Plaza theater on West 58th, and in one photo I was able to find, the theater name is identical with the Annie Hall shot, although the marquee has changed:

    http://iradeutchman.com/film/movie-theaters-ive-known-and-loved/

17. My family rented a house on Dune Road just west of Mecox Beach in Bridgehampton all through the 1970’s and we remember them filming the scenes for Annie Hall there. The house is long gone. Piers 13 and 14 hosted the Wall Street Racquet Club, owned by the Wind family of Long Island. The cost of replacing the structures was tremendous and the DEC has a strong environmental agenda to eliminate as many piers as possible, so they were demolished. Fortunately, nearby at Pier 15, is the spectacular new public park that was recently opened by the city, as well as the first phase of the East River Waterfront Esplanade. Some things do improve over time!

    1. Hey, Gregg. I defer to your knowledge if you were there when it was filmed. However, I can’t let it go… I was VERY familar with Dune Road from the Shinnecock Inlet to the Moriches Inlet (which has since become a caricature of trophy houses). I was also passably familiar with Mecox and environs. Dune Road in Southampton (which seemed to be an extension of Gin Lane) was, even then, a pretty grand affair. The house in the movie was not typical of Southampton.

18. I always thought that the Hampton’s house belonged to Alvy, not Annie. In the last part of the movie, Alvy is in the same kitchen trying to recreate the lobster scene with a new girlfriend. Could be wrong but that was always my interpretation…

    Love the post!

19. When the Beekman’s demolition was imminent in 2005, I went and photographed as much as I could without calling too much attention to mysel. It never occurred to me, until Scout mentioned it, that there wouldn’t be a ton of photos available online documenting the design. So I’ve mounted a post on my blog, The Architecture of Film (http://archoffilm.blogspot.com/) showing all I’ve got: http://archoffilm.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-beekman-of-annie-hall-1977.html

20. Loved this post. Hard to believe that my wife and I were watching again Annie Hall Sunday night and – quite inevitably – comparing the locations with the current ones. Amazed that you were working on this post at the same time. By the way, did you already take a picture from the near-corner round table at Lincoln Center’s PJ Clarke’s for the ending sequence?

21. Those shots under the Manhattan bridge and Brooklyn Bridge are headed up the East side under the FDR, not West side, as stated.

    There’s also a road out on the way to Montauk that we used for shooting a desolate road called Napeague Meadow Road, that you should keep in mind. http://goo.gl/maps/r8tb

    I’m always jealous of all the places you get into, keep it up!

22. If I recall Diane Keaton’s character is originally from Wisconsin (Annie & Alvy even visit her parents in one scene). So I always assumed the flashback movie theater scene was taking place in her home town. It could have been shot anywhere.

23. Great post, thanks for this. Roll on part 2. So sad about that roller-coaster demolition. I doubt Rudy G is much of a Woody fan.

    IMHO Annie Hall is Woody’s greatest gift to the world, I’ve watched it more times than I’d care to admit, on dodgy VHS, pre-recorded VHS, and various DVDs. In 4:3 ratio, and in widescreen. Would love to see it in a cinema some day. Maybe the Bleeker?

    FWIW, I wrote a piece on Annie Hall a while back which was eventually published by The Guardian, though they edited it pretty ruinously. Here’s the original:

    http://www.oomska.co.uk/whats-wrong-with-this-picture/

    <>

    Yes, Alvy meets Annie “at the Bleeker” but he refuses to go in once the titles have started, so they continue their argument in the queue at the New Yorker, that’s all in teh dialogue (“Everyone on line at the New Yorker has to know our rate of intercourse?”)

    <>

    The Sam Wo’s mention was in ‘Manhattan’. Thanks for that description though, sounds like a great place.

    <>

    Yep. Although that scene could be imaginary or a composite, shown as an example of the kind of unsatisfying experience he’s encountering once Annie’s gone…

    Now, where did the ‘masturbation’ argument with Annie getting into the taxi cab take place?

    1. Thanks for straightening me out on the Sam Wo reference. Now I’m fixated on the memory. Back in the 70’s when we’d be inexplicably hungry in the middle of the night (this used to happen to us a lot for some reason), Sam Wo was like the Bat Signal. If I may… Woody may have been right about the crabs. But their clams in black bean sauce. Wow. Wor Shu Opp – sliced pressed duck, fried crisp and served with a brown sauce I have never seen equaled…my oh my. There’s one place out on the Island that makes a nice, but nearly as good, version. It was so cheap (I know 70’s dollars, and all that, but still), we used to say it was impossible to eat $10 worth of food.

       End of reverie. Resume normal Scouting NY.

24. The demolition of the Thunderbolt was a sad day, but I don’t agree with the nay-sayers that it was done in a sneaky manner. It stood directly beside the site of MCU (formerly KeySpan) Park, where the Cyclones play. That stadium was being built at the time of the demolition, and I would not be surprised at all, considering the makeup of the ground in Coney Island, and the heavy equipment being used at the stadium, if it was determined that the Thunderbolt had become structurally unsound as a result. I don’t doubt that preservationists think Giuliani was out of line with this demo, but in this one rare instance (I rarely agreed with the Giuliani administration), I think he did the right thing.

    It remains sad that the lot there has not been developed, but that’s got more to do with the property owners. The lot is not owned by The City of New York. I go to Cyclones games often, and I hate to pass that empty space. However, if not for MCU Park, much of the revitalization of Coney Island in the past 12 years would never have occurred. If they had to sacrifice the Thunderbolt and Alvy’s home to that end, I think it a reasonable trade-off. I’d rather have what it has become than what it was in the 80s and 90s.

25. Much of Annie Hall was shot in Southampton, and more specifically Southampton Village. They rented 4 heel drive vehicles from Hull Chevrolet-Olds on Hill Street in Southampton Village for movement on and off the beach. I was working at this dealership at the time. I suspect that you went driving on Dume Road WesHampton to Hampton Bays which is an entirely different animal from Southampton.

26. Only slightly related: I just saw “An Unmarried Woman” featuring Soho circa 1978. It’s amazing.

    1. I watched part of that several months ago and started an Internet search of some of the locations to compare then and now. Another great film that treats the city as a living breathing character. I am obsessed with NYC in the 70’s. Obsessed!

27. Slack-jawed with awe. Fantastic dedication, sir! Roll on part two.

28. Regarding the mystery location of the house in the Hamptons in the background of the photo with the VW Bug in the foreground. (above “even the electrical poles match up”). That pink house, actually known as The Pink House, was located on Dune Road in Bridgehampton. Dune Road there is only a 1 mile stretch bookended by two public beaches. The house was located on the ocean side of the road approxiately 4/10 mile from where Jobs Lane ends and Dune Road begins and had direct beach access. In 1988 the house was torn down (with the exception of the separate pool house structure which was retained due to zoning regulations that prevent the building of an entirely new structure separate from the main house–ie, by keeping the old one, or at least the foundation of it, the separate structure could be renovated and kept). It was replaced by a more modern and larger home with very interesting and unique architecture that remains there today. At the time it was built, some people lamented the removal of the charming Pink House (not because of its use in Annie Hall, though), but the new home, now 24 years old, fits beautifully with it’s surroundings and would likely be missed if it were torn down. Progress friends, progress. Hope this is helpful. By the way, the electrical poles mentioned below the photo no longer exist. In the mid-80’s a real estate mogul who built a still-there 10,000 sf white stucco home nearby paid to have all of the electrical wires buried under dune road to beautify the block. Not all progress is bad.

    1. Just to be clear, I am 100% certain about the information in this post. It is Bridgehampton, not Westhampton, Southampton or East Hampton.

    2. Drew you are right. It’s Dune Rd off Jobs Lane in Bridgehampton. It’s bounded by the ocean on 1 side and Mecox Bay on the other. My family owned 55 Dune Rd at the time and we were screaming in the theater when we saw our house flash by in the film! Ours is the one 2nd from right in the “phone poles” photo. Now alas a modern semiMcMansion. And the Pink House was rented for one or more summers in the 70’s by none other than Truman Capote! Another modest home on the same small stretch of road was bought from my friends the Haleys by West Side Story choreographer Jerome Robbins. It was such a peaceful, sparsely populated stretch back then. By the way, the dock must’ve been shot elsewhere as others have said – no dock like that existed there.

       1. Yes,w Jerome Robbins on the street there with his Jack Russell terrier! Good call. Didn’t know about Truman Capote.

29. Re-reading my post above, I would like to replace “it’s” with “its,” before the word “surroundings” before I get blasted by critics.

30. The burger joint in the Los Angeles sequences was an actual Fatburger location at the intersection of La Cienega & San Vincente Blvds. It was very popular late at night after bars & clubs closed. It was not uncommon for that location to have a few NBA players at the counter. The very 80’s film HEARTBREAKERS was also shot at this location.

    Sadly, the semi-circular building is now the customer waiting room for luxury car repair shop nearby.

31. Much of the property on Dune Rd. in Westhampton Beach was destroyed or severely damaged during Hurricane Gloria in 1985 I believe. I had a friend with a family house there and it was totaled. And the sand in the bay was moved around so much the channels changed significantly. IIRC. Great site. Born and raised here and its a great trip.

32. I have fond memories of riding all the Coney Island roller coasters, including the one at Steeplechase, in the 1950s. But the ride on the Thunderbolt stands out as we could view women sunbathing nude on the roof of a nearby bath house from the top of the first hill. The Cyclone and Tornado were also memorable rides for their hills and sharp curve thrills.

33. “. . . one of my favorite jokes of the movie (that I swear audiences never catch), Alvy recalls a pretty questionable childhood memory of running along the boardwalk with a bunch of 1950′s stereotypes.”

    even unto this day. saw this when it came out (at 16). seen it alot. begin a line, I’ll finish it, and properly.

    but.

    what’s the joke?

34. I always thought that Alvy had an overactive imagination in thinking he was “one of the guys” running along with the cute girl…
    LOVED that movie:-)

35. As always Nick, your time, attention to detail and research leaves me speechless. A tremendous post.

36. Wonderful, Nick! I look forward to Part 2.
    As someone who lived on the UWS in the 80s, I lament the old Thalia whenever I watch “Annie Hall.” Now, it’s a big “complex” that has its plusses, but that old theater was so unique, with its slanted floor. And of course the marquee.

    Question: Where were Annie and Alvy eating dinner on their first date? Where she ordered the hamburger with mayo? This was after her first singing gig, when he said, “Let’s kiss now and get it over with, so we can digest our food later?”

    And: Where was Annie singing in her later gig, when Alvy was sitting at the bar watching her and Tony Lacey and his entourage (Shaun and Petronia) stopped by to ask them to join them at his hotel, with Jack and Anjelica, to get mellow?

37. I’m no Taschen Books, but I would certainly pick up a copy of your photo book (if/when published). Good luck!

38. Thank you for such a tremendous job Scout. You have no idea how happy I am to have stumbled upon this site. I have always wanted to know the exact apartment for the interior/balcony scenes of Annie’s apartment. Does anyone know?

    Also, I have stalked the city searching for the apartment used in the movie Alice, where Alice sleeps with Joe for the first time. The room they are in has those amazing slanted floor to ceiling windows (which are not very common). Last month while on a midnight walk I just happened to see a building (176 MacDougal above Hong Wah cleaners) with those slanted glass windows and googled the hell out of it but got absolutely nowhere. Would love your expertise with this one.

39. The Plaza Theatre was located in Englewood, NJ and was used in Annie Hall. The theatre closed in the early 70s, but was standing unchanged to be used as a location for the film.

    In fact, the building was never demolished, but became the John Harms Performing Arts Center which is now the Bergen Peforming Arts Center. The building had started as a vaudeville/movie theatre I believe.

    I know because I grew up in the area at the time and went to high school in Englewood, NJ.

40. Does anyone know what happened to the actual 1973 VW Beetle that they used in Annie Hall? I would imagine it might be worth a fair bit today since it was a sweet part of the movie.

41. MagWildwood correctly identifies the move theater lobby as that of the Thalia, an UWS landmark for many decades. Apologies to Ruben I., but as I used to frequent the theater I can say with assuredness that it’s the late great Thalia, not the “New Yorker” theater.

    1. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I know that Allen calls it the “New Yorker” theater in the scene, and it may even be that the Thalia changed it name for a time, or soon after the movie was made. Anyone know for sure?

42. Someone found the Annie Hall rooftop balcony and the beach house! http://www.popspotsnyc.com/annie_hall/

43. I’ve just come across this great post. I know it’s been ages, but I think Annie’s beach house is located in Amagansett, specifically on the eastern end of Cranberry Hole Road.

    1. Not quite the “eastern end”, as I have just found out (there is a bit of confusion on Google Maps as the name Promised Land Road also appears). Let’s just say the house overlooks Napeague Bay (I don’t think the owners would like to see their address on the internet!)

44. I just discovered your site. I’m so obsessed with NY filming locations (Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Desperately Seeking Susan, etc). Thank you so much!

45. That was wonderful…I’m headed over to paypal to see if I’ve got any funds for you….

46. The Bumper car scene in Annie Hall was shot at the Cavalcade Bumper Cars, which was located on Surf Avenue between West 12th St and Jones Walk. The former owner happened to mention this in an interview that I did with him the other day for my Coney Island blog, Amusing the Zillion. Looking for photos of the bumper cars in the film, I found this blog post. Thanks!

47. Coney Island in 1995…I had no idea the old roller coaster had been destroyed…
    http://galessandrini.blogspot.it/2012/09/coney-island-1995_3.html

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