Stopping By Archie Bunker’s House in Queens
Last week, I was scouting in the Middle Village/Glendale area of Queens when I realized I was close to an address I’d been meaning to check out. Only thing was, as I pulled up to the house, I couldn’t remember why I’d written it down.
Over the years, I’ve saved up a number of Google Maps bookmarks of New York sites I should stop by if I ever happen to be scouting in a particular neighborhood. But what was so special about the non-descript house at 89-70 Cooper Avenue?
And then it hit me like Edith Bunker hitting the high notes in “Those Were The Days…”
89-70 Cooper Avenue was Archie Bunker’s house, featured in the opening credits of All In The Family.
The footage was shot in the early seventies, and it’s neat to see the similarities over 40 years later. I love that the flag pole has survived. Also, note how the little tree on the left has become a much larger tree today.
Archie often identified his address as 704 Hauser Street in Astoria, but the Queens of All in the Family was clearly an amalgam of several different neighborhoods. And in a way, Cooper Ave was the perfect choice, with its lot-to-lot rows of cookie cutter housing that could pretty much be Anywhere, Queens.
Funny that the show never mentioned Archie’s view off the front stoop: a graveyard across the street!
In the later spin-off Archie Bunker’s Place, Archie opens a bar, featured in the opening credits after some neat exterior shots of 1970s Northern Blvd. But where was it?
No one seems to know. The shot cuts away from the busy streets just before it’s pictured, so this could very well be on a soundstage in California. Then again, I’ve read some claiming online that the building did exist, but was torn down.
Either way, good to know that a little bit of Archie Bunker can still be found in Queens.
-SCOUT
Great photos! I always wondered what that house would look like now, and the Bunkers would probably have vinyl siding if they still lived there.
Oddly, the show’s set looked nothing like the house seen on the credits. There was a front porch, there were no windows to the right of the front door (unless they were in the coat closet), and there was no mention of a shared wall with any neighbors. It still looked right in the credits, somehow.
The Bunker’s aged 50s mid 1970s would be dead today with Mike and Gloria grate grandparents living out final years there now. Very sad but nice pics and memories
Yes George, edith and archie are both dead, jean stapleton who played edith, died on may 31st in 2013 (3 years ago), and carroll O’connor who played archie, died on june 21st in 2001 (15 years ago) , and guess what? mike (rob reiner) and gloria (Sally struthers) are both the same age! they are both 69 years this year of 2o16, and they are both still living, i don’t know if they are grandparents or great grandparents, but they do have children, so i just wanted to let you know about them.
Was anyone home?
It’d be awesome if you made a Foursquare list of your favorite locations. This is a great one that should be included.
Do you think that the owners know that they are living in the Bunkers’ house?
I asked the owner if she knew that her house was in the opening credits of All in the Family and she barely spoke English and said, NO. I didn’t know, however I wasn’t sure if she understood what I was saying. I tried to clarify it and told her that it was a famous show in the 70’s and that her house was in the beginning of every show, then she finally got it I think. Lol.
I think there’s nothing funny about someone not understanding English and on the other hand,realtors are supposed to talk about the selling house backgrounds or story to the potential new owner. Maybe that didn’t happened. I’ts good enough to know that the new -non English speaking- owner is taking good care of the house for everyone who does happen to know its story may have the chance to take a good look at it.
Around the corner on 88th is the bar formerly known as Coooper’s Ale House from the King of Queens. A show that’s not as famous. 🙂
I remember that the interior sets did match up with the exterior. Inside the house there was no window on the left side of the door and the perspective seemed to change, i.e. they zoomed in from the exterior left, but the side windows were in the dining room would have been the firewall in a semii-detached.
I meant to write that the interior sets “did not” match up with the exterior shots.
Same way with King of Queens! The exterior shots of the house don’t match up with the interior (when it shows their living room and the front door). Hmmm… 🙂
That’s what I think . King of Queens House!
There are similarities between All in the Family and the King of Queens Archie was a lodge member he called his club it was called Kings of Queens his friend Barney’s last name was Heffernan which was Doug’s last name and on AchieBunker’s Place his cook’s name was Veronica played by Anne Mrare who also played Veronica Spences’s mom who ended up marrying Arthur Spooner who in real life is Anne’s husband Jerry Stiller.. interesting
that’s amazing, i go by this house all the time, would never have known! Further down Cooper you’ll pass the Assembly Bar, better known as Trees Lounge in Steve Buscemi’s directorial debut.
And Michel, you are speaking of Yer Man’s Irish Pub on 88th & Cooper, I just had to look that up to confirm it used to be Coopers. This street has quite a history.
Great post today, thanks!
Ive been driving by those houses for years. My Grandparents are buried right across the street in St.Johns. Funny thing is that me & my cousins used to call those houses the Archie Bunker houses before we new it was the actual house.
I grew up around the corner from Archie Bunker’s house. It was definitely a landmark in the neighborhood. So I think the folks who live there must know.
The YER Man’s IRISH PUB is now located on 88th Street where the Cooper’s Ale house was seen in scenes on Many shows,,, THE KING OF QUEENS ,,,
That graveyard across the street is one of the largest Roman Catholic cemeteries in New York. My brother is not only buried there, but is feet away from the section depicted in the photograph. A number of luminaries are buried there, with a definite slant towards members of the Mob (not including my brother).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John_Cemetery,_Queens,_New_York
I lived on Aubrey Ave in Glendale for about 28 years. Archie’s house was about 1 block away. I now live in PA
Problem with these house images and the one in the opening credits. There are several shows that show Archie on the front porch of the house and it is not enclosed as these are. Anybody got an answer for that other than “artistic license?”
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by chance, and I am shocked why this accident didn’t took place in advance! I bookmarked it.
At the closing of many of the episodes, Mike says: “All in the family was recorded before a live studio audience.” Obviously the home was just filmed for the opening and closing themes and is not the real set.
Ya think?
Ya, I think you’re a genious! How did you figure that out?
Lol
no shit, Sherlock. Intelligent much?
.
No, wrong. The house next door was gutted and an audience seating area was installed.
There’s a hint of palm tree in distance and what looks like an office bldg
I suspect the Archie Bunker’s Place doorway is the tail-end of footage shot on the mini fake street at CBS Redford Studios… Real footage of NY streets and then it ends with clip of bar facade shot in LA
The bar exterior looks like a bar across from the Vernon-Jackson subway stop in Long Island City, Queens, which was also used in the film “Cocktail.”
The views from the TV show ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE were @ 32-50 Steinway Street in Astoria between Broadway & 34th Avenue. It was formerly a Diner NOW a Dental Office.
Hi,
By chance does anyone know where the exterior house shots in the opening and closing credits for “Maude” are? Assuming somewhere in NY as the series was based there.
“Maude” supposedly took place in the Village of Tuckahoe in Westchester County.
The exterior shot ofchie Bunker’s Place has one clue that might lead to the theory that it is on a soundstage. In the foreground is what appears to be a US Mailbox, the top portion of which is red. The Post Office stopped using those mailboxes in the late 60’s and early 70’s when they reorganized and went with the all-blue design still in use today. A LOT of tv shows filmed on studio lots continued to use the old boxes,possibly unaware of the change or too llazy to make the change. Same goes for shows filmed in Canada (very common today) where you see they place the old mailboxes to give a more US appearance not realizing they are the old design).
I’m going to go ahead and say the exterior shot of Archie Bunker’s Place is definitely a backlot. The montage of shots leading up to it are of what appears to be Steinway St in Astoria in the late 70s/early 80s, but the final shot that ends on the facade doesn’t match up at all. Aside from the aforementioned mailbox and trees behind the alley, the sign “Truck Lettering” seems very un-authentic. When you watch it a few times the final shot seems very awkwardly tacked on to the real footage.
What you wrote makes sense. Of course with all the studio trickery at their disposal (even in the pre-CGI era), Tandem Productions could have done whatever they wished, including a combination of shots from reality mixed with soundstage shots.
Anyway, to most viewers of the 1970s and early ’80s the illusion was created we were watching scenery from Queens, Long Island in New York.
Actually the exterior footage of the house may have been shot in 1968 or 1969 as there were two pilot episodes that were made to introduce Archie to tv audiences. The first pilot was actually called “Justice for All” and showed a doormat at the front door with “justice” emblazoned on it. The show wasn’t picked up by the networks so another pilot was shot. Again, the show wasn’t brought to the air-waves…not until 1971. During all this time there were also two different Mike and Gloria’s played by different people on the first two pilots. Check them out on YouTube
The Jefferson’s house was originally two doors down not next door.they changed it to being next door sometime in the later episodes.Also Archie’s mother was still alive according to one of the early episodes.her name was Alma the same as my mom.
Didn’t the jefferson s say they were moving 2 doors down in one if the episodes?
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The exterior shot is definitely a backlot. The blue building may be real, but the “Truck Lettering” is not. A few things stand out: 1) The curb that curves around “Archie Bunker’s Place” intersects the middle of the door. 2) The door is partially open and doesn’t look solid. 3) There is a mini alley between the white building and Archie’s Place and appears to be a bus stop sign or something, plus the obvious palm tree in the back. The closest building I could find that makes sense is one that was on the “40 acres” backlot.
The episode I just watched said they lived in Astoria. I have always heard the address was 704 Houser St but that WAS JUST A TV ADDRESS.
I grew up nearby where there are many homes that look like the one you have posted.
Those houses are not the same. He mentions small tree in the openings credits that is now bigger but the tree in the credits is rooted near the curb and the one in the later pics is in the side yard area. Also th are several episodes that showed the bunkers had a front porch yet in the opening credits the house had no porch.
Here is something to ponder. Near the end of the AITF opening credits, as the camera pans toward Archie’s house, there is a kid in red shorts and with knee-high socks and tennis shoes that pops out from the edge of the driveway and then hides in the shadows. I’ve always wondered if this kid knows that he is in the credits and what he now looks like.
Omg I wonder that too! I don’t think we’ll ever know.
Oh and one more point I’d like to make. When Carroll O’Connor passed away I read an interview by the lady who actually lived in this house in the opening credits. From what I remember, she grew up in that house but was now in her early 90s. Her parents bought that house in the early 1900s and she stayed in it all her life. She would say that she’d get visitor’s all the time asking her about whether this house was the actual house used in the t.v. show.
Sad thing that Archie Bunker worked on a loading dock and he could afford a house. His wife didn’t have to work. Today there is no way that a guy working in a warehouse could afford that same house. Yet we have record profits on wall st. Maybe we should return to livable wages, pensions and good quality heath insurance that most of the WW2 generation enjoyed. Really makes you think.
I thought Archie had another job as cab driver.
his job changed over the course of the show culminating in his owning a bar
Archie drove part-time for his pal Munson.
All in the family was on Dutch National Television, in the seventies.
It was a family tradition, after the sport reviews, to watch it. Great characters, very well written,
and far ahead of it’s time. I still think it is one of the best sitcoms ever made.
On the 21st of September, my wife and I are coming to visit New York, and this house is definately
one of the places on my list to visit.
A few problems, the show always had a front porch on the house were they filmed many conversations. Irene and Frank Lorenzo lived across the street, (In the cemetery?), The Jeffersons lived next door, the attached house or across the walkway? the show indicated a one family building., The episode with the Puerto Rican family indicated they were buying a single family home that the Lorenzo’s ended up buying across the street? The house also appears to not have a side back kitchen door? Many discrepancies from the actual house and the set house.
“Frank & Irene Lorenzo” are stated to have lived “down the street” from “The Bunkers” in the profile of the fictional couple in television’s “All in the Family.” I am curious to know how you ascertained “The Lorenzos” lived not only “down,” but “across the street,” in what is a cemetery in the actual Astoria, Queens neighborhood where the house used for exterior shots of the “Bunker” house is located.
I am also unsure about your statement “The house also appears to not have a side back kitchen door?” Do you mean the home of “Archie & Edith Bunker?” Because the back door from the kitchen of “704 Hauser Street, Astoria, Queens, NY” was shown many times in the eight years’ run of “All in the Family” and its four seasons’ spin-off “Archie Bunker’s Place.”
JIM, THEY PLAYED ON A LIVE STAGE SOMEWHERE IN CALIFORNIA! NOT IN A REAL HOUSE!, THEY ONLY FIXED THE STAGE UP LIKE A REAL HOUSE! THE LIVE AUDIENCE WAS JUST ACROSS THEIR LIVING ROOM!, WHICH IS WHY WE HEARD THE AUDIENCE LAUGHING AND CLAPPING, AND THE HOUSE SHOWN AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF EACH EPISODE, IS NOT THE HOUSE THEY PLAYED IN! IT WAS SHOWN JUST FOR THE THEME! TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE IT WAS THEIR HOUSE! THAT HOUSE IS REALLY A HOME IN NEW YORK! AND AGAIN, IT WAS NOT REALLY THE HOUSE THEY PLAYED IN!
Check out the pilot to All In The Family–there was an enclosed front porch which led to the livingroom–had they kept the set like originally seen the house would have matched–they used this exterior (along with additional footage of the block) for the pilot.
Love this show, intact I’m watching it now. Thank you for sharing those pictures!
Thanks for all the info about where AITF was filmed and the pictures. I’ve been looking for filming locations from all those great 70’s early. 80’s TV shows like the Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude, Sanford and Son, etc for awhile.
Thank you for all the information as well. I just started watching All in the Family this year, or was it last? On Antenna TV, ugh such a great show! Definitely on my top five. Wish we could go back to how simple people’s lives were back in the 70s.
Where is the house that was used for the show Maude? They showed it on the opening and closing credits. It was on a corner
I think all in the family’s set was in california! somewhere in california, Hollywood i guess, they didn’t play in a real house! it was just a live stage! they fixed it up like a house! as we know that the live audience, was just across their living room! which is why we heard the audience laughing and clapping! and of course the house shown at the beginning and end of the theme, is absolutely not the building they played in,! as the front of the house did not match what we see on tv!
The fact there was a cemetery across the street would not have been a reason for comment. There are so many cemeteries in that part of Queens it’s like part of the landscape. Of course, a non-New Yorker would not be aware of that.