I haven't been to NYC, but that couldn't be Manhattan or Brooklyn! More like Long Island or Westport. Been to Atlantic City, N.J. And Philly and they were one big cesspool, even in the suburb. I thought Brooklyn was all like what you saw in Do The Right Thing. And the city itself looks so sanitized, more like L.A.
share>>>I haven't been to NYC, but that couldn't be Manhattan or Brooklyn! More like Long Island or Westport. Been to Atlantic City, N.J. And Philly and they were one big cesspool, even in the suburb. I thought Brooklyn was all like what you saw in Do The Right Thing. And the city itself looks so sanitized, more like L.A.<<<
I wondered that myself. I don't think they ever stated what town the film starts and ends in. Could be upstate NY, could be Long Island, could be New Jersey.
According to IMDB, the film was shot in Manhattan and Brooklyn. There are some very suburban-looking parts of Brooklyn, such as Bay Ridge and Canarsie. Not all of Brooklyn looks urban like "Do the Right Thing", which I think was filmed in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood.
The Grand Prospect Hall (location of the Bat Mitzvah scenes) is definitely in Brooklyn, it's a famous reception hall in southern Park Slope. After that the characters take the subway to Chinatown in Manhattan, and I assume find the stolen minivan somewhere on the Lower East Side.
I thought the sign for the Carousel placed the final Manhattan scenes in Central Park, but there's also a carousel in Prospect Park, and one in the DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Bridge.
Since I couldn't tell where Noah's father lived, or where his store was, I couldn't tell for sure which carousel they were near. It looked like he lived in a brownstone building, which is common in both Manhattan (upper East Side) and Brooklyn (Prospect Heights, Brooklyn Heights)
I'm sure there's a way to map the entire night, but I'll bet that it's not possible to travel all that distance in one night and get back to wherever they started. They're seen traveling over a bridge at the start and end of the film. Didn't look like the George Washington Bridge, which would suggest they lived in New Jersey. Could have been the Tappan Zee, which would suggest upstate New York. If they ended up in Manhattn, it could have been a bridge to Long Island, like the Queensboro.
Anyone better than me at identifying NYC bridges? That would be the best clue to where they might have started - which bridge they took to get into Manhattan, and which bridge they took in the scene to get back home.
My best guess for the location of the houses, as per the STORY, would be Westchester County, upstate from New York City.
My best guess for the FILMING location of the houses would be Yonkers, NY.
I found this web-site, which details some of the Manhattan + Brooklyn shooting locations:
http://onthesetofnewyork.com/thesitter.html
And I found this web-site, which details NYC shooting locations for a week in October, 2010:
http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2010/10/02/weekend-lot-list-filming-locations-for-the-sitter-bad-teacher-more/
Though the film was shot mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn, it looks like they were also shooting in Yonkers, which is in Westchester County, just north of New York City. They shot on Buckingham Road and Fowler Avenue in Yonkers. I just did a Google Image search on those addresses and saw some very suburban houses.
So let's assume they started the night in Yonkers, NY. Their parents were at a party at the Brooklyn Historical Society, on Pierrepont St. in Brooklyn Heights. Before that, they bought the little girl new underwear at Kid City, at Broadway and Fayette St. in Brooklyn. They drove from Yonkers down through Manhattan, took the Brooklyn Bridge to the clothing store, then drove to the party in Brooklyn Heights.
After that, they went to the bat mitzvah at Grand Prospect Hall, on Prospect Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. They then took the subway in to Chinatown, and then the next stop was Noah's father's house, uncertain of the exact location, then the jewelry store, same problem. But the scene right after that, when the fanny pack gets thrown out the window, was at Shore Blvd. and Ditmars Blvd in Queens (not Brooklyn).
So I'm guessing the father lived in Queens, with the jewelry store in Astoria or Steinway. That's the Robert F. Kennedy bridge in the background (formerly called the Triborough Bridge). Once they have the father's car, they drive back to Brooklyn, and track the minivan to North 14th St. and Nassau Ave., the location of the gang bar. This is on the border between the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods.
This leaves just two locations a mystery - the location of the party where Noah's girlfriend was waiting for him, and the location of the car crash, near the carousel sign. If we assume that this party was also somewhere in Brooklyn, then I think that's the sign for the carousel in Prospect Park, placing the final gang fight in Prospect Park, Brooklyn - after which they drive the minivan back up to Yonkers in Westchester County.
Hope this helps. Thanks to Google maps -
Thanks for the heads up. Us "outsiders" always tend to think of NYC as a place full of taxis, crowded streets, impersonal people always in a hurry, crime in every dark alley, no freeways outside the Brooklyn Bridge or Lincoln Tunnel, etc. And I actually thought the residents of Brooklyn at best lived in row house brownstones and had blue collar jobs!
I figured that was a suburb they were in at first, for sure!