"New York, You've Changed" is a new Scouting NY site feature in
which the New York depicted in movies is compared with the city of
today. This is not the usual list of shooting locations and addresses
to visit next time you tour the city. Instead, it is a full
shot-by-shot dissection to see what New York once was and what it has
become, for better or worse. Today, we finish our look at Taxi Driver (if you missed the previous articles: Part 1/Part 2; for those who missed our look at Ghostbusters: Part 1 & Part 2!). Enjoy!
Continuing along where we last left off, Travis takes Betsy to Times
Square for their ill-fated movie date. Exactly where they are is tough
to place as they walk along Broadway/7th Ave, but based on the median,
I believe they're at the corner of 45th and Broadway (note that this
section of Broadway is now closed off to traffic as a pedestrian
walkway):
Travis takes Betsy to the Lyric, a former 42nd Street playhouse and movie theater.
The actual show Travis brings Betsy to see is not the above-advertised Sometime Sweet Susan, but a 1969 Swedish sex educational film called Language of Love. Currently, the Hilton Theatre is gearing up for the 2010 release of the Spiderman musical.
In thisphoto, you can see the full Lyric facade. Originally designed as anopera school, the Lyric opened as a theater in 1903, with 1,350 seats,2 balconies, and 18 box seats. In 1934, it was converted into a movietheater to survive the Depression. At some point along the way, itbecame a porno theater. In 1994, the Lyric and neighboring Apollotheater (on the left) were demolished to make way for a theatercombining the two. Major architectural elements were carefully removedand re-installed in the new building, which currently is known as theHilton Theatre.
Shortly after the film begins, Betsy storms out of the Lyric (would she have the same problem with Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark?).
Travisdesperately tries to talk with Betsy, offering us a glimpse across thestreet of what I believe is the New Amsterdam theater (like the Lyric,it had been converted from a theatrical stage to a movie house duringthe Depression and was in shambles by the time Disney leased it in1993).
If you look closely, the theater across the street is playing Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction:
Travis laterstops at McAnn's Bar, a location I cannot find anywhere. There areseveral McAnn's in the city, but none of them have addresses that matchthe building numbering (McAnn's should be 692 or 694...). Any ideas?
Travis makesa call to Betsy to apologize, and amazingly, this scene was shot in aplace where I spend a good amount of time when working on films: thelobby of the Ed Sullivan Theater building which, in addition to theLetterman studio, also houses the Mayor's Office of Film. It's lookingquite a bit different these days, but I like that they left the metalphone book holder:
Angry, Travis storms around the corner out the front door:
Travis triesunsuccessfully to talk to Betsy at the campaign office, and while we'vealready covered the location in detail, I wanted to note theoddly-named restaurant across the street, "Aunt Fish" (no longeraround, of course).
Travis thenmeets up with his buddies at the Belmore Cafeteria, a former greasejoint on the corner of 28th and Park. Sadly, the owner sold theproperty in 1981, and a bland high-rise was built in its place:
An angled view of the new building:
Travis stepsoutside with fellow cabbie Wizard for a discussion about guns. We get aquick glimpse north (the building on the right past the Belmore is nowLes Halles, the restaurant owned by TV personality chef AnthonyBourdain):
The reverseview shows a fight on the street -- you can make out a pretty neatsubway globe lamp. Meanwhile, a McDonalds is now on the corner.
Across the street, more changes:
Traviscontinues to follow Betsy, and parks outside her building on Broadwaybetween 62nd and 63rd streets. Across the street, you can see the AAAbuilding entrance, and how it looks today:
Travisdecides to check in on Iris, the young prostitute he met outside theVariety. He parks his car on 13th Street between 2nd and 3rd Aves towait for her. It took me a good ten minutes of searching for that reddoor before I realized it doesn't exist anymore:
If you haven't noticed, one of the key aspects that makes Taxi Driver aquintessential New York movie is that the city geography makes sense.When Charlie takes Betsy to a coffee shop, for example, they head a fewblocks south from the campaign headquarters at 62nd Street to a greasejoint at 58th. When Charlie brings Betsy to the porno theater, we seethem walk a logical path down Times Square to 42nd Street. And here,when Travis reunites with Iris, he goes right around the corner fromthe Variety Theater, where he first met her.
The doormarked ROOMS is at 202 East 13th Street (oddly, everyone remembers thisentrance, even though nothing ever happens here):
Charliefollows Iris along, passing this great wall ad for Endicott Johnson, aNew York-based shoe manufacturer. The electronics store on the right isnow Cafe Deville.
Travis thenspeeds off, passing Gothic Cabinet Craft. Hooray! Something that stillexists! The sign's different, but it's still the same business over 30years later.
I take pridein correctly guessing the location of this next shot immediately, inwhich Travis is picked up by the gun dealer. The only clue in the photois that tuft of green up the street, but it's enough to give it away asMadison Square Park, placing Travis somewhere along 5th Ave (actuallyat 19th street):
As the cabcomes around the corner, we get a quick look at a diner advertising"coffee shop - fountain service." This is now a Sephora.
Yes! Another business still around! Same hardware store on 19th street as Travis heads off in the cab.
Travis thenattends a political rally, and I can't place this one. I was thinkingit might even be in Brooklyn, with the view of the Manhattan Bridge andthose warehouse-like buildings in the background. Any guesses?
I have absolutely no idea where the R&M Super Market is (where Travis first uses his new gun).
Travis thenattends a second political rally. This was easy to locate, as the firstshot features street signs (38th & Seventh Ave). Note the new fancyglass on the left...
In this nextshot, the only change is the DONT WALK and street signs. Look carefullyand you'll see what 33 years does to a wall advertisement.
One last view of Seventh Ave:
Travis is quickly asked to leave by a cop, and while most of these places are gone, the Spanish Taverna restaurant still exists:
Based on the reviews, I definitely need to try this place one night (though don't be fooled by the exterior -- dishes range from $20 to $40!).
Yet anothercorner diner is gone -- this time, The Center has been replaced byHealth King. Note that everyone is looking and smiling at the camera(Travis is driving too fast to notice during the film):
One final look at how Seventh Ave has changed:
Back to 13thStreet again, and Charlie meets up with Iris. The place on the cornerhas been serious renovated and is now Hea, a Japanese restaurant:
Across the street, another view of Gothic Cabinet Craft:
Charlie gets out and chats with Iris:
Again, we see the infamous ROOMS entrance...but no one ever goes in!
Travis has a chat with Iris' pimp, played by Harvey Keitel. The scene takes place outside of 204 East 13th Street.:
In this reverse shot, we get a look across the street (the buildings have all since been torn down):
After a deal is reached, Iris and Travis continue down the street...
...to 226 E 13th Street. Things are looking cheerier these days:
A tilt up shows the rest of the building:
Travis later takes Iris to a diner. Any ideas on where this might be?
The streetvendor on the right makes me wonder if this is on St. Mark's (man, doesthat brick look familiar). Good to know that Gino's Italian Ices havebeen around so long.
Charlie goes to the Palantine rally at Columbus Circle in what proves to be a failed attempt to assassinate the candidate:
The angel statue featured is still around:
As Travisflees the scene, we get a glimpse of the old Gulf + Western building onthe corner, later to be stripped down and completely renovated into theTrump International Hotel (along with steel globe).
After thebloody shootout on E 13th Street, the film concludes at the St. RegisHotel at 55th Street & Fifth Ave. I like the new black awning:
Travis chats with his cab buddies...
...then meets Betsy in a cab to end the film.
As evidenced in these past three installments, quite a lot has
changed in New York since 1976. Personally, I don't look back
nostalgically on the grittier New York of the late 1970s. As I never
experienced it first hand, I believe it's dangerous and naive to
romanticize something the city has worked so desperately to rise up
from. In 1976, a large portion of New York's population people simply
didn't care, and the city suffered for it.
In 2009, people care. A byproduct of people caring is a city that is
safer, more g-rated, more expensive, more museum-like. I agree that
such an environment leaves very little room for growth, artistic or
otherwise -- frankly, you can't have a Belmore diner at the corner of
28th & Park anymore (if you owned the place, would you not sell the property for countless millions?). While I dislike the fact that so many of the FAR more interesting locations in Taxi Driver have
been replaced by Duane Reades, McDonald's, Starbucks, and Sephora's, I
can only look at it as part of the unfortunate social evolution of New
York. Ultimately, if New York City didn't want them, they wouldn't
exist for long. And hey, if it all bugs you that much, there are plenty
of other American cities going through some pretty bad rough patches
you could move to, and I promise the rent will be much cheaper.
Regardless, as I stated at the beginning of this series, New York is
as much a character in Taxi Driver as Travis Bickle, and Scorsese can't
be praised enough for giving it so much screen time.
I'm taking alittle break from these labor-intensive then-and-now's, but definitelylet me know what movie you'd like to see covered next. And one lasttime, if you’ve made it this far, think about subscribing to our RSS feed or Twitter account (if you haven't already) for future updates!
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