How to Visit Carrie Bradshaw’s Apartment in NYC
If you are visiting New York City and are familiar with Carrie Bradshaw, you might want to pencil in a visit to her famous Manhattan apartment. Bradshaw, the protagonist of a wildly popular HBO series that started airing in the late 1990s, purportedly lived at an address on the tony Upper East Side. However, the actual building where they filmed exterior scenes for the show is located in the West Village – and you can easily stop by to snap a few selfies in front of Bradshaw’s famous stoop.
The series in question, SATC, premiered on HBO in June 1998. By the time it wrapped up in February 2004, the show had aired 94 episodes across six seasons. Since then, two major motion pictures have been based on the series. More recently, a sequel series, And Just Like That, started airing on HBO Max in December 2021. The premiere of the new series has renewed interest in the show and Carrie Bradshaw, prompting more fans to make the trip to the West Village address where Sarah Jessica Parker was often seen filming exterior scenes for the popular show.
Fans of the series figured out how to find Bradshaw’s apartment building long ago. The series, adapted from a popular column and book by Candace Bushnell, provided hints to its location from square one. In the first episode, for example, Bradshaw directs Mr. Big’s driver to take her to 72nd Street, Third Avenue. In the 10th episode of the first season, Bradshaw’s full address is shown on a baby shower invitation: 245 East 73rd Street.
However, if you head over to 245 East 73rd, you’re in for a surprise. There’s no actual address at that location, and there are no brownstones on that stretch of 73rd at all. Therefore, there’s no point in visiting the literal address mentioned on SATC.
SATC was filmed on a soundstage in Queens and at locations across NYC, lending dramatic backdrops to many scenes. The iconic stoop on which Bradshaw is often seen throughout the series really exists, but it’s not on the Upper East Side. The building they used during the first three seasons of filming is located at 64 Perry Street; the one used for the rest of the series is located next door at 66 Perry Street.
The site of the building where exterior shots were filmed of Carrie Bradshaw in front of her home is just a short walk away from several subway stations. You can also take a bus tour that includes stops at the location; it’s free if you buy a New York Pass.
However, if you decide to stop by the Perry Street property, be respectful. Since the show premiered in the late 1990s, residents of the building have struggled to manage the throngs of visitors who stop by for photo opportunities. For a while, there was a donation box requesting $1 donations for homeless cats and dogs, but it’s been gone for some time. These days, a chain with a “no trespassing” sign affixed to it stretches across the stoop, preventing people from getting too close.
Suppose you make it over to the brownstone on Perry Street. In that case, you might also want to hit Magnolia Bakery, where Carrie and Miranda enjoyed delectable cupcakes in the fifth episode of season three. Situated at 401 Bleecker Street at West 11th, the bakery is best known for its fantastic buttercream frosting.
On the show, Bradshaw allegedly rented her spacious (by NYC standards) apartment for only $700 per month. Even in the late 1990s, that was a steal for the UES. The apartment was supposedly rent-stabilized, pretty much the only way anyone could find such a good deal on a rental on the UES. Today, apartments on the UES rent for an average of $4,000 per month – more than $3,300 more than Bradshaw was paying.
The actual building at 64 Perry Street in the West Village sold for $13.25 million in 2013. The property at 66 Perry Street features five units ranging in price from $3 million to $10 million. On SATC, Bradshaw was a journalist; someone making that salary now could never afford to live in the area.
There has also been debate about whether Bradshaw was renting a studio or a one-bedroom apartment. Based on how it is depicted on the show, the unit was most likely an alcove studio, which features an L-shaped living area with a bedroom in an adjoining alcove.
You can’t go inside Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in NYC, but you can stay at an Airbnb in Chelsea modeled closely after it. You might even be able to score a studio nearby for under $3000/mo and pretend that you are living Carrie’s exciting life in the heart of one of NYC’s chicest neighborhoods.