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The New York City of the past still exists; you just have to know where to find it.
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, the FX show following their whirlwind courtship and high-profile marriage, has struck a chord with folks who were around in the '90s—when the pair were basically America's prince and princess. But it's also given younger viewers a glimpse into the era, from the dramatic tabloid stories to the very chic fashion. And it's very much a New York City story. In fact, the show was shot entirely in New York.
The show, which is the most-streamed limited series ever on Hulu and Disney+ surpassing 65 million streaming hours, stars Paul Anthony Kelly (John F. Kennedy Jr.) and Sarah Pidgeon(Carolyn Bessette). It's the first of in Ryan Murphy’s Love Story anthology and takes inspiration from Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy by Elizabeth Beller.
Across its nine episodes, we are immersed in the couple's orbit, which includes classy restaurants, gritty NYC streets, a gala, a nightclub and more.
Because we loved being transported back to the romanticized '90s version of NYC, we're sharing seven filming locations from Love Story that you can technically visit yourself.
1. The restaurants
The couple, together and separately, visit numerous restaurants for low-key dates and power lunches. Filming took place at Tribeca's The Odeon, Bubby's and Walker's, Four Seasons (now The Pool), Panna II, Michael's and Indochine because they were very close to where they lived and known to visit, according to production designer Alex DiGerlando, who spoke to Condé Nast Traveler.
"They were places that made sense for the time period," he said, explaining that he was in the city during the '90s and frequented Panna II on First Avenue in the East Village as an NYU student.
"In the script, the meal needed to take place at an Indian restaurant and John would’ve wanted to take her somewhere more incognito and low-key," he said about Panna II. "It fit the bill."
While it wasn't actually the spot of their first date like it was in episode one, they did reportedly eat there.
Michael's made sense for a George business meal because it was a big power lunch spot and Indochine was a hot spot for the fashion crowd.
We actually wrote a guide on how to eat like JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in NYC.
2. The Roxy nightclub/roller rink
After the couple's meet-cute, Carolyn goes to The Roxy to party. The Roxy actually closed in 2007 and has since been demolished and replaced with condos, so the show had to find a venue to stand in for it. Enter Bushwick's Elsewhere.
"The actual Roxy, before it was the Roxy, was a roller-skating rink—huge and sweeping, with very high ceilings. Elsewhere is much smaller, but it does have very high ceilings and it’s very dark and kind of cavernous," DiGerlando told The Hollywood Reporter.
The crew stripped out the modern point-of-sale interfaces and LED lights, replacing them with candelabras and the swings.
"We built the banquettes with the zebra pattern the Roxy had. And then we built a facade over the exterior that mirrored the Roxy’s architecture and re-created the neon sign and the 'Be Good to the Roxy' sign, which was printed on sheet metal," he explained.
3. The gala scene
JFK Jr. and Carolyn meet at a gala in the first episode called "Don’t Bungle the Jungle II" at Amazon Village on Pier 25, which doesn't exist anymore. So, production took place at the ballroom of the Convent of the Sacred Heart on 91st Street and lit it with more candelabras.
"We dipped the bulbs in a peach-colored pigment," DiGerlando said. "When you watch that scene, there's a really ethereal quality with this peach light, which I love.
4. The streets
The production shot all around the city, including outside of where JFK Jr. actually lived, 20 North Moore Street in Tribeca, as well as the Equinox at East 61st Street, the Upper East Side outside the Guggenheim Museum and Tompkins Square Park.
5. The fight
All the pressure of fame and family came crashing to a head in episode five, when JFK Jr. and Carolyn have a big, very public blowup in Battery Park. Tompkins Square Park was a stand-in for Battery Park, where their actual fight took place, but Tompkins Square Park reportedly looks more like 90s Battery Park than today's does.
According to Glamour, multiple people reported a couple fighting in the park on the Citizens App on the day they filmed the scene.
Other filming locations
The Kennedy compound
In episode five, Carolyn visits Hyannis Port, the Kennedys' Massachusetts compound, for the very first time. While it's a tense episode, it's also when JFK Jr. romantically proposes to Carolyn in a rowboat.
Hyannis Port (a three-house compound) was portrayed by a waterfront estate in Bellport, Long Island. According to DiGerlando, it almost mirrored the real thing.
"The house itself had been renovated too much and it was only a one-story house. It didn't feel right," he explained. "We serendipitously found another house just down the road that wasn’t an exact match, but spiritually it worked. The house was really grand. It had a real feeling of history when you were in there and quirky idiosyncratic details."
The production ended up building a dining room large enough to mimic the real one and added a historically accurate gravel driveway.
The wedding
The gorgeous private wedding ceremony portrayed in episode six took place at the Greyfield Inn on Georgia's Cumberland Island. For the show, though, it was filmed at a privately owned estate in Sands Point, New York. According to DiGerlando, the Rolling Stones stayed there once.
Production built a church for the scene on a horse farm in Rockland County, New York.
"It had the right kind of vegetation and topography that was pretty surprisingly a good match," he told CN Traveler. "We built it to match the actual structure exactly. For the bridal suite, we recreated that on a stage based on research of what the actual Grayfield Inn suite looked like at the time."
Before you head out, you can watch Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette on Hulu, Disney+ and FX.