Revenge of Shot on Site Summer - Ghostbusters Locations, Part 2

In honor of the respective 35th & 30th anniversaries of the original Ghostbusters movies, every Sunday - henceforth dubbed Shot on Site Sundays - at Noon (Eastern) for the next several weeks (schedule here), I will go through the original two movies from start to finish, showing and telling you where everything was filmed in Manhattan, New York and Los Angeles, California. This will be part filming locations rundown, part behind the scenes exploration, and part "Making Ghostbusters". All parts are available here in reverse order: Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. I will be utilizing the home video cuts of both movies, which can be found on the 2014 Blu-ray Double Feature, as well as the recently-released 5-Disc 4K UHD & Blu-ray with Bonus Disc Set. With that in mind, SPOILER WARNING if you read any further... though I suspect that if you're at Spook Central, you've already seen both movies a million times over.

The majority of real world New York photos were taken by Alex Newborn in July 2014 and Lars Karlsen in July 2018, and are being used with permission. The enlargements for these photos, and for the movie framegrabs, can be found on the various Filming Locations pages elsewhere on Spook Central. Other images are credited where known. Locations were identified by various people and sources over the past 35 years. Those that are not common knowledge are credited on the specific Filming Locations pages (see previous link). The title graphic seen at the top was created by Lars Karlsen, based on an idea by Paul Rudoff. It can be enlarged for a better look at its beauty. Now that that's out of the way, we've got movie sign...

The guys find a real estate agent who shows them an old, run-down firehouse in a neighborhood that Egon equates to a demilitarized zone.


The holy site of Ghostbusters filming locations, it's the real-life firestation for Hook & Ladder Company #8 at 14 N. Moore Street in New York. The company was profiled in the Spring 1990 issue of The Real Ghostbusters magazine.


Let's take a look quick inside. Various people took photos at various times, so some of what I'm about to discuss may not exist anymore, or may have been moved. Right inside is half of the No Peaceful Ghosts sign that was above the entrance in the second film. I believe that opposite the wall seen below is the wall of telephones they recovered that were melted by the heat of fires they put out.


On one of the walls is a collage board of photos taken during the filming of Ghostbusters II.


The ladder company's logo, which appears on t-shirts that they sell at the firehouse, as seen in their memorabilia case, which used to be right inside on the left side on the same wall with the Ghostbusters II sign.


Right outside the front door, on the ground to the right, is a hand-painted version of the ladder company logo. It has changed over the years, as evident by these two photos.



The realty agent shows them around the unique fixer-upper opportunity that awaits them inside.


The firehouse must have been built by the British because it's bigger on the inside. So big, in fact, that it spans all the way across the country to California. The interiors were filmed at the old headquarters of Fire Station #23 at 225 East 5th Street in Los Angeles. Yes, there is another entrance/exit in the back of the building on the Winston Street side.


Preparing to film this scene.


Back in its heyday, Fire Station #23 was quite the sight to behold.


Sadly, time has not been kind to the old gal.


We get our first look at "Spook Central" from the safe confines of Central Park.


The Sheep Meadow lawn of Central Park provides a great view, though you won't see anything supernatural in the skyline. For long shots in the film, veteran matte artist Matthew Yuricich prepared a series of matte paintings to both heighten the building and crown it with a temple-like rooftop. To accentuate the structure, the taller building behind it was painted out entirely and the one to the left was shortened. (source: Making Ghostbusters, page 59)


Dana arrives at her "Spook Central" apartment building after a long day at work.


It may have been numbered 550 in the film, but it's actually at 55 Central Park West in New York.


Look up and you won't see an altar to Gozer, though the architecture up there does look like a temple of some sort.


Dana tries to sneak down the hall, but that creepy stalker Louis still manages to hear her.


Dana's apartment, the hallway, and Louis' apartment were all one huge connected set extended over two adjoining soundstages (stages 12 and 18) at The Burbank Studios (now Warner Bros. Studios) at 4210 West Olive Avenue in Burbank, California. Louis' apartment is actually behind the door that Louis comes out of, and Dana's apartment is actually on the other side of the door she enters.


Dana comes into her apartment and sees the Ghostbusters's commercial on her television. The commercial, of course, was filmed in front of the previously discussed Hook & Ladder #8 firehouse in New York. Some spooky spirits make her a nice egg breakfast, while a Terror Dog raids her fridge. Who is she going to call? The newly christened "Ghostbusters" seem like a good option. Thank goodness Marty put that sign up on the New York firehouse, lest Ray drive by in the dilapidated black hearse he found and not see it.

Inside, we're back in the Los Angeles at Fire Station #23, which has been fixed up quite nicely. Janine and Egon "flirt" while Dana, their first client, walks in. It isn't long before they have her hooked up to their machines.


Their little laboratory is on the second floor of the firehouse in Los Angeles. The other side of this room will be seen a little later in the film.


Here's a casual photo of Ivan, Bill, Harold, and Sigourney relaxing between takes.


After Peter checks Dana out...I mean, he checks out her apartment, the Ghostbusters spend the last of their petty cash on a magnificent feast of Chinese food. In the background of the shot is their sleeping quarters, which will be seen later when we spy Ray in the midst of his erotic dream.


This is the other side of the room that their laboratory is in, on the second floor of the Los Angeles firehouse. The firepole and the railing around it in the corner of the room is no longer there. In fact, all of the poles were removed a long time ago, and all of the holes where they once were are now covered by boards on the floor. You can see those boards in the photo below.


The Ghostbusters get a call from the Sedgewick Hotel. We got one! They arrive in their freshly decked-out "Ecto-1" vehicle. WOW! Ray really fixed up that old black hearse quite nicely.



The exterior of the Sedgewick is actually the Fifth Street entrance of the Biltmore Hotel at 506 South Grand Avenue in Los Angeles. The very long corridor that the guys walk through while talking with the manager is called the "Main Galeria" (as per the hotel map), and it stretches across the entire building all the way to a similar-looking entrance/exit at the other side. The elevators are here, too, but the hallways we see in the film are a set on a soundstage.



They encounter a green gluttonous ghost munching on some food from an errant food cart. The set used in the hallway sequences of the Sedgewick Hotel were originally built for and used in the film "Rich And Famous" (1981) and were patterned after the Algonquin Hotel in New York. (The Proton Charging Facebook page did a Shot on Site post about this showing the set pieces in their original use, as well as pointing out mismatched set pieces.)

The ghost flees, and they track him down to the ballroom, where the Eastside Theatre Guild has set up their midnight buffet.


The Biltmore's actual ballroom was used for this scene. Modified with a breakaway chandelier and a set of prefabricated replacement walls, the ornate banquet facility was taken over by the film crew and occupied for two days. At some point before 2009, the ballroom was turned into the main reception area.


Ivan is aghast at the property damage caused by Bill, Dan, and Harold when they weren't even filming the scene!


Do the Ghostbusters ever capture that ghost? Does the production go over budget with all of the damage Bill, Dan, and Harold cause at the Biltmore? Find out next week - same ghost time, same ghost channel - when we continue our look at the filming locations from Ghostbusters.