Shot On Site - Ghostbusters 2016 Ben's Deli Deleted Shot Location Visited

There are not many Ghostbusters filming locations that I have actually visited in person. Basically, I've only been to Rockefeller Center, Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty (the latter I haven't visited since the 1980s). I've certainly never been to any Ghostbusters (2016) locations, but that's because I don't live in or around Boston, Massachusetts. Well, that changed last month when I stumbled across one of that film's few New York City locations.

The location in question isn't even in the finished film. It comes from a deleted portion of the sequence in which Abby, Jillian, and Patty drive to the Mercado. Before they got to Slimer's roadblock, they originally made their way through throngs of panicked people crowding the streets. That gave us this shot of the Ecto-1 driving through a crowded city street.


On Saturday February 22, 2020, I attended Hasbro's 2020 Toy Fair. While walking from Penn Station to the event, I found this location by accident. I was at the corner of 7th Avenue and West 38th Street waiting for the light to change when, for whatever reason, I decided to look over to the left down West 38th Street. That's when I noticed the distinctive Ben's Deli sign. I instantly recognized it and remembered it from the article I wrote about the Deleted and Behind The Scenes shots from the movie and its TV spots. Once I saw the U.S. Post Office further down the road, I knew I found the spot, which is roughly 242 West 38th Street.


Here are the photos I took of the location.

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For more information about Ghostbusters filming locations, be sure to check out the rest of Spook Central's Shot On Site articles, Spook Central's Filming Locations page, and Chris Stewart's Shot On Site articles. Thanks Chris for letting me use your awesome title. Title graphic drawn by Paul Kinsella.