This post explains how to visit Carrie Bradshaw's Apartment (the famous stoop), including tips on visitor etiquette, background information, and guided tours.
Sex and the City fans come from all over the world to see where Carrie Bradshaw lived.
Some say that Carrie Bradshaw's Upper West Village Sex and the City House might as well be the fifth main character as it features in so many important moments in Carrie's life.
But what many people don’t know about Carrie’s apartment is that the location used for the exterior scenes, such as Carrie getting dropped off by Mr. Big’s limo, is not located on the Upper East Side!
On the show, Carrie lives at 245 E. 73rd Street.
But no such building ever existed! Exterior scenes of Carrie's apartment building were filmed at several locations.
In Season 1, Carrie’s apartment building exterior scenes are believed to have been located at 960 Madison Avenue, a building without a stoop, but rather a storefront with apartments above.
At the end of the season, the exterior building scenes took place at a since-destroyed brownstone at 34 East 62nd Street.
By episode 14 in Season 2, Carrie's stoop scenes had moved to a leafier, charming location at 64 Perry Street.
From season 3 through the series finale, her stoop had relocated yet again and remained at 66 Perry Street. This is where to go to get your iconic selfie!
And, in the video below, Katie, a tour guide with us, Free Tours by Foot NYC, takes you on a virtual walk down Perry Street.
Reaching these buildings is easy.
You can go on your own, but you can also take a bus tour of Sex and the City sights with other fans of the show.
This tour is included for free with the purchase of the New York Pass, a tourist discount card.
It's also 20% cheaper for holders of the Explorer Pass, another tourist card.
Additionally, we offer a Sex and The City self-guided tour.
Also, there are rules. The current owners of the building are not thrilled that fans take photos of their home day and night. We explain this in the next section.
WHERE IS CARRIE BRADSHAW'S APARTMENT?
It’s pretty easy to locate Carrie’s apartment at 66 Perry Street.
Below is a map of the area with the nearest subway stations underlined.
The walk to 66 Perry Street is no more than 6-7 minutes from any of these subway stations.
Click this link for directions to the building.
Be sure to read our post on mastering the NYC subway and choosing the best subway MetroCard for you.
If you are considering purchasing a hop-on-hop-off bus ticket to get you around NYC, then know that all buses make a stop just blocks away at Washington Square Park.
Cupcakes!
Just one episode of Sex and the City was enough to make nearby Magnolia Bakery, located at 401 Bleecker Street and West 11th Street, a tourist destination.
In Season III, Episode 5, Carrie and Miranda sink their teeth into Magnolia’s signature cupcakes as they discuss their love lives.
The fact is, regardless of appearing on SATC or not, Magnolia’s Bakery is divine and worth waiting in line for their buttercream frosting.
If you are interested in seeing the apartment building used in the TV show "Friends", then it’s just a 6-minute walk from Carrie's stoop and located on top of the Little Owl Restaurant.
For directions and other fun facts, see our post on the Friends Apartment Building.
PAY ATTENTION TO THE RULES
As you can imagine, hundreds of people visit Carrie’s apartment every week. And what good is a picture if you aren’t standing on the stoop?
The owners of 66 Perry are not thrilled about the constant visitors gawking at their home, and posing on their stoop, so they placed a chain across the stairs with a “No Trespass” sign.
In the past, there was a sign asking for $1 donations to be placed in a box that would be used to help homeless dogs and cats, though our guides have reported that the box is no longer there.
The current sign is even sterner, and says “Do NOT go on the staircase please.”
As for the warning, do not take it lightly and step over the chain.
Even Sarah Jessica Parker herself caused a commotion in October 2014 when she filmed a commercial for her new shoe line along the public sidewalk in front of 66 Perry.
That was fine – but when she reached over the chain to place shoes from her new shoe collection onto the stairs, it caused a major uproar with the owners.
As for that selfie or photo you simply must have, it’s fine to take a picture while standing on the public sidewalk in front of Carrie's stoop, but the real residents deserve some privacy.
The building owners have gone so far as to have Google Maps blur their building on the Google Street view picture!
Let’s face it though, anyone who trekked over to find Carrie’s building knows exactly what it looks like without a picture.
RENT: REALITY VS. FICTION
In the show, Carrie lived in a spacious one-bedroom with a walk-through closet and bathroom and a full kitchen on the pricey Upper East Side.
She paid about $700 a month when in reality comparable apartments on East 73rd cost $3,000 per month.
How did Carrie – a newspaper columnist making a middle-income salary afford to live in such a swanky part of town and afford all those Manolos?
Turns out that Carrie’s apartment was rent-stabilized, thus her incredibly low rent was subject to strict laws about rent hikes.
The same was true for Monica and Rachel’s apartment in the TV hit “Friends” who could never have afforded their huge apartment in Greenwich Village.
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