Location scouting is a part of the pre-production process of making a film or television show. Before digital files and location-scouting apps transformed the business of film location scouting, New York’s production world ran on hard copies — real photographs, taped into real folders, stored in real boxes.
Filming on location in New York City became more appealing for the film and television industry after Mayor John Lindsay signed Executive Order 10 in 1966, consolidating the permitting process within the New York City Department of Commerce. Later the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting was established, considered the oldest film commission in the United States.
The press for more production in New York was given a boost when talks with local unions led to changes to work rules and practices for projects that shot substantially in the City.
According to Scenes from the City: Filmmaking in New York City:
“A key union – Local 52, representing grips and electricians – voted to cut a special deal for films made substantially in the City. Tom O’Donnell local president of the Teamsters agreed – and with the two powerful leaders on board, the other unions fell in line.”
In 1967 the number of feature films shot in New York went from 11 to 25, bringing in an estimated additional $20 million in spending in the city.
The new popularity of filming in real New York locations instead of on a set created the need for a Locations Department to track and pitch locations which would serve as film and television sets.
By the 1980s and 1990s this analog system had become an indispensable archive: a constantly expanding trove of panoramic shots of exteriors and interiors across the New York City, everything labeled, from “Dark Alleys” to “Bowling Alleys.”
At the time the photographs in this collection were taken, location scouts created physical dossiers, manila folders taped together to create pages on which the photographs were taped.
To show panoramic views, multiple photographs were taken and taped together to create an uninterrupted image. These dossiers were then presented to Location Managers, Production Designers, and Directors.
In the late 1990s, a group of New York-based Locations Department workers obtained a storage space in Bayonne, New Jersey where scouting photographs could be donated at the end of a shoot and used by others starting a new project.
In 2011, 188 films were shot on location in New York City, along with 23 primetime series. That year the archive’s organizers gifted the old “paper” collection to the New-York Historical Society (now The New York Historical) and the Brooklyn Historical Society (now the Center for Brooklyn History), who decided to break it up according to each institution’s collecting scope.
As a result, parts of the collection relating to Brooklyn are at the Center for Brooklyn History and parts relating to Long Island, Manhattan and other the other boroughs are at The New York Historical.
Folders from New Jersey locations were transferred to the New Jersey Room at the Jersey City Free Public Library in 2025.
Photographs are taped into folder dossiers based on location and depict apartments, houses, public housing, hospitals, stores, restaurants, bars, warehouses, churches, schools, subway stations, and streets in neighborhoods across New York City and parts of New Jersey.
The photographs depict a wide range of locations, and retain their original organization into categories, including; restaurants, bars, offices, parks, offices buildings and spaces, streets, residences, and clothing stores. There are also boxes relating to other boroughs and states such as the Bronx, Long Island, Queens, Staten Island, Upstate New York, and New Jersey. There are some cross referencing between the various files; these are highlighted in the container list where appropriate.
Below are descriptions of some of the highlights within the collection at New York Historical. Additional categories will be found in their box list.
Bars: Includes a variety of different types of bars such as dive bars, bar & grills, sports bars, Irish bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, and supper clubs. There is some overlap between bars and restaurants as some venues are ‘bar and grills’. This file has been arranged alphabetically.
The Bronx: Includes bars, buildings, colleges, funeral homes, hospitals, lots and warehouses, parks, residences, and streets.
Buildings: Includes building fronts and exteriors, hallways and stairwells, atriums, foyers, lobbies, function rooms, and warehouses. Buildings are mainly residential buildings. Also includes some office buildings, store fronts, and armories. Includes some buildings which are not in existence anymore, such as the World Trade Center.
Note that some of the office buildings folders have been organized alphabetically by name of building, and others are arranged alphabetically by neighborhood, as indicated in the box list.
Court Houses: Includes court rooms, judge’s chambers, and a jail cell.
Derelict buildings and empty spaces: Includes derelict and abandoned buildings, empty spaces, and empty lots. Contains a variety of different kinds of buildings including residential, corporate, and commercial buildings. This file contains some portfolios of apartment buildings and foyers.
Hospitals: Also includes a variety of medical institutions such as nursing homes, pediatric institutions. This file has been arranged alphabetically.
Hotels: Some of these hotels are not in operation anymore and others are derelict spaces. This file has been arranged alphabetically.
Long Island: Small collection including hospitals, apartments, and streets.
New Jersey: Includes airports, bars and restaurants, buildings, hospitals, hallways and corridors, funeral homes, parks, residential buildings, streets, warehouses, factories, yards, and docks.
Parks: Includes a number of parks and outdoor spaces in Manhattan, most notably central park, of which there is a large collection. Some of these parks are not in operation anymore. This category has been arranged by neighborhood.
Queens: Includes bars, buildings, derelict spaces, hospitals, parks, residences, restaurants, streets, and warehouses.
Residences: Includes a variety of different types of residence buildings in Manhattan such as apartments, lofts, brownstones, and townhouses. This category also contains portfolios of apartment building exteriors and foyers. This file has been arranged by neighborhood. Note that there are additional residence related folders in the ‘Building’ file.
Restaurants: Includes cafes, delicatessans, coffee shops, fast food restaurants, casual eating establishments and more upscale eateries. Includes numerous portfolios of Tavern on the Green in Central Park, and a number of restaurants that were being scouted as a potential location for a restaurant set in Washington DC. There is some overlap between restaurants and bars as some venues are ‘bar and grills’. This file has been arranged alphabetically.
Staten Island: Small collection including parks, buildings, residences, and streets.
Upstate New York: Includes streets and residences, parks and outdoor spaces, and a variety of different kinds of buildings such as restaurants, gas stations, storefronts, churches, and laundromats.
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