New York on Screen: The Manhattan Hotels Hollywood Can't Stop Filming

New York has appeared in more films than any other city on earth, and its grand hotels are the shorthand directors reach for when they need a character to arrive, to splurge, or to fall apart in style. A handful of them have built up filmographies that most actors would envy.

The Plaza: the most filmed hotel in New York

The Plaza opened in 1907 at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, and it has been described as the most filmed building in New York. Counting every credit is close to impossible, so here are the ones that matter.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, boards the wrong plane, lands in New York with his father's credit card, and checks himself into the Plaza, to the deepening suspicion of Tim Curry's concierge. The hotel's then owner, Donald Trump, has a cameo directing Kevin to the lobby. The Plaza still sells a Home Alone package, complete with a limousine tour and a large cheese pizza.

North by Northwest (1959). Cary Grant's advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy in the hotel's Oak Bar and abducted from the lobby, setting Alfred Hitchcock's chase across America in motion.

Barefoot in the Park (1967) and Plaza Suite (1971). Neil Simon loved the hotel. Robert Redford and Jane Fonda honeymoon at the Plaza in Barefoot in the Park, and Plaza Suite, with Walter Matthau playing three different men, is set entirely in Suite 719.

The Way We Were (1973). The film's heartbreaking final scene, in which Barbra Streisand runs into Robert Redford years after their divorce and reaches up to brush his hair from his forehead, takes place outside the hotel's front entrance.

Arthur (1981), Crocodile Dundee (1986), Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Dudley Moore's drunken millionaire treats the Oak Room as his living room. Paul Hogan's Mick Dundee stays at the hotel after arriving from the outback. In Sleepless in Seattle, Bill Pullman's Walter stays at the Plaza when he arrives in New York.

Scent of a Woman (1992). Al Pacino's Frank Slade and Chris O'Donnell's Charlie dine in style in the Oak Room. Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Eloise at the Plaza (2003), Bride Wars (2009), The Great Gatsby (2013). Kay Thompson's six-year-old heroine has lived on the top floor since the books of the 1950s, and the hotel now has an Eloise Suite designed by Betsey Johnson. In Bride Wars, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson play best friends who both want a June wedding at the Plaza and go to war over it. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a regular, and the hotel features in both the 1974 and 2013 versions of The Great Gatsby.

The Plaza also appears in Funny Girl (1968), Annie Hall (1977), Love at First Bite (1979), The Cotton Club (1984), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Big Business (1988), Crocodile Dundee II (1988), King of New York (1990), The Fisher King (1991), It Could Happen to You (1994), The First Wives Club (1996), Almost Famous (2000), American Hustle (2013), several episodes of The Sopranos, and Season 3 of Succession, where its interiors stand in for a political conference in Virginia.

Waldorf Astoria New York: Coming to America, Scent of a Woman and a 2025 comeback

The Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue was the largest and tallest hotel in the world when it opened in 1931, and it starred in its own film, Week-End at the Waldorf (1945), a remake of Grand Hotel with Ginger Rogers and Lana Turner, partly shot at the hotel.

Its later credits are just as rich. In The Out-of-Towners (1970), Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis survive a nightmare journey to New York only to find their Waldorf reservation has been given away. In Coming to America (1988), when Eddie Murphy's Prince Akeem goes missing in Queens, his father King Jaffe Joffer, played by James Earl Jones, and the Queen arrive in New York with their entourage and take over the Waldorf, Zamundan flag flying out front. Arsenio Hall's Semmi is confined to the hotel as punishment, which he finds no hardship at all. In Scent of a Woman (1992), Frank Slade and Charlie stay at the Waldorf for their extravagant weekend. Jennifer Lopez works as a hotel maid in Maid in Manhattan (2002), at a fictional hotel filmed at the Waldorf, and the hotel also appears in Serendipity (2001) and Steve Martin's The Pink Panther (2006).

The Waldorf closed in 2017 for an eight-year restoration and reopened in 2025 with 375 hotel rooms, far fewer than its original 1,400, most of them larger than 570 square feet. Peacock Alley is back.

The Pierre: Pacino's tango and two billionaire penthouses

The most famous dance in 1990s cinema happened at The Pierre. In Scent of a Woman, Pacino's blind Frank Slade asks a young woman, played by Gabrielle Anwar, to tango, and leads her flawlessly across the floor. The scene was shot over four days in the hotel's Cotillion Ballroom, which was dressed as a restaurant for the film.

The Pierre's penthouse has twice played a billionaire's home: Anthony Hopkins's media tycoon in Meet Joe Black (1998), opposite Brad Pitt's Death, and Russell Brand's playboy in the 2011 remake of Arthur. The hotel also appears in Season 3 of Succession. In Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), Ossie Davis's chauffeur recommends the Pierre over the Plaza, a line the hotel has never let anyone forget.

The Carlyle: Woody Allen's living room

The Carlyle on the Upper East Side is New York's most discreet grand hotel. John F. Kennedy kept a suite there, and its Bemelmans Bar, with murals by the creator of the Madeline books, is one of the city's great rooms.

Woody Allen used it repeatedly. In Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), he takes Dianne Wiest on a date to the Café Carlyle to hear Bobby Short sing; Wiest won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, one of the film's three Oscars. Allen returned for Hollywood Ending (2002), meeting Téa Leoni in Bemelmans Bar, and for A Rainy Day in New York (2019).

The hotel also appears in Sex and the City (2008), and in Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks (2020), in which Bill Murray's charming father and Rashida Jones's daughter hold court in Bemelmans. The 2018 documentary Always at the Carlyle is a love letter to the hotel.

The St. Regis New York: The Godfather (1972)

When Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, and Diane Keaton's Kay are in New York in The Godfather, they stay at The St. Regis. The film won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Marlon Brando. The hotel's King Cole Bar is also known as the birthplace of the Bloody Mary in America, where it's called the Red Snapper.

Lotte New York Palace: Gossip Girl (Seasons 1–6)

In Gossip Girl, the Palace Hotel belongs to the Bass family, and Ed Westwick's Chuck Bass lives in it. The real hotel is Lotte New York Palace on Madison Avenue, which incorporates the 1880s Villard Houses, and its courtyard and lobby were used across all six seasons.

Mandarin Oriental, New York: Succession (Season 3)

The Mandarin Oriental, high above Columbus Circle, is one of several New York luxury hotels the Roy family moves through in Succession's third season.