Yahoo Lifestyle Owner of Carrie's “Sex and the City” apartment will install gate to curb invasive tourists
According to the owner in her application letter, people graffitied the steps of her stoop and carved their initials into the doorframe over the years.
Craig Blankenhorn/Max
Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw in 'And Just Like That' season 2The owner of the New York City apartment that serves as the exterior for Carrie Bradshaw's home on Sex and the City and sequel series And Just Like That achieved a major victory against tourists that damaged the property.
On Tuesday, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved an application from Barbara Lorber, the apartment's resident since 1978, to install an iron gate in the hopes of keeping fans off the stoop. The commission made its decision during a public hearing with the stipulation that the architect and owner work out the specific details of the gate design with the city.
The brownstone that rests at 66 Perry Street in Manhattan's Greenwich Village became a bustling hotspot for fans of the HBO series since featuring in season 1 of Sex and the City in 1998. According to a letter from Lorber to the commission, the foot traffic became so bad over the years that strangers went as far as to graffiti the steps and carve their initials into the main doorframe, and climb up the stoop to peer into the windows.
Currently, a chain marking the stoop as private property is the only thing to deter these fans. However, one of Lorber's neighbors from across the street spoke remotely over Zoom at Tuesday's public hearing to state that people routinely climb over the chain. When confronting these individuals, the neighbor said, "People have threatened to punch me in the face.... They feel so entitled to this piece of private property that I don't think it's actually coming across how severe the situation is."
"The front of my home appeared in the Sex and the City TV series as the exterior of character Carrie Bradshaw's apartment. My fault," Lorber's initial letter to the commission reads. "I felt sorry for the young location scout who was a recent grad from NYU Film School. He told me if he didn't secure this house, he would lose his first real job in the business. At the time, no one knew the show would turn into anything long lasting...much less, the iconic fantasy vehicle and touchstone for NYC's magic that it has become."
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Speaking at Tuesday's hearing, she added how the building, a late Italian A-style row house built in 1866, is now "in need of more protection in our century and our time."
Related: And Just Like That welcomes Patti LuPone and a returning face for season 3 (exclusive)
As it happens, when Sarah Jessica Parker returns as Carrie Bradshaw for this year's And Just Like That season 3, the character will have a new three-story luxury apartment, which was filmed in Gramercy Park. Entertainment Weekly previously revealed an inside look at her new digs. Story wise, Carrie left her old rent-controlled apartment, which long served as the place for her to type out all her musings on life and love, to her downstairs neighbor, Lisette (Katerina Tannenbaum). It's unclear how prominently the Perry Street location will feature in the new season.
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