Familiar sights?


I lived in NYC for maybe a year total between 1963 & 1965 (and yes, I did get to see the NY Worlds Fair). I was 7 to 8 at the time. "Naked City" was one of my stepdad's favorite shows. I recently purchased the Box set and finished season 1 today. Really happy with my purchase. Only saw one familiar location (I remember the tower and pier at Coney Island from 1 episode).

Am now curious if some other familiar sights that existed during my stay were filmed during the show's run:

1. The smoke ring blowing "Camal Cigarette" billboard.
2. Hotel Chesterfield.
3. W 24th st. Only because I lived at 247 W 24th st. The apartment is actually a daycare now but looks exactly the same from outside (except there used to be a sign which said "Dr Rubell")
4. A billboard where a steam Iron shoots out steam.
5. Any storefront which has a "Johnny Quick Draw"*

*It was a life size mannequin-like cowboy arcade game that you put in a coin (I think a dime) and a recorded voice in the mannequin challenged you to out draw him. They were a popular sidewalk game in NY in the 1960's

I also seem to remember a kids section, I believe in central park, where there was a pretty good-sized plaster whale.

It will take some time to get through the set, but there's no denying that sticking to real locations within the city helped give this show a fantastic gritty sense of realism.


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Mentioning that whale brought back a lot of memories. I was born in Manhattan and lived in the city for 30 years before moving to Long Island. I have a picture of that whale that was taken in 1966 when I took my son to visit Central Park, He was 2 at the time and just turned 52 on April 10th. There is also a picture of me and my son taken on a wooden boat named Arafat also taken in Central Park. I lived on Avenue B between 2nd and 3rd streets. Rent for a 2 room apartment was $25.00 a month. I did a Google search on that building and saw that the same apartment on a different floor went for $1700. Of course, when my family and I lived there, it was from 1943-1953. How times have changed. Watching the Naked City dvds reminded me of my childhood living in the city. Seeing Delancy Street with the Loew's Delancy movie theater, and Ratner's, the vegetarian restaurant, and so many other landmarks...<sigh>

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Glad to hear someone else remembers "the whale"

Along with living at 247 W 24th st, I also lived at The "Chesterfield" for some months in 1963 with my parents. (I was about 6 at the time).

I remember once being in the Empire State Bldg and there was lit picture of the bldg itself in the lobby that was about the size of a movie poster. Then I saw the same picture on an episode of "That Girl". It was pretty cool seeing a place on TV and knowing I'd actually stood in the exact same place.

I also remember places where you could "See yourself on TV" Something that was quite rare before the age of video cameras.

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