The Copacabana
New York · 1955 to 1980Shot in 1989
Goodfellas
Every frame on the back wall hangs a little crooked. Tap one to straighten it.
The rooms that let Henry Hill in, and the food they served. Most of them will still feed you.
10 East 60th Street · one take
The long way in.
Henry walks Karen into the Copa the back way: past the queue, down, along the corridors, through the kitchen and out to the front. Scorsese shot it in one unbroken take. The crew went round the back because they could not get permission for the direct route.
Our sketch of the route, not the club’s real floor plan.
Take1
- 1The kerb
- 2The side door
- 3Down the stairs
- 4The corridor
- 5The wall
- 6The kitchen
- 7Into the room
- 8The front
- 9The comic
Take 1. Press and hold to roll; let go and it is a cut.
A queue at the front door on East 60th Street. They walk past it.
10 East 60th Street, Manhattan
The Copacabana, East 60th Street
The Copacabana opened on 10 November 1940 at 10 East 60th Street, with the lease in the showman Monte Proser’s name. Its menu featured Chinese food. The production filmed at the Copa on East 60th Street. For the three-minute shot that introduces the club, a makeshift wall was put up and taken away within the same take, so the camera could wind through the back. The club closed for three years after 1973, came back as a discothèque in 1976, and left East 60th Street for 617 West 57th Street in 1992.
The club moved away in 1992. Stand on East 60th Street, a few steps from Fifth Avenue and the corner of Central Park.
Where we read it
Where we read it
The Copa shot is about two and a half minutes long, in one take; it needed eight takes because Henny Youngman fluffed his lines. Scorsese meant it to show Henry’s life opening up, and the seduction of Karen. It went round the back because the crew could not get permission for the direct route.
AFI gives the shot as three minutes, and says a makeshift wall was added and removed within the same take.
Manhattan · 1940 and 1961
One showman, two rooms.
The Copa and the Bamboo Lounge look like two different worlds: a supper club with a chorus line, and a tiki bar where the crew talks business. Off screen they shared a founder. Monte Proser held the Copa’s lease in 1940, and opened the Broadway room that became the Hawaii Kai, where the Bamboo Lounge was shot.
Monte Proser
1961 · Broadway at 50th
The Hawaii Kai
- A lei at the doorevery guest
- Diamond Head dioramaday to night
- Luau and revuenightly
Broadway at West 50th Street, Manhattan
The Hawaii Kai, the real Bamboo Lounge
The Hawaii Kai on Broadway doubled for Sonny Bunz’s Bamboo Lounge. It stood on Broadway at 50th Street, across from the Winter Garden Theatre. Monte Proser and Joe Kipness opened it as the Lanai in 1961; by November 1962 it was the Hawaii Kai. Frederick Fox, a Broadway set designer, made the rooms: guests got a lei at the door, and a diorama of Diamond Head turned from day to night over the bar. A nightly luau and Polynesian revue filled the main dining room. It closed in 1989, the year Goodfellas was shot.
Gone since 1989. Stand on Broadway at 50th Street, by the Winter Garden Theatre.
Where we read it
Where we read it
Monte Proser held the Copa’s lease when it opened in 1940; the Copacabana Girls were its chorus line; it reopened as a discothèque in 1976.
Proser and Joe Kipness opened the Lanai on Broadway in 1961; by November 1962 it was the Hawaii Kai.
The prison dinner · halfway through the film
Slice it thin.
Inside, Paulie and the others still eat like it is Sunday at home. Paulie slices the garlic with a razor, so thin it melts in the pan with a little oil. Draw the razor: every slice serves a real place.
A clove of garlic on the board. Nothing in the pan yet.
PauliePaul Sorvino
The garlic, sliced with a razor so thin it melts in the pan with a little oil.
VinnieCharles Scorsese, the director’s father
The tomato sauce and meatballs of veal, beef and pork. Paulie tells him not to overdo the onions.
Johnny DioFrank Pellegrino, co-owner of Rao’s
T-bone steaks, in a pan on a portable electric burner.
HenryRay Liotta
Fresh Italian bread, prosciutto, salami and a bottle of J&B.
Vinnie’s sauce: no onions yet.
On the menu tonight
- 1Neir’s Tavern
- 2The Air Line Diner
- 3The Clinton Diner
- 4The Oriental Manor
- 5Smith Street
- 6Rao’s
Six slices, six places: a tavern, two diners, a ballroom, a Brooklyn street and the restaurant that lent the film its Johnny Dio.
Where we read it
In prison, dinner is a big event: Paulie slices garlic with a razor so thin it liquefies in the pan with a little oil; Vinnie makes the sauce and meatballs of veal, beef and pork with too many onions; Johnny Dio cooks T-bones on an electric burner; Henry brings bread, prosciutto, salami and J&B.
TASTE: What Goodfellas got right about garlic (Jason Diamond, 26 September 2023)Far Out: How Goodfellas gave us the greatest cooking scene of all time (26 July 2022)
Charles Scorsese, the director’s father, plays Vinnie, the prison cook Paulie tells not to put too many onions in the sauce.
Far Out: The roles Martin Scorsese gave to his parents in Goodfellas (19 November 2022)
Queens · Idlewild, then JFK
Out by the airport.
Henry’s money starts at the airport, Idlewild as it still is in the film’s early years, with trucks driven off from outside a diner. It ends there too, with the biggest cash robbery in the country at the time. The film shot both in real cargo buildings at JFK.
Cargo area, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens
JFK’s cargo buildings
Cargo buildings at JFK stood in for the Air France and Lufthansa jobs. The real Lufthansa robbery was at Building 261, Lufthansa’s cargo terminal, early on 11 December 1978. $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewellery were taken. The money and the jewellery have never been recovered.
A working air-cargo area: seen only from the Nassau Expressway or the AirTrain. The TWA Hotel is the way in.
Where we read it
JFK Airport
Stay at the 1962 terminal
The landmark 1962 TWA Flight Center is a hotel now, and the way to spend a night inside the airport.
TWA Hotel
TWA Hotel
JFK Airport, Queens
A hotel in the landmark 1962 TWA Flight Center at JFK, whose cargo buildings appear in the film. A rooftop pool over the runways, open all year, and cocktails inside a 1958 Lockheed Constellation.
Check rooms ↗Named, never pinned
Henry’s boyhood house
Astoria, Queens
Young Henry watches the cab stand across the street from his window. The house is in Astoria, standing in for East New York. A private home with people living in it. We do not give the address.
Where we read it
Karen’s parents’ house
New Rochelle, Westchester County
The Friedmans’ house, where Henry first calls on Karen’s family, was filmed in New Rochelle. Private houses on a quiet street. We do not give the address.
Where we read it
Where we read it
The Lufthansa robbery was at Building 261, Lufthansa’s cargo terminal at JFK, early on 11 December 1978; it was the largest cash robbery in the United States at the time.
The Henry and Tommy truck scene is set outside the Air Line Diner, near Idlewild Airport.
The TWA Hotel is in the landmark 1962 TWA Flight Center.
60 Centre Street · 1980
The bill.
It ends in a courtroom, not a restaurant. Henry takes the stand against Jimmy and Paulie, then disappears into witness protection with his family.
- Copa tablepaid
- Bamboo Lounge tabpaid
- Witness standdue
60 Centre Street, Foley Square, Manhattan
New York County Courthouse
Henry testifies against Jimmy Conway and Paul Cicero here, in the film’s 1980. Guy Lowell’s granite-faced hexagonal courthouse was built from 1913 to 1927. Its outside became a city landmark in 1966 and its inside in 1981. Goodfellas joins Miracle on 34th Street, 12 Angry Men and Wall Street among the films shot here.
A working courthouse on Foley Square. The steps and the square are public.
Where we read it
Where we read it
Henry becomes an informant, enters witness protection with his family, and his testimony helps convict Paulie and Jimmy.
Venice, 9 September 1990
At the table.
Martin Scorsese at the Academy Awards in March 1990, the year Goodfellas came out. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0 Martin ScorseseDirector and co-writer
Nicholas Pileggi in 1986, the year after Wiseguy was published. Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain Nicholas PileggiWrote Wiseguy; co-writer
Robert De Niro at the Venice Film Festival in 1990, where Goodfellas had its premiere. Gorup de Besanez · CC BY-SA 4.0 Robert De NiroJimmy Conway
Ray Liotta at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012. gdcgraphics · CC BY-SA 2.0 Ray LiottaHenry Hill
Lorraine Bracco in Washington, DC, in 2001. John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com · CC BY-SA 2.0 Lorraine BraccoKaren Hill
Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguy came out in 1985. He and Scorsese wrote the screenplay together over twelve drafts and shared the credit. The film was first called Wise Guy, and changed its name to avoid two other projects with similar titles.
Scorsese’s parents are in it. His mother, Catherine, plays Tommy’s mother; his father, Charles, plays Vinnie, the prison cook in charge of the sauce. Joe Pesci won the Oscar for best supporting actor, one of six nominations, and the Library of Congress added the film to the National Film Registry in 2000.
Where we read it
Wiseguy (1985); the shared screenplay credit over 12 drafts; the title change; the Venice premiere on 9 September 1990 and Scorsese’s Silver Lion; six Oscar nominations and Pesci’s win; the National Film Registry in 2000; Catherine Scorsese as Tommy’s mother.
Charles Scorsese plays Vinnie, the prison cook.
Far Out: The roles Martin Scorsese gave to his parents in Goodfellas (19 November 2022)
Shot in New York in spring and summer 1989; budget reported as $25 million; Lorraine Bracco nominated for an Oscar.
Go eat.
Where it is now
9 places you can visit or stand outside, from East 60th Street to a Woodhaven bar. Two private homes are named in the story but not pinned.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The club moved away in 1992. Stand on East 60th Street, a few steps from Fifth Avenue and the corner of Central Park.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Gone since 1989. Stand on Broadway at 50th Street, by the Winter Garden Theatre.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Ten tables, Monday to Friday, one seating a night, kept for regulars. Admire the red front from Pleasant Avenue.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working courthouse on Foley Square. The steps and the square are public.
- 1
Fifth Avenue at East 60th Street in 2014. The Copa was a few doors east, at number 10. MartinThoma · CC0 10 East 60th Street, Manhattan
The Copacabana, East 60th Street
The Copacabana opened on 10 November 1940 at 10 East 60th Street, with the lease in the showman Monte Proser’s name. Its menu featured Chinese food.
The club moved away in 1992. Stand on East 60th Street, a few steps from Fifth Avenue and the corner of Central Park.
Where we read it
- 2
Broadway at 50th Street in 2023, by the Winter Garden Theatre. The Hawaii Kai faced it across Broadway. Jakub Hałun · CC BY 4.0 Broadway at West 50th Street, Manhattan
The Hawaii Kai, the real Bamboo Lounge
The Hawaii Kai on Broadway doubled for Sonny Bunz’s Bamboo Lounge.
Gone since 1989. Stand on Broadway at 50th Street, by the Winter Garden Theatre.
Where we read it
- 3
Rao’s on East 114th Street in July 2026. Kidfly182 · CC BY 4.0 455 East 114th Street, East Harlem
Rao’s
Rao’s opened in 1896 on East 114th Street at Pleasant Avenue, in what was Italian Harlem.
Ten tables, Monday to Friday, one seating a night, kept for regulars. Admire the red front from Pleasant Avenue.
Where we read it
- 4
The courthouse at 60 Centre Street, Foley Square, in 2013. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0 60 Centre Street, Foley Square, Manhattan
New York County Courthouse
Henry testifies against Jimmy Conway and Paul Cicero here, in the film’s 1980.
A working courthouse on Foley Square. The steps and the square are public.
Where we read it
Stay
A night in the 1962 terminal.
The TWA Hotel at JFK, in the 1962 TWA Flight Center.
TWA Hotel
TWA Hotel
JFK Airport, Queens
A hotel in the landmark 1962 TWA Flight Center at JFK, whose cargo buildings appear in the film. A rooftop pool over the runways, open all year, and cocktails inside a 1958 Lockheed Constellation.
Check rooms ↗Go there
A drink, a walk, a plate.
Neir’s Tavern, and marketplace food walks in Little Italy and Queens.
Neir’s Tavern
A drink at Neir’s Tavern
87-48 78th Street, Woodhaven, Queens
The 1829 tavern where the crew drinks after the Lufthansa job. Open Monday to Thursday 2pm to 11pm, Friday to Sunday noon to 11pm; the Goodfellas Deluxe burger is on the menu.
See the tavern ↗
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Little Italy food tours
Manhattan
Live marketplace results for food walks through Manhattan’s Little Italy. None follows the film; they are about the red-sauce food.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours ↗
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Queens food tours
Queens
Live marketplace results for food tours in Queens. Check the neighbourhood: few reach Woodhaven or Maspeth.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours ↗What’s on
Nothing dated yet.
No screenings were announced for the coming months when we checked.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
The posters, the book, the cookbook.
Two original posters from our store, Wiseguy, the Scorsese family cookbook and the soundtrack.
Printed Originals · Our poster store
Goodfellas (1990) — US one-sheet
An original 1990 US one-sheet, 27 × 41 inches, rolled after being folded. Near mint.
In stock
View poster ↗
Printed Originals · Our poster store
Goodfellas (1990) — French grande
An original 1990 French grande, 47 × 63 inches, rolled after being folded. Near mint.
In stock
View poster ↗
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Wiseguy
Nicholas Pileggi · Pocket Books
Pileggi’s book about Henry Hill, the source of the film; this paperback came out in 1990.
Find the book ↗
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Wiseguy (hardback)
Nicholas Pileggi · Simon & Schuster
The Simon & Schuster hardback of the book the film was made from.
Find the book ↗
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Italianamerican: The Scorsese Family Cookbook
Catherine Scorsese · G. K. Hall
The recipes of Scorsese’s mother, who plays Tommy’s mother in the film.
Find the book ↗
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Scorsese on Scorsese
Martin Scorsese · Faber & Faber
Scorsese talking through his films, in the revised edition of 2004.
Find the book ↗
eBay · Ad / affiliate
GoodFellas: music from the motion picture
Various artists · CD, Atlantic, 1990
The 1990 US soundtrack CD on Atlantic.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copy ↗Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The full menu
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 12 of 12 Moments
The Copacabana, East 60th Street
10 East 60th Street, Manhattan
The long way in
Henry takes Karen into the Copa the back way, in one unbroken take of about three minutes.
The Hawaii Kai, the real Bamboo Lounge
Broadway at West 50th Street, Manhattan
The Bamboo Lounge
Sonny Bunz’s Bamboo Lounge, where the crew holds court, was the Hawaii Kai on Broadway.
Rao’s
455 East 114th Street, East Harlem
Rao’s regulars
Scorsese cast regulars from Rao’s; Frank Pellegrino played Johnny Dio.
New York County Courthouse
60 Centre Street, Foley Square, Manhattan
On the stand
Henry testifies against Jimmy and Paulie.
The Air Line Diner
69-35 Astoria Boulevard, East Elmhurst, Queens
Outside the diner
Henry and Tommy wait outside the Air Line Diner to drive off a cargo truck.
Neir’s Tavern
87-48 78th Street, Woodhaven, Queens
After the job
The crew’s bar after the Lufthansa job, fur coat and all.
The Clinton Diner
Maspeth Avenue at Rust Street, Maspeth, Queens
A booth in Maspeth
Jimmy and Henry in a booth, then outside in the car park.
JFK’s cargo buildings
Cargo area, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens
The cargo buildings
JFK’s cargo buildings play the Air France and Lufthansa jobs.
Henry’s boyhood house
Astoria, Queens
From the window
Young Henry watches the cab stand across the street.
The Oriental Manor
1818 86th Street, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
The wedding
Henry and Karen’s wedding reception.
Smith Street
Smith Street near 9th Street, Brooklyn
Smith Street
Karen goes to Jimmy on Smith Street.
Karen’s parents’ house
New Rochelle, Westchester County
The Friedmans’
Karen’s family home.