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Leighton Meester smiling, long wavy brown hair, in an olive strapless dress
Leighton Meester, 2008. David Shankbone · CC BY-SA 3.0
Blake Lively smiling, red hair loose, against a red backdrop
Blake Lively, 2011. David Shankbone · CC BY 3.0
Penn Badgley with curly dark hair in an olive jacket, outdoors
Penn Badgley, 2010. Mark Kari · CC BY-SA 2.0
Ed Westwick, dark hair swept back, in front of a hedge
Ed Westwick, 2010. Greg Hernandez · CC BY 2.0
Chace Crawford in a grey suit and striped tie
Chace Crawford, 2012. David Shankbone · CC BY 3.0

1 new blastSpotted: B, on the steps, again

Upper East Side · The CW 2007–2012

Gossip Girl

14 places she saw them. 13 you can go and stand in.

Play XOXO

Nine squares, nine real places. Your X against her O.

Six seasons of private-school New York, narrated by an anonymous blogger who saw everything and signed off with kisses and hugs. The steps, the hotels, the fountain and the station were real, and nearly all of them are open.

Your source

Noughts and crosses · nine real places

Put an X
on a place.

Every blast was signed off with an X and an O. So play her for them. The board is Manhattan, roughly as the map lies: Columbia top left, the Palace bottom right. Your X opens a place; her O answers. Three in a row is a walk you can take.

Your move. She is watching.

Crowds sitting on the wide stone steps of the Metropolitan Museum, fountains in front
The Met’s Fifth Avenue steps on a summer day, 2018. Joyofmuseums · CC BY-SA 4.0

Before you play · 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street

Lunch on the steps

Blair holds court on the Met’s steps at lunch, Serena beside her, the rest of the school a step or two below.

The city named the Metropolitan Museum of Art among the show’s New York filming locations in 2012.

The steps are free and always there. Inside: closed Wednesdays, otherwise from 10am, to 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays; adults $30, New York State residents pay what they wish.

Your source
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met, past the steps

1000 Fifth Avenue · Adults $30 · New York State residents pay what they wish

Lunch on the steps is free. Inside, closed on Wednesdays; open to 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Plan a visit

The line-up · the actors as themselves

Who is
she?

For six seasons nobody knew. Accuse one of them. The wrong ones can tell you exactly where they were.

Five suspects. One of them is Gossip Girl. Accuse.

A museum, a church, a fountain

Three
weddings.

The show married its people off in real Upper East Side rooms, and one in the middle of Central Park. Throw the bouquet.

Cooper HewittSt. James’ ChurchBethesda Terrace

Three real weddings, one bouquet.

Lily and Bart at a museum on 91st Street; Blair and a prince on Madison Avenue; Chuck and Blair at a fountain. In that order.

Who played them

As
themselves.

  1. Blake Lively smiling, red hair loose, against a red backdrop
    Blake Lively, Serena van der Woodsen, at the Time 100 gala in New York, April 2011. David Shankbone · CC BY 3.0

    Blake Lively

    Serena van der Woodsen

    The Upper East Side’s it girl, first glimpsed in Grand Central.

  2. Leighton Meester smiling, long wavy brown hair, in an olive strapless dress
    Leighton Meester, Blair Waldorf, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, April 2008, during the first season. David Shankbone · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Leighton Meester

    Blair Waldorf

    Constance Billard’s queen bee, and Serena’s best frenemy.

  3. Penn Badgley with curly dark hair in an olive jacket, outdoors
    Penn Badgley, Dan Humphrey, in Toronto in September 2010. Mark Kari · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Penn Badgley

    Dan Humphrey

    The boy from Brooklyn. Gossip Girl, it turned out.

  4. Chace Crawford in a grey suit and striped tie
    Chace Crawford, Nate Archibald, in New York in May 2012. David Shankbone · CC BY 3.0

    Chace Crawford

    Nate Archibald

    In the cast the mayor honoured on set at Silvercup in 2012.

  5. Ed Westwick, dark hair swept back, in front of a hedge
    Ed Westwick, Chuck Bass, in July 2010. Greg Hernandez · CC BY 2.0

    Ed Westwick

    Chuck Bass

    The bad boy who lived at the Palace, then bought into the Empire.

  6. The voice

    Gossip Girl

    Kristen Bell. Test audiences went cold whenever the narration came in, and the creators nearly cut it. They kept it, and she came back for the revival.

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Brooklyn, Queens, and the East Village between

Over
the river.

A cobbled Dumbo street between brick warehouses, the Manhattan Bridge tower framed at its end
Not the loft: the Manhattan Bridge from Washington Street, Dumbo, 2019. Wgreaves · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Humphrey loft

Named, never pinned

The Humphreys’ loft is a Dumbo building near the Manhattan Bridge, filmed from the street. It is a home with people living in it. Look at the Manhattan Bridge instead.

Your source
The corner front of Veselka, a diner with painted windows and an awning
Veselka, Second Avenue. BruceSchaff · CC BY-SA 3.0

Dan’s diner

Veselka is Dan’s favourite spot; Blair has a date there with Prince Louis. Founded in 1954 by Volodymyr and Olha Darmochwal, refugees from Ukraine; three generations of the family have run it since.

A Ukrainian diner, open daily. Come for pierogi; there is a second Veselka in Grand Central’s dining concourse.

Your source
Big red letters spelling Silvercup on a rooftop frame against a cloudy sky
The Silvercup sign, Long Island City, 2014. MacdaddyCk · CC BY-SA 4.0

Queens · 2.7 km from the Palace

Where it was all made

Gossip Girl was made at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City; the mayor visited the set on 26 January 2012 for its 100th episode. Over five years the show spent $200 million locally and employed about 6,300 people. Silvercup opened in 1983 on the site of the Silvercup Bread Bakery; Sex and the City, The Sopranos and 30 Rock were made there too.

A working studio, closed to visitors. Look up at the red sign from 22nd Street.

Your source
A long red-brick armory with crenellated towers behind trees
Park Avenue Armory, 2019. Ajay Suresh · CC BY 2.0

HBO Max · 2021–2023

A new school, the same steps

In the revival’s first episode, Julien walks in a fashion show at the Park Avenue Armory. In the 2021 revival, Julien begins to bring Zoya into her friends on the same steps. The original series filmed the school here in its first two seasons; the 2021 revival came back to the raised front courtyard.

An arts venue in an armory. Check its programme for performances and open days.

Your source
Your source

You know where to find them

Where you
can go.

Where it is now

13 places you can visit, from Morningside Heights to Long Island City. Columbia’s campus and Silvercup’s lot are closed to the public, so their pins mark where to look from. The Humphrey loft is a home: named, never 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 steps are free and always there. Inside: closed Wednesdays, otherwise from 10am, to 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays; adults $30, New York State residents pay what they wish.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open daily, 10–5 on weekdays, 10–6 at weekends and to 9 on Wednesdays, when it is free. Adults $23; 18 and under free.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Daily 10am–6pm. Adults $10, 18 and under free, pay what you wish 5–6pm. Two gallery floors are closed for a changeover.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working parish church. Sunday services at 8, 9.10 and 11.15am and 6pm; come to one, or see it from Madison Avenue.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An arts venue in an armory. Check its programme for performances and open days.

  1. Crowds sitting on the wide stone steps of the Metropolitan Museum, fountains in front
    The Met’s Fifth Avenue steps on a summer day, 2018. Joyofmuseums · CC BY-SA 4.0

    1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street

    The Met steps

    Blair Waldorf eats lunch on the Met’s stone steps, and she, Serena and their friends gather there before and after school.

    The steps are free and always there. Inside: closed Wednesdays, otherwise from 10am, to 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays; adults $30, New York State residents pay what they wish.

    Your source
  2. A red-brick Georgian museum with a white portico behind a raised forecourt
    The Museum of the City of New York on Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, 2013. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0

    1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street

    Museum of the City of New York

    Its exterior is the entrance to Constance Billard and St. Jude’s, the girls’ and boys’ schools.

    Open daily, 10–5 on weekdays, 10–6 at weekends and to 9 on Wednesdays, when it is free. Adults $23; 18 and under free.

    Your source
  3. A red-brick mansion with ivy, a garden and red chairs in front
    Cooper Hewitt in the Carnegie Mansion on East 91st Street, June 2019. Ajay Suresh · CC BY 2.0

    2 East 91st Street

    Cooper Hewitt

    Lily and Bart’s wedding in the first season was filmed at the Cooper Hewitt.

    Daily 10am–6pm. Adults $10, 18 and under free, pay what you wish 5–6pm. Two gallery floors are closed for a changeover.

    Your source
  4. A brownstone Gothic church with a tall spire on a street corner
    St. James’ Church at Madison Avenue and 71st Street, September 2016. Jim.henderson · CC BY 4.0

    865 Madison Avenue at 71st Street

    St. James’ Church

    Blair’s wedding to Prince Louis takes place at St. James Church on the Upper East Side.

    A working parish church. Sunday services at 8, 9.10 and 11.15am and 6pm; come to one, or see it from Madison Avenue.

    Your source
  5. A long red-brick armory with crenellated towers behind trees
    Park Avenue Armory between 66th and 67th Streets, July 2019. Ajay Suresh · CC BY 2.0

    643 Park Avenue, 66th to 67th Street

    Park Avenue Armory

    In the 2021 revival’s first episode, Julien walks in a fashion show at the Park Avenue Armory.

    An arts venue in an armory. Check its programme for performances and open days.

    Your source

Stay

A room at the Palace.

Or across the park at the Empire, under the sign.

Lotte New York Palace

Lotte New York Palace

455 Madison Avenue, Midtown

The Van der Woodsens’ and Chuck’s hotel for all six seasons. You walk in through the Villard courtyard off Madison Avenue.

Check rooms
The Empire Hotel

The Empire Hotel

44 West 63rd Street, Upper West Side

The hotel Chuck buys into in season 3, across from Lincoln Center, with a rooftop bar under the red sign.

Check rooms

Go there

Steps, a school, a deck, a museum.

The sites tour by coach, then the Met, the museum on 103rd Street, the Empire State Building and the Cooper Hewitt.

On Location Tours

Gossip Girl Sites Tour

Starts at 51st Street and Madison Avenue · Semi-private $120 · private $160 a head (3 minimum)

About two hours by coach, from the Palace past the school, the Met steps and the Empire to Grand Central. Meets at 51st Street and Madison.

See dates
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met, past the steps

1000 Fifth Avenue · Adults $30 · New York State residents pay what they wish

Lunch on the steps is free. Inside, closed on Wednesdays; open to 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Plan a visit
Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York

1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street · Adults $23 · 18 and under free

Constance Billard’s front door, and a museum about the city behind it. Free for everyone on Wednesdays.

Plan a visit
Empire State Building

Up the Empire State Building

350 Fifth Avenue · 86th floor from $46 · both decks from $81

The deck Blair runs up to, too late. Open until 10pm.

Tickets
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Cooper Hewitt

2 East 91st Street · Adults $10 · under-18s free · pay what you wish 5–6pm

Lily and Bart’s wedding venue is a design museum in the Carnegie Mansion, with a garden. Two floors are closed for a changeover, so tickets are cheaper.

Plan a visit
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Gossip Girl tours of New York

New York

Live marketplace results for Gossip Girl location tours on the Upper East Side. Check each itinerary for the stops you want.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours
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Upper East Side walking tours

Upper East Side

Live marketplace results for Upper East Side and Central Park walks. Check each itinerary.

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Compare tours

What’s on

Tea on the Empire’s roof.

The XOXO afternoon at the Empire, and the autumn at the museum behind Constance’s front door.

The Empire Hotel

The XOXO Experience

44 West 63rd Street · Select Saturdays and Sundays · $60

On the Empire’s rooftop: an XOXO cocktail or mocktail, tea sandwiches and macarons, seatings from 11am to 3pm.

Book a seat

Take it home

Where it started.

Cecily von Ziegesar’s first two Gossip Girl novels.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Gossip Girl

Cecily von Ziegesar

Cecily von Ziegesar’s first Gossip Girl novel, from Little, Brown.

Find the book
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You Know You Love Me

Cecily von Ziegesar

The second novel in Cecily von Ziegesar’s series.

Find the book

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 sign-off

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources. You know you want to check.

14 of 14 places · 18 of 18 Moments

  • The Met steps

    1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street

    • Lunch on the steps

      Blair holds court on the Met’s steps at lunch, Serena beside her, the rest of the school a step or two below.

    • The steps again

      In the 2021 revival, Julien begins to bring Zoya into her friends on the same steps.

  • Museum of the City of New York

    1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street

    • Constance Billard

      The museum’s Georgian front plays the entrance to Constance Billard and St. Jude’s for the first two seasons, and again for the revival.

  • Cooper Hewitt

    2 East 91st Street

    • Lily and Bart

      Lily and Bart’s first-season wedding is filmed at the Cooper Hewitt.

  • St. James’ Church

    865 Madison Avenue at 71st Street

    • Blair and Prince Louis

      Blair marries Prince Louis at St. James Church on the Upper East Side.

  • Park Avenue Armory

    643 Park Avenue, 66th to 67th Street

    • A runway in an armory

      In the revival’s first episode, Julien walks in a fashion show at the Park Avenue Armory.

  • Lotte New York Palace

    455 Madison Avenue at 50th Street

    • Home is a hotel

      Chuck Bass and the Van der Woodsens live at the Palace; scenes are shot in its courtyard and the Gold Room.

  • Grand Central Terminal

    89 East 42nd Street

    • Serena is back

      The first glimpse of Serena is in Grand Central’s main lobby.

    • The Campbell Apartment

      Serena and Nate’s affair happens in the bar inside Grand Central, just before she leaves town.

  • Empire State Building

    350 Fifth Avenue; tickets at 12 West 34th Street

    • Too late at the top

      Blair rushes up to the observation deck to meet Chuck, and finds he has already left.

  • Bethesda Terrace

    Central Park, mid-park at 72nd Street

    • Friends again

      After Blair tries to embarrass Serena in front of the college reps, the two make up by Bethesda Fountain.

    • Chuck and Blair, married

      Chuck and Blair finally marry at Bethesda Fountain.

  • The Empire Hotel

    44 West 63rd Street, opposite Lincoln Center

    • Chuck buys in

      In season 3 Chuck invests in the Empire Hotel across from Lincoln Center.

  • Columbia University

    Morningside Heights, Broadway at 116th Street

    • Columbia

      The show films at Columbia University, which the city lists with the Met and the Museum of the City of New York.

  • Veselka

    144 Second Avenue at 9th Street, East Village

    • Dan’s place

      Veselka is Dan’s favourite spot; Blair has a date there with Prince Louis.

  • Silvercup Studios

    42-22 22nd Street, Long Island City

    • One hundred

      On 26 January 2012 the mayor visits the Silvercup set to mark the 100th episode, which aired four days later.

  • The Humphrey loft

    Water Street, Dumbo

    • Over the river

      The Humphreys’ loft is a Dumbo building near the Manhattan Bridge, filmed from the street.

    • It was Dan

      The finale in December 2012 reveals that Gossip Girl was Dan Humphrey all along, the boy from Brooklyn.

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