Iwalked New York City's Friends Apartement

Iwalked New York City's Friends Apartement - Today’s destination at 90 Bedford Street, while home to a popular Mediterranean restaurant named The Little Owl, is best recognized to millions as the apartment where Rachel, Monica, Chandler and Joey lived for 10 seasons in the hit television series Friends. Although the exterior is viewable in nearly every episode, little else from the show was filmed in New York City. No interior shots were done here and even the famous intro which features the full cast frolicking within a fountain was filmed at the Warner Brothers studio in Hollywood (reportedly at 5am in the morning).

Friends Apartement

The comedy ran for 10 seasons (September 22, 1994-May 6, 2004) and 236 episodes. The series originally was known via a series of other names including, “Across The Hall”, “Insomnia Café”, “Six Of One”, “Once Upon A Time In The Village”, and “Friend Like Us.” The latter name was eventually shortened to its final name. When casting for the show began, Matt Le Blanc (who plays Joey Tribbiani) was desperate for the role as he was down to his last $11. He got off to a bit of a bad start though when the night before his audition he fell on his face after a long evening of drinking which left him with some tough to explain cuts and scabs.

All turned out well for our Friends though as the group of actors cast for the series became a close knit group in real life as well. Supposedly before filming the cast was known to hang out together and play Scrabble or poker to relax. One co-star who felt a bit intimidated and left out from the group’s tight bond was Tom Selleck. Selleck was reported as feeling a third (or seventh in this case) wheel when the cast would huddle together before each episode and he was left as a casual observer.

The impact of Friends on culture is still relevant and sometimes overlooked. Catch phrases such as Joey’s pick-up phrase, “How you doin’?” may still be heard at bar-time in most parts of the country. Less the show’s social impact was put to a real test via a linguistics professor at the University of Toronto. In his study the professor confirmed that the mannerism of Chandler Bing and his emphasis on the word “so” (aka-Friends is “so” the best comedy on television.) made this the most emphasized intensifier used in the English language. How many shows can say that?

Other quick hits and fun facts regarding Friends:

• Each twenty-two minute episode took approximately six hours to film.


• Courtney Cox originally auditioned for the part of Rachel before producers convinced her that she was more suited for Monica.


• David Schimmer was reportedly offered the lead role in Men In Black before he turned it down and the role was offered to Will Smith.