Shooting Locations

This is about filming locations, not gunfire

Someone has asked me about the location of the church used for the baptism sequence, and noticed on the site that there are some locations challenged and unresolved. Can anyone please clarify, for sure, where the following locations took place?

1) Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street was used for the christening scene. A real Bishop was used. Coppola's family is used as extras. [Challenged: Mt Loretto Church in Staten Island?]

2) The scene for the meeting of the Don's was filmed at the boardroom of the Penn Central Railroad on the 32nd floor above Grand Central Station [challenged]

3) The estate of movie czar Jack Woltz was really the Guggenheim Estate, Sands Point, Long Island [Challenged: Harold LLoyd Estate in Beverly Hills, CA]

4) The scene where Luca Brasi (played by ex-wrestler Lenny Montana) gets murdered was shot at the Hotel Edison, 47th Street in Manhattan -- in a hotel room [Challenged: Hotel St. George in Brooklyn]

5) The scene where Sonny was gunned down was filmed at tollbooths constructed on an abandoned airstrip out at Floyd Bennet Field in Mineola, Brooklyn. [Challenged: Mitchel Field in Mineola, Long Island - see explanation here ]

It's embarrassing that the site doesn't have the definitive info on this stuff Can those who know for sure help me out here? Grazie!!

JG

1) Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street was used for the christening scene. A real Bishop was used. Coppola's family is used as extras. [Challenged: Mt Loretto Church in Staten Island?]

Maybe the interior scenes, but I don't think the exterior scenes of the church could be on Mulberry Street. Look at the open space around the church. A friend of mine that lives on Longfellow Drive on Staten Island has always told me it was filmed at a church on Staten Island.

3) The estate of movie czar Jack Woltz was really the Guggenheim Estate, Sands Point, Long Island [Challenged: Harold LLoyd Estate in Beverly Hills, CA]

I thought the interior scenes were at the Guggenheim Estate. There are palm trees in the background of the exterior shots and I don't think that's possible in Sands Point.

According to IMDB, I looked up filming locations for the movie "The Bodyguard". The Greystone Estate in Beverly Hills is listed. Under "trivia", it says Rachel's mansion is the same one used for the horse's head scene in the Godfather. Mansion <~~is a website of famous filming locations. The pictures of the mansion look familiar. There's one picture if you click on it, it gives a view of Los Angeles from the house - the landscape is very similar when you see Woltz and Tom walking around the grounds.

Where ever the scenes were shot, I believe the realism of using "on location" places, really added to the greatness of all three of the movies. My personal favorite is the Luca Brasi scene in the Edison hotel. It was so realistic, right down to the squeaking of his shoes. A close second was the hospital scene where Michael moved his father. It really captured the dismal atmosphere of hospitals of years ago.

The baptism scene (the interior shots) was definitely filmed in Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street. See the picture of that church (below). Interestingly enough that picture was taken during John Kennedy, Jr.'s funeral service. He lived a few blocks away.

The interior of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral


I can't swear that the exterior shots of that scene were filmed there, too. The church, and it's steps look similar to those in the movie, but Mulberry Street is a narrow street, and the movie's scene made it appear that the church was in a more "suburban" setting. See the photo (below) of the exterior of Old St. Pat's.

The Outside of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral


Luca's death scene was definitely The Hotel Edison. Its still there, and the lobby and restaurant (used for Luca's bar scene) are absolutely gorgeous (see photo below of the lobby).

The lobby of the hotel used for Luca Brasi's death scene

The hospital scenes in GF1 where the Don was in danger was shot (the inside scenes, not the outside ones) in Lincoln Hospital on 143rd street in the South Bronx, where my wife was born. It is called "The Old Lincoln" because the hospital was rebuilt on 149th St. and Grand Concourse. I wish I had pictures.

The outside shot of the Dons' meeting is, I believe, the Fed in NY (Maiden Lane & Liberty Streets in the Wall Street area of Manhattan).

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Very interesting. If somebody has more pictures please post them. I'd like to see them.

I don't doubt you at all and you're probably correct, but I always thought it was the Waldorf.

Great pictures guys thanks That hotel where luca got killed looks very nice. Ive been to the St. Patricks Cathedral when I was on a field trip with my 8th grade class. I went to a Catholic school.

I want to go here it looks absolutely gorgeous



Hope I wouldn't end up like luca

FH