This is the view from Rockefeller Center's iconic ice rink where skaters
glide below the towering Christmas tree drawing spectators from all around the world.
In the heart of Manhattan, just a few blocks away from Times Square,
Rockefeller Plaza is located between West 48th and West 51st streets and
Fifth and Sixth avenues. This proximity to so many tourist attractions,
Rockefeller Center draws a large crowd of visitors during the month of December.
The tree is lit during a televised ceremony with live performances
following Thanksgiving each year - and remains lit until early January.
With room for only 150 skaters at a time, tourists and New Yorkers alike line up
around the rink to skate on the ice below as classic Christmas music
provides a soundtrack to the experience.
It's also a beloved symbol of Christmas seen in holiday movies set in New York. It was featured in the 2003 film Elf,
which tells the story of Buddy, a human raised by elves at the North Pole,
who travels to New York City to find his biological father.
Rockefeller Center is a stop during Buddy and Jovie's first date where they
marveled at the size of the tree and shared their first kiss on the ice in
In this video, we are going to take you to five other New York City locations that
have been featured in classic Christmas films.
We are now outside Macy’s at Herald Square,
a bit further south in Manhattan, located on 34th Street between 6th and 7th avenues.
Macy’s Herald Square is the department store chain's flagship location. Macy's has been a presence in
Manhattan for over 150 years. Though its original location was 14th Street and
6th Avenue, Macy's has been an icon of Herald Square since 1902.
This Macy's covers an entire city block with 11 levels.
It was also the first building to have the modern-day escalator.
The Christmas window theme for 2018 is “Believe In The Wonder Of Giving.”
Inside, visitors can see even more holiday displays while shopping and
children have the opportunity to visit Santaland on the eighth floor of the store,
where they can have a photo taken with Santa Claus himself.
This macy's had a starring role in the 1947 Christmas classic, "Miracle on 34th Street,"
as the location where the real Kris Kringle fulfilled his role as their in-store Santa Claus.
Miracle on 34th Street won three Academy Awards for Best Actor in a
Supporting Role, for Best Writing Original Story, and for Best Writing Screeplay.
The film was also nominated for Best Picture.
Though this Christmas classic was remade in 1994, Macy's department store declined any
involvement with this retelling, so the fictitious Cole's was used as its replacement.
Rival store Gimbels featured in the 1947 film went out of business in 1987;
and was also replaced by the fictional "Shopper's Express" for the update.
We are now at the Plaza Hotel located on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street.
This iconic 5-star New York City hotel at the southeast corner of Central Park opened in 1907.
The hotel has been the temporary home to noble guests including
presidents, royalty and countless celebrities over the years
and has been named as the home for many beloved fictional characters.
The plaza is also home to The Palm Court, a popular destination for afternoon tea in the city.
In the 1992 comedy “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”,
Kevin McAllister finds himself at the Plaza Hotel in New York after
getting separated from his family once again at the airport.
After stopping then owner Donald Trump inside for directions to the lobby, Kevin books himself when the
one of the hotel’s finest suites hotel's finest suites for a luxurious Christmas on his own,
complete with an ice cream sundae cart for room service.
We are now in Central Park in mid Manhattan.
There are familiar spots all throughout the park which can be seen in numerous
films and TV shows. Here in the southeastern corner of the park is Wollman Rink,
which transforms into a seasonal ice skating rink each year before Christmas.
In the 2001 romantic comedy “Serendipity,” Jonathan and Sara are two
strangers who fall in love while sharing an enchanting evening together,
but choose to leave it up to fate if they will ever see each other again.
After first meeting in grabbing dessert at Serendipity 3, the couple ends up
ice skating at Wollman Rink. When Sarah asked what Jonathan's favorite New York moment is,
he tells her that this moment on the ice is climbing the charts.
Later in the movie, they both return to the ice rink while searching for each other.
Here we are at The Plant Shed at the corner of Broadway and 96th Street,
on the upper west side of Manhattan, where the sidewalks are lined with Christmas trees
for New Yorkers to bring home to their apartments. Featuring four floors of
flowers plants pottery and even a rooftop greenhouse, this shop has been
operating on the upper west side for over 30 years.
This spot is seen twice in the 1989 romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally.”
This Christmas tree sidewalk display is where Harry helps Sally buy a Christmas tree and they carry it back to
her apartment together. After the two get into a fight and another year passes
Sally goes back to The Plant Shed and is seen sadly dragging the Christmas
tree alone down the sidewalk. Fans in the movie can come pick out their freshly-cut
Christmas tree here along with a selection of other Christmas decorations as well.
Our final destination is the Seagram building at 375 Park Avenue,
between 52nd Street and 53rd Street. When the 38-story office and retail structure
completed in 1958, the $41 million construction costs of Seagram made it
the world's most expensive skyscraper at the time. While the building is an icon of modernism,
the open plaza setting the building back from Park Avenue was also innovative for its use of space.
This is where Bill Murray's character Frank Cross worked
in the 1988 comedy “Scrooged,” a modern retelling of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."
Cross, a curmudgeonly television executive is visited by three
ghosts to help him see where his life has gone wrong.
Nicholas Cage's character Jack Campbell also worked here in another movie centered around Christmas, “The Family Man.”
In this 2000 film, Jack, a single businessman gets a glimpse of
what his life would have been like as a husband and father if he had made
different choices in his life.
There are many other locations throughout the city where fans can
relive the holiday magic seen in Christmas films set in New York and
discover new wonders of the season not yet seen on screen.
Whether you'revisiting Manhattan for the first time or a local resident,
there is a bounty of holiday activities to explore.