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Rob on Location
  • Home
  • About
    • About Me
    • Location Hunting – Getting Started
    • Location Hunting Guidelines
    • FAQs
    • Contact
  • TV Shows
    • American Housewife
    • The Brady Bunch
    • Coronation Street
    • Dance Academy
    • Dog The Bounty Hunter
    • The Drew Carey Show
    • The Fosters
    • Fresh Prince of Bel Air
    • Friends
    • Full House
    • Fuller House
    • The Goldbergs
    • The Golden Girls
    • Grey’s Anatomy
    • Hawaii Five-0
    • I Love Lucy
    • The Jeffersons
    • Jeopardy
    • Leave It To Beaver
    • Lost
    • Married… with Children
    • Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
    • Modern Family
    • The Office
    • Perfect Strangers
    • Schitt’s Creek
    • Seinfeld
    • Stranger Things
    • Tiny Pretty Things
    • The Tom Green Show
    • The Walking Dead
    • Will and Grace
    • The Wonder Years
    • Young Sheldon
  • Movies
    • 50 First Dates
    • A Christmas Story
    • Back To The Future
    • Billy Elliot
    • Blades of Glory
    • Blue Crush
    • Blue Hawaii
    • Dance Academy: The Comeback
    • Elf
    • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
    • Forgetting Sarah Marshall
    • Forrest Gump
    • From Here To Eternity
    • Ghostbusters
    • Ghostbusters 2
    • Hairspray
    • Home Alone
    • Home Alone 2
    • Isn’t It Romantic
    • It: Chapter One
    • Jurassic Park
    • Jurassic World
    • Kindergarten Cop
    • Lords of Dogtown
    • Love Actually
    • Love Simon
    • Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
    • Mrs. Doubtfire
    • My Big Fat Greek Wedding
    • Napoleon Dynamite
    • Notting Hill
    • Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
    • Pretty Woman
    • Sister Act
    • The Sum Of All Fears
    • Uncle Buck
    • Undercover Angel
    • Warm Bodies
    • Wayne’s World
    • The Wizard Of Oz
  • Film Studios
    • CBS Studio Center
    • The Jim Henson Studios
    • Kualoa Ranch
    • Lucasfilms
    • NBC Studios
    • Paramount Pictures
    • Sony Pictures Studios
    • Universal Studios Hollywood
    • Warner Brothers Studios – Hollywood
    • Warner Brothers Studios -The Making of Harry Potter
  • Live TV Tapings
    • The Big Bang Theory
    • Late Night with Conan O’Brien
    • The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
    • The Late Show with David Letterman
    • Live with Kelly and Ryan
    • Mom
    • The Price is Right
    • Saturday Night Live
    • The Talk
    • Will & Grace
  • Museums
    • CBC Museum
    • Lucy-Desi Museum
    • The Smithsonian
    • Star Trek Original Series Set Tour
    • The Walt Disney Family Museum
  • Destinations
    • Atlanta
    • Chicago
    • England
    • Hawaii
    • Los Angeles
    • New York City
    • Toronto
  • Famous Graves
    • Benjamin Harrison
    • Billy Wilder
    • Buddy Rich
    • Carl Wilson
    • Carroll O’Connor
    • Colonel Sanders
    • Daniel Boone
    • Dean Martin
    • Dino Bravo
    • Don Knotts
    • Donna Reed
    • Doris Roberts
    • Eva Gabor
    • Fanny Brice
    • Florence Henderson
    • Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    • Grace Kelly
    • Harry Truman
    • Heather O’Rourke
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Jackie Collins
    • Jeanne Sauve
    • Joanne Carson
    • John Abbott
    • Johnny Rougeau
    • Leonard Cohen
    • Lester B. Pearson
    • Lucille Ball
    • Marilyn Monroe
    • Maurice “The Rocket” Richard
    • Mel Torme
    • Minnie Riperton
    • Miss Elizabeth
    • Muhammed Ali
    • Owen Hart
    • Peter Falk
    • Rene Angelil
    • Richard Dawson
    • Robert Borden
    • Rodney Dangerfield
    • Roy Orbison
    • Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
    • The Titanic Victims
    • Thomas Darcy McGee
    • Tommy Douglas
    • Truman Capote
    • Vaslev Nijinsky
    • Walter Matthau
    • Wilfred Laurier
    • William Shakespeare
    • Yousef Karsh
  • Interviews
    • Stephanie Davy – Ottawa Film Office
    • Tim Dolan – Broadway Up Close
    • David Morgan – Kualoa Ranch
    • Bill Sindelar – Warm-Up Comedian
  • Extras
    • Billy Elliot The Musical
    • McDonald’s
    • Location News
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    • Links

Friends

One of the most iconic sitcoms ever, Friends ran from 1994 to 2004.  The show can still be seen around the world in countless reruns.  Almost everyone is familiar with the stories of Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey.

Warner Brothers Studios

Friends is set in Manhattan, but the entire series was filmed at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California.  Like other sitcoms, Friends was filmed three-camera style in front of a live studio audience.  The first season was filmed on stage 5. Once the show was a hit, production moved to stage 24, due to it’s larger size.  Once the series ended, Warner Bros. renamed it “The Friends Stage” in honour of the show.

  • The Friends stage

Central Perk

Generally, once a show ends, they dismantle the set. In recent years, however, studios have started to realize the value in preserving the set.  Warner Bros. decided to do something unique, and include the Central Perk set as part of their studio tour.  It was first set up in the props warehouse, where fans could sit on the iconic orange couch and take a photo. 

  • The Friends couch
  • Central Perk
  • Central Perk

Several years later, WB created Stage 48, a large interactive museum that was the finishing point of the tours.  They moved the Central Perk set to be part of this experience.  You can have a personal and professional photo taken on the set. They even give you the chance to participate in a recreation of a Friends scene.

  • Central Perk at Warner Brothers
  • me on the Friends set
  • Central Perk set
  • Central Perk set
  • sitting on the orange couch
  • camera angle
  • Phoebe's guitar
  • Central Perk

The Backlot

The Warner Bros. Studios has various backlots that were used for filming Friends scenes that couldn’t be filmed indoors.  Studios like Warner Bros. are experts in using the same location over and over.  Using slight cosmetic alterations and different camera angles, you’d never know you are seeing the same sets over and over again.

  • Warner Bros backlot
  • Warner Bros backlot
  • New York backlot
  • Warner Bros backlot

Along Hennessy Street is a back alley that was the setting for a memorable scene. This is where Rachel and Monica hid while checking out Jean Claude Van Damme as he was filming a movie.

  • the Friends alleyway

Warner Bros. has a small field which was used as a city park where Ross joins a game of Rugby. There is also a small park with trees which was used to film Phoebe running through Central Park.

  • The rugby game from Friends
  • Phoebe runs through Central Park

There are several houses located Midwest Street, and one of them was used in a memorable episode of Friends. In “The One With The Prom Video” they flash back to home videos taken before Monica and Rachel’s prom. One of the backlot homes was used for these home videos. The producers wanted to make it appear the video was taken in a real house as opposed to a set.

  • The One With the Prom Video
  • The One With the Prom Video
  • The One With the Prom Video
  • me on the stairs of The One With the Prom Video

The Friends Fountain

Where in New York City is that fountain???

Tour guides in NYC love to point out the famous Friends fountain, used in the opening credits.  Often, guides will direct you to the fountain at Lincoln Center, Washington Square Park, or Cherry Hill and Bethesda Terrace in Central Park.  The only catch is, they are all wrong.  They might be misleading you or just mistaken, but none of the fountains are from Friends. 

  • Not the Friends Fountain!
  • Not the Friends Fountain!
  • Not the Friends Fountain!
  • Not the Friends Fountain!

Warner Bros. Ranch

The actual fountain used is located in Hollywood, nowhere close to NYC. It was originally at the Warner Bros. Ranch, which is a separate location from the main Warner Bros. Studios.  The Ranch is a small studio, opened in 1934. In the centre of the studio is a small park, where the fountain was located.  Just across the street is a row of European style apartment buildings.  The twinkling lights of the Manhattan skyline were added in post-production. 

  • Warner Bros Ranch
  • Warner Bros Ranch

Unfortunately the Ranch is not open to the public, so getting a picture at the Friends fountain was almost impossible. The closest you can get is a peak in the gate. You can catch a glimpse of some of the buildings in the distance.

  • Warner Bros Ranch
  • Warner Bros Ranch

Here are a couple photos courtesy of ColumbiaRanch.net, which has lots of great history and information regarding the Ranch.

  • Courtesy of www.columbiaranch.net
  • courtesy of www.columbiaranch.net

The Move to Warner Bros. Hollywood Lot

In 2019, due to the impending sale of the Ranch, Warner Bros. had the fountain dug up and moved to the main Warner Bros. Studios.

I have mixed feelings on the fountain being moved. On the one hand, it’s a shame that it was taken away from the spot where it sat for 70+ years. I also hate the idea of the Ranch possibly being destroyed (for condos, no less). I would much prefer the Ranch be preserved and opened to the public for tours.

That being said, if the Ranch is going to disappear, it’s good that the fountain will be preserved for future generations of Friends fans and studio historians to visit.

The Fountain can now be seen by visitors to the Warner Bros. Hollywood Tour. It is located just off their midwest backlot, and while the backdrop is different, it is the original Friends fountain.

Check out this video I put together about the location of the Friends fountain:

The Friends Building

New York City is home to the apartment building from Friends. It is located at the corner of Bedford and Grove Streets in Greenwich Village.  The exterior of this building was used for establishing shots in almost every episode, and will be instantly recognizable.  While the actors never filmed scenes there, the building is a bucket list location for any Friends fan.

  • The Friends apartment
  • The Friends apartment
  • The Friends apartment

Right across the street from the building is the apartment that originally belonged to Ugly Naked Guy, and then becomes Ross’s apartment in later seasons.

A special edition book was released during the shows run, featuring the filming of the episodes in London. You can read more about this book on my filming locations books page.

If you have any questions or thoughts about Friends or the filming locations, please share with me in the comment section below.

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