Low brick shopfronts sit beneath the elevated West End line on 86th Street, with rows of attached houses close by.
What Bensonhurst looks like
86th Street runs under the elevated West End line from toward Stillwell Avenue, with the D train on the steel above the sidewalk. Where 86th Street meets , a pale stone corner building holds the shopfronts at street level beneath the structure.
Many of the houses are attached or semidetached, mostly brick, with stucco and stone on others. Some have the standard air-conditioner sleeves that give them the nickname Fedders Houses. Some blocks have three-story brick apartment buildings among the houses.
18th Avenue, also called Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard, is lined with small family-owned businesses at street level. Most of the newer businesses on 86th Street between 18th and 25th avenues are Chinese. Their signs need covering for a period shot.
The has a square stone steeple. has benches under tall trees.
has a playground behind chain-link fencing. The on New Utrecht Avenue is a transfer between the Sea Beach and West End lines.
Shot in Bensonhurst
The 1971 film The French Connection staged its car chase under the elevated tracks on Stillwell Avenue and 86th Street, ending at 62nd Street station on New Utrecht Avenue. The 1977 film Saturday Night Fever opened its walk on 86th Street in Bensonhurst, although the film is set in Bay Ridge. The 1990 film Goodfellas filmed a wedding reception at Oriental Manor, 1818 86th Street, which closed in 2007 and is now a department store.
The French Connection, 1971
18th Avenue under the elevated
The production shot the chase over five weeks beneath the elevated tracks along Stillwell Avenue and 86th Street. The West End line runs above 86th Street from 18th Avenue toward Stillwell Avenue. This corner is where the line's 18th Avenue station stands. Street View
The 7 train runs on elevated tracks above Roosevelt Avenue through Jackson Heights. The steel runs over a main thoroughfare, as 86th Street does under the West End line. Wider frames give away the station canopies, so keep shots at street level under the tracks. Try searching elevated tracks Roosevelt Avenue now.
The Frankford El runs on top of Kensington Avenue, the neighborhood's commercial center, with shopfronts under the steel. The steel over a commercial avenue is the same arrangement as 86th Street. Parked cars and modern signs need covering for the 1970s. A tight street-level frame keeps the El out of shot. Try searching shopfronts under the El now.
