NEW YORK (AP) — Thinking about toasting Carrie Bradshaw with a cosmo while posing on the front steps of her iconic Manhattan brownstone in “Sex and the City”?
Think again.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a request for a gate Tuesday after Barbara Lorber, the building’s owner since 1978, lamented “the endless presence of interest in my celebrity staircase.” The stately three-story building in the Greenwich Village historic district was used for exterior shots of the apartment occupied by Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker.
“I had literally been waiting for decades for this to happen,” Lorber told the commission during candid testimony. “But at this point I think even someone as stubborn as me has to admit that this isn’t going away anytime soon.”
The entrance has been chained with a “no trespassing” sign. But a neighbor told the commission that the network has failed to deter fans of the show, who cause a nuisance on the block.
Eight members of the commission unanimously approved the request, which is a necessary step in the historic West Village neighborhood. Lorber’s architect will work with commission staff on the final design of the gate.
“Sex and the City” followed the exploits and relationships of Bradshaw and his three friends for six seasons starting in 1998. The show spawned two films and the sequel series “And Just Like That…”
Anthony Gillbee of Melbourne, Australia, took a photo with his teenage son on the sidewalk in front of the brownstone on Wednesday to send to his wife. He said he understood that it would be annoying to have people in front of your house all the time.
“But, you know, it’s an iconic place,” he said. “And if you put a door in the front, it would change its whole appearance. And then it wouldn’t be Carrie Bradshaw’s house.”
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Hill reported from Altamont, New York.
Joseph B. Frederick and Michael Hill, Associated Press