Discuss all things Ghostbusters here, unless they would be better suited in one of the few forums below.
#4920657
Forgive me if this has been covered before - a search didn't bring it up, but I could have missed something.

I'm just trying to work out the locations of the two prominent Ghostbusters museums as they appear within the world of Ghostbusters itself. I'm aware that the GB2 museum is really in Battery Park, but am I right in thinking the fiction of the film puts it at the south east corner of Central Park?* That appears to be where the clouds are swirling, at least! I couldn't swear to where the matte painting model shot puts it at the end of the film, because I don't know New York well enough, but is that roughly correct?

Likewise, in the video game, am I right in thinking the opening cinematic puts that museum more or less in Washington Square? All I can find refers to it as the Natural History Museum, but that opening shot certainly isn't in Central Park! My Manhattan geography is rusty, so any better info would be gratefully received.

Cheers!

*This one particularly bugs me, as it's often mentioned that it's a continuity error having the Statue of Liberty walk up 5th to get to Battery Park. If the museum is actually in Central Park in the world of the film, does that trip suddenly make more sense?
#4920668
I can't recall if it was ever fully established in any of the written media, but the city backdrops seen through the restoration studio windows, and the shots of the museum in the VFX sequences in Ghostbusters II would indicate it's located on the edge of Central Park on 5th Avenue, possibly somewhere between East 72nd and East 77th streets. That, combined with the museum's name of "Manhattan Museum of Art", would suggest it's a fictional replacement for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Museum of History in Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a bit trickier to pinpoint. The cityscape and surrounding buildings seen in the opening sequence are from a photograph of Los Angeles (the Biltmore Hotel is the brick and sandstone building visible to the left of the museum). The wider shot showing the Flatiron Building and the Metropolitan Life building suggests the Museum is located on Fifth Avenye, roughly between East 19th and East 18th Streets.
robbritton liked this
#4920687
To add to Kingpin's answer, the 2/27/1989 draft, has the Ghostbusters taking the Statue of Liberty up past Times Square/Broadway. Then "A squadron of police motorcycles comes speeding around the corner at 72nd Street and proceeds up Fifth Avenue in the direction of the museum." Then later on, the Statue is described lying on her back on part of Central Park. So it seems they intended the museum to lie somewhere between East 72nd and 110th Street along Fifth Avenue/hugging Central Park. Basically, it's the Metropolitan Museum of Art is on 1000 5th Avenue. I guess they couldn't get permission to use the Metropolitan Museum of Art and simply substituted 'Manhattan' in there?

When the Ghostbusters go to the Manhattan Museum of Art to take readings, there's a shot from behind them as Janosz comes towards them. The view outside the window seems to be from the Frick Collection Building which is between E 70th and E 71th streets.

When Mayor Lenny and his staff look out from their City Hall conference room, they see the slime eclipse. Presumably that's above the museum off in the distance and they are looking towards the Fifth Ave. The first view is a "enhanced" shot (I'm pretty sure buildings were added into that shot) of the Central Park South east area. The second one is most likely Central Park. In the 30th anniversary 4k Blu-Ray, the building on the far right during the eclipse shot is definitely the Essex House at 160 Central Park South. You can clearly read the classic signage on its roof.

The Natural History Museum. Off the top of my head, I forget exactly what it was either the 200 Central Park West location or wherever the mandala map Egon and Ray examine in one of the cutscenes points to is its rough location.

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