Things Movies Always Get Wrong About NYC

Whenever a movie character needs to take a shortcut, hide some contraband, or meet up with a contact for some shady criminal dealings, where do they do it? Why, in one of Manhattan's famous alleyways, right? This one even took us by surprise, so prepare to have your mind blown.

Believe it or not, since the city grid was laid out to maximize usable real estate, there are virtually no alleys in Manhattan at all, only in the outer boroughs. Other cities have alleys — Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, alleys aplenty. But not Manhattan.

Most movie scenes that are shot in "New York City alleys" are actually all shot in the same alley, Cortlandt Alley, one of only a handful in the city. And this alley is used for filming so much that it doesn't really function much as an alley nowadays — it's basically just a film set.

This same alley appears in movies as diverse as Crocodile Dundee, Kate and Leopold, Highlander, Annie, Men in Black, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, and many, many others. If you are intrigued, and want to know more, the podcast 99 Percent Invisible has a fantastic segment about the myth of the Manhattan alleyway.