Moving to New York is almost always a decision based partly on fantasy. It’s impossible to escape the fictional versions of the city that proliferate in books, art, music – and, perhaps most vividly, in films and television shows, with their typically romantic (and typically misleading) depictions of rent-stabilized studios and affordable brownstones. To celebrate T’s New York-themed home design issue, we asked a handful of designers, architects and other creative people about the film and TV interiors that shaped their vision of the city they now call home.
Toshiko Mori, architect: “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968)
Moved to New York in the late 1960s
I came to New York from Japan with my family to attend high school. One of my first assignments at the summer school I attended that year was to write an essay comparing Ira Levin’s 1967 novel “Rosemary’s Baby” to Roman Polanski’s film adaptation. The building in the film is called the Bramford, but the exterior was famously that of the Dakota on the Upper West Side. What struck me about the apartments in the film was their aspect of interiority – the way they seemed to harbor secrets. I also remember their small, framed views of tall buildings in New York City. Although the film is obviously a horror story and the building turns out to be cursed, “Rosemary’s Baby” only made me more excited about life in New York. Being from Japan, I was used to stories about ghosts and evil spirits. So in an absurd way it made the city feel more familiar.
John Derian, 60, designer and retailer: “Easy Living” (1937)
Moved to New York in 1992
I was a kid who watched every old movie on TV on Saturdays: twelve hours, two hours, four hours and, if I could get away with it, six hours. One of my favorites was the comedy ‘Easy Living’, starring Jean Arthur. The film takes you across New York through multiple homes, from a mansion on Fifth Avenue to a room in a boarding house where Arthur’s character lives for seven dollars a week, culminating in an over-the-top Hollywood Regency-style suite at the fictional Hotel Louis with soaring ceilings, a grand piano and an ornate plunge pool. “Wow,” I thought. “All this in one city? Sign me up!” I still love the smoke and mirrors of a good set, and I’m actually doing the same thing in my stores today, creating a bit of fantasy.
Stephen Alesch, 57, designer: “Batman” (1989)
Moved to New York in 1994
Growing up in Milwaukee and later in the Los Angeles area, I loved Batman comics. When Tim Burton’s “Batman” came out, I ate it up. The film’s Gotham was over-the-top Manhattan, and the neo-neo-gothic sets blew me away. I loved the shady wet streets, the balconies high in the mist, the buttresses and water towers. One interior that particularly caught my eye was Vicky Vale’s (Kim Basinger) penthouse, with its shiny tiled walls and impressive steel arch covered in rivets. During my first stay in New York in 1991, I couch surfed with friends and walked the streets for hours, taking in the Chrysler Building, Tudor City, and the fire escapes of the Lower East Side. I couldn’t help but see the city through a noisy lens. Within a few years I moved to New York for good, and I still insist on rivets for projects and try to add an arched buttress wherever I see an opportunity.
Loren Daye, 48, interior designer: “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986)
Moved to New York in 1996
I was 21 and living in Chicago when I first saw “She’s Gotta Have It.” Much of the film takes place in Fort Greene, but the main character, Nola Darling (played by Tracy Camilla Johns), lives in a half-empty attic in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, among scraps of wood, buckets of paint and her collages. The attic is painted almost entirely white and has incredible arched windows and geometric light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, with the entire space anchored by her bed in the center. The bed has a trellis headboard where she lights dozens of candles every night – it’s like a shrine to her sexuality. That room was my dream, which represented freedom, honesty and self-realization. A year after I saw the film, I arrived in New York. In 2003 I finally found a place in Fort Greene and I’m still here.
Billy Cotton, 42, interior designer: “Interiors” (1978)
Moved to New York in 2000
When I moved to New York to study Russian history at Hunter College, I had no idea I would become a designer. But I do remember seeing Woody Allen’s “Interiors” (I think my parents had the VHS cassette) when I was a kid in Burlington, Virginia. The mother of the story is Eve, an interior designer played by Geraldine Page, and the twisty film. sparsely furnished apartments were my idea of an ultra-glamorous New York. Looking back now on the film’s spare, monochrome interiors, I feel like they are strangely prescient of the current trend for all beige, cream and white spaces. But they are also a bit timeless. This city throws so much visual energy at you on a daily basis, and I love the idea of having just a few good things that you can take with you from place to place.
Tal Schori, 43, architect: “The Hunger” (1983)
Moved to New York in 2003
Growing up in the suburbs of New York in the 1990s, the city always had a somewhat intimidating appeal to me. This was epitomized in the noirish vampire film ‘The Hunger’, which I first saw as a teenager. David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve play undead lovers John and Miriam Blaylock, who live in a luxurious antebellum mansion near Central Park. The house, dramatically lit by lace curtains, exuded a certain languid luxury and dark transgressiveness with its high ceilings, elegant French doors, wainscoting, ornate moldings and opulent stone cladding. I was seduced. By 2003, I had arrived in New York, renting a modest one-bedroom in a 1960s brick co-op in Ditmas Park.
Jared Blake, 33, furniture designer and retailer: “Hey Arnold!” (1996–2004)
Moved to New York in 2005
To me, Arnold’s room in the Nickelodeon series “Hey Arnold!” is legendary. The show is set in a fictional town called Hillwood, but I have no doubt that it is modeled after New York. Arnold had a folding bed, a skylight, track lighting, a giant water dispenser and a funky red rug, kind of like the one in “The Shining” (1980), but more modern. I was born in New Jersey and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when I was seven, but I visited New York four times a year to visit my father, who lived in Harlem. I think I knew early on that the city was where I would end up. It’s been sixteen years since I arrived, and I realize now that I may have unknowingly created my version of Arnold’s room in my apartment in Ridgewood, Queens. I have a Murphy bed and track lighting, and the whole vibe, like Arnold’s, is very eclectic. I’m only missing the skylight.
Farrah Sit, 41, furniture designer: “9½ Weeks” (1986)
Moved to New York in 2005
I grew up in Kingston, NY, just a two-hour drive away, and when I was a kid, the sensory overload of New York City—the noise, the smell, the heat—was intense for me. The interiors in “9 ½ Weeks” were therefore a revelation: an expression of strict minimalism and the dream of an ambitious art school child. Elizabeth’s art gallery attic was a light-filled box that seemed to float above the chaos of the city. John’s monochromatic, museum-like penthouse, with furnishings by Marcel Breuer and Richard Meier, was luxurious and understated. These spaces played with light, shadow and texture, expressing an aesthetic that resonates with me to this day. After living in New York for 18 years, I still respond to the intensity of the city by creating a sense of serenity in my work.
Fabiana Faria, 37, retailer: “The Hours” (2002)
Moved to New York in 2007
Meryl Streep character from “The Hours,” Clarissa Vaughan, lives in a rustic, sprawling, flowery house in downtown New York, where she often hosts parties. I first saw the movie when I was 14 and living with my parents in Caracas, Venezuela. I wanted to believe that one day I would have a house like that in New York where I could host gatherings of interesting people and walk everywhere, stopping at the butcher or the florist, both of whom knew me. There are several scenes in Clarissa’s beautiful open kitchen, which has a large stove, hanging pots and wooden floors. When I moved to the city, I had no illusions of living in such luxury—I shared a two-bedroom with three other roommates on Roosevelt Island—but I clung to that vision of a warm, lived-in, loved New York. apartment.
Luam Melake, 36, furniture designer: “Party Girl” (1995)
Moved to New York in 2011
When I first saw “Party Girl,” I was 22 and living in San Francisco. Posey’s character, an aspiring librarian who prioritizes fashion and partying, struck me as a more beautiful reflection of my life as a clothing-obsessed pseudo-librarian (I worked in a bookstore) who made a living by just pretending dress up and hang out. Posey’s character lives in a dingy attic in Chinatown, which mainly houses her wardrobe and record collection. It is a flexible space that she transforms for any party. When I was 24, I moved to New York with only my books and clothes and lived in a series of strange spaces in Chinatown. I was always outside and absolutely loved being here. I’m still a fashion-conscious librarian at Parsons today, creating flexible furniture designed for better social interactions. I spend less time at parties and more time introducing them.
Minjae Kim, 34, artist and designer: “Basquiat” (1996)
Moved to New York in 2015
I was in high school in Korea when I first saw artist Julian Schnabel’s “Basquiat,” a film about navigating New York’s art scene that feels more and more authentic to me as time goes on. I was struck by Basquiat’s East Village apartment, covered wall to wall with his own work, and by the loft apartment of fictional artist Albert Milo (played by Gary Oldman), where art handlers passed around paintings large enough to serve as a theater backdrop to serve. I was fascinated by the romance of living among your own work, in a space focused on creating art. The film was an inevitable reference for me when I moved from Seoul to Spanish Harlem and again last year when I moved to Bed-Stuy, where I moved into my first apartment alone.
Eny Lee Parker, 34, furniture designer: “Friends” (1994-2004)
Moved to New York in 2018
I grew up in Brazil and, like many high school millennial millennials around the world, religiously watched “Friends” to learn English. The decor of the apartments—the purple walls in Monica’s apartment, the La-Z-Boy chairs in Joey and Chandler’s—didn’t exactly inspire design envy. But I loved how the spaces were a safe, warm environment for these six friends to be themselves. I moved to Williamsburg after high school, and funnily enough, it was a lot like “Friends.” Me, my then-husband, my best friend, and her then-boyfriend shared a unicorn of an apartment: a rent-controlled, three-bedroom, three-bath room with its own roof. We hung out, had dinner together and had a few parties. I still love the idea of having friends over, ordering Chinese food and sitting around the coffee table while we eat from take-out containers.