Cinematic Atlas: A Guide to Spike Lee's New York

Put on your Jordans and walk through the locations of some of his most iconic films.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Spike Lee has captured New YorkBrooklyn especially—with unparalleled breadth and depth. Though he was born in Atlanta, Lee moved to Brooklyn as a child, was shaped there artistically and politically, and chose to focus on the borough (and its neighbors) in the majority of his films.

What's most striking about Lee’s work is how much diversity—racial, architectural, and otherwise—he discovers in Brooklyn and Manhattan. From the waterfront amusement park projects of Coney Island to the clean, post-industrial cobblestone streets of DUMBO, from the bustling brownstones of Bed-Stuy to a placid hill top monument in Fort Greene Park, his films remind the viewer that the physical and cultural landscape changes drastically as you move from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Looking across his filmography, surveying this diversity, common themes emerge. What most often unites his films is a commitment to chronicling struggle in a city teeming with conflict. We took a look at exterior locations from six of his films, covering numerous spots in Brooklyn (and a couple in Manhattan), paying attention not only to the relationships between Lee’s films and their locales, but also to the ways these communities have changed since the movie crews rolled down their streets and sidewalks.

With a new joint, Red Hook Summer, premiering at Sundance this weekend, it's the perfect time to step into your Jordans, slip on your Landry Fields jersey, and screw on that cap with "Brooklyn" scrawled across the underside of the brim, and join us for a look at New York through Spike Lee’s bespectacled eyes.

by Brenden Gallagher (@muddycreekU)

[Ed. Note—For a similar look at another of the city's most prominent filmmakers, please see Cinematic Atlas: A Guide to Martin Scorsese's New York.]

DUMBO Waterfront (She’s Gotta Have It, 1986)

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Neighborhood: DUMBO, Brooklyn
AddressBrooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, Northeast Corner

She's Gotta Have It, Lee's first feature-length film, describes a sexual tug of war among young New Yorkers. It focuses on Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) and her trifecta of suitors, including Lee as Mars Blackmon, one of his most famous characters. Many of the film's most sweeping shots were lensed in DUMBO, a neighborhood that bares little resemblance to many of the other neighborhoods Lee would shot in later in his career.

There is no sense of economic struggle in DUMBO. The gentrified and the deteriorating are juxtaposed in many of Lee’s other locales, but DUMBO has long been a yuppie haven, gentrified since the 1970s, when young bohemian loft-spacers employed the phrase to deter developers (this, of course, was unsuccessful). The development of DUMBO has continued on since the days of She’s Gotta Have It as parks, nightclubs, and artisanal shops fill to the brim these once industrial docks. And yeah, the view is okay, too.

Fulton Mall (She’s Gotta Have It, 1986)

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Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn
Address: Bridge St. and Fulton Mall

A striking change has come to the Fulton Mall—where Nola meets her most promising suitor—since She’s Gotta Have It. While some large retailers like Macy’s have long been part of the landscape, many smaller, independent retailers managed to co-exist among them for decades. This created a rich and varied shopping area for locals. In recent years, international mega-retailers like Aéropostale and T.G.I. Friday’s-style chain restaurants have replaced the independent shops that once existed here.

As a recent New York Times article put it, "developers are hoping the influx of brand-name chains will finally lure them into what for decades has been a cherished destination for working-class shoppers.” We’re not sure what the construction site pictured here will turn into, but we’re confident that Uniqlo and H&M won’t rest until they are as ubiquitous as subway panhandlers and Mark Sanchez apologists. Fulton Mall may be next in line.

Fort Greene Park (She’s Gotta Have It, 1986)

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Neighborhood: Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Address: Myrtle Ave. and Washington Park

Lee must've been attracted to Fort Greene Park's Prison Ship Martyr’s Monument for the colorful graffiti spread across the granite structure; he was certainly not alone, as the scene—Nola's beau, Jamie, gets her a special birthday present that revels in Lee's love of musicals— has gone on to become a film school textbook staple. Since shortly after the monument’s dedication in 1908, it had been the target of serious vandalism, including the theft of the bronze eagle inlaid within the Doric column. The monument has since been restored to its initial state. Though it is hard to argue against the historic preservation of such a structure, there is a certain beauty to the vandalized version we see in the film, marked by a rainbow of graffiti. It certainly better suits the near-cartoonish colors that mark Lee's early work.

Stuyvesant Avenue (Do the Right Thing, 1989)

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Neighborhood: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Address: Stuyvesant Ave. (between Lexington Ave. and Quincy St.)

The iconic Bed-Stuy block of Do the Right Thing remains satisfyingly constant over two decades later. Strolling down the block, you can run into folks who remember watching the film shoot from their windows and stoops. Gentrification approaches, a presence felt through the pour-over coffee shops and bohemian cantinas at the edges of the neighborhood, closer to Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights, but the heart of Bed-Stuy feels like the neighborhood that Spike Lee captured in his most brilliant work. That said, there is some distance between the Stuyvesant Ave. that appears in the film and the one that greets you on a casual walk today.

Do the Right Thing is an expressionistic film, the tense heat of that Brooklyn summer evoked formally by the bright oranges and reds that comprmise the color palette. The block is greener, with more trees and plants, than what the viewer sees in Do the Right Thing, the buildings cooler, more neutral in color. Just like the Bed-Stuy location in Crooklyn, this block is largely unchanged. The major change: a parking lot where Sal's Famous once stood.

Arlington Place (Crooklyn, 1994)

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Neighborhood: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
AddressArlington Place

Well before Crooklyn, Lee's love letter to his childhood, was shot, Arlington Place, a one-block street of residential brownstones, was recognized as something special. Charles Lockwood wrote in his 1972 book, Bricks and Brownstones, that “Arlington Place is my favorite block in Bedford-Stuyvesant,” and it's not hard to see why. The pristine block looks just as it did in 1994 thanks to the Beford Stuyvesant Society for Historical Preservation. For better or worse, Bed-Stuy is attracting increased interest from corporations and hipsters, but regardless of your opinion on the changing neighborhood, it is hard to argue against the preservation of this picturesque block.

The Gowanus Houses (Clockers, 1995)

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Neighborhood: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Address211 Hoyt St.

Sometimes a location can disappoints when it appears wholly changed. When visiting the Gowanus Houses in Boerum Hill, the opposite is true. The projects look exactly as they did when Lee shot Clockers there. While the benchmarks of gentrification—rare books shops and creperies—have popped up like weeds throughout Boerum Hill, the Gowanus Houses loom unaltered. The same bars rust against the windows and the same signs fade on the walls. Just as little has changed physically, it seems the same cyclical energy that perpetuates the illegal drug trade, a machine captured so explicitly in Lee's film, has stayed distressingly constant as well.

The Brooklyn Hospital (Clockers, 1995)

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Neighborhood: Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Address121 Dekalb Ave.

While this location appears onscreen for only a brief moment in Clockers (glimpsed after Strike [Mekhi Phifer] is released following treatment for his stomach ulcer), Brooklyn Hospital provides an example of how urban development can both expand and preserve the borough's landscape. One would expect a tale of gentrification alternated with decay when revisiting the locations from many of Lee’s films, and this is often the case. However, the Brooklyn Hospital’s expansion was executed with a respect for what had come before. Behind this newly built, expansive glass lobby, the original façade as shown in the film remains intact. The white marble you see here still stands today, as a backdrop for the hospital center’s lobby. 

O’Dwyer Gardens (He Got Game, 1998)

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Neighborhood: Coney Island, Brooklyn
Address2950 West 33rd St.

While the boardwalk on Coney Island has seen some attempts at revitalization in the years since He Got Game, the projects nearby have not. Not much has changed over there, with the exception of the basketball courts. While the courts in O’Dwyer where Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) and  his father, Jake (Denzel Washington), once balled have been let go, others are the only indications of renovation for blocks. Basketball courts surround these projects; the sport is embedded in the social fabric here. A number of NBA stars have come out of Coney Island, including Sebastian Telfair, Lance Stevenson, and Stephon Marbury. I spoke with a number of residents while walking through O'Dwyer, including Michael Fequiere, who said, “The courts are never empty. For these kids it’s the only way they see to get out.” He Got Game engages this idea with grandiose results, making for one of Lee's most underrated films.

Coney Island Boardwalk (He Got Game, 1998)

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Neighborhood: Coney Island, Brooklyn
Address: Boardwalk W and Stillwell Ave.

The tale of Coney Island in the last 20 years is one of false starts. Speaking with some locals, you get a sense of the cycle. Every several years a plan of revitalization is put into action, and, after some small progress, is strangely abandoned. The result: A new ride, a new restaurant, or a new store pops up between decayed and abandoned attractions, the post-industrial rust carnival that is Coney Island. New Parks Department initiatives gleam next to ill-maintained projects. Straddling the line between a ghost town and a revitalized, permanent street fair, Coney Island is nothing if not at a cross roads—much like Jesus in He Got Game

The City College of New York (25th Hour, 2002)

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Neighborhood: Harlem
Address130th St. and Convent Ave.

The neo-Gothic gated campus of the City College of New York is nestled on a hill overlooking Harlem. Admittedly, the campus plays a relatively minor role in 25th Hour, serving as the private high school where Jacob Elinsky (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), long-time friend of protagonist Monty Brogan (Ed Norton), teaches high school English and lusts after his underage student (played by Anna Paquin). Nonetheless, the elite university is a nice get for Lee’s cinematic landscape.

At first glance, City College may seem out of place in the filmmaker's work, a far cry from the brownstones and housing projects he's so lovingly captured. Indeed, City College has the look of an uppity Ivy League institution, and with a pedigree to match (boasting the most Nobel Laureate alumni of any public university), but looks can be deceiving. A closer examination of the school’s history reveals City as an appropriate locale for a Spike Lee joint. City College has been known as a haven for radicalism since the 1930s, and Lee himself is no stranger to political controversy. In the 1960s, City was the home of several significant gatherings, including notable demonstrations in support of affirmative action and against tuition increases.

Carl Schurz Park (25th Hour, 2002)

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Neighborhood: Upper East Side
AddressEast End Ave and 85th St.

The gray mists and endless row of benches in this park provide the perfect backdrop of emptiness and regret for 25th Hour’s Monty Brogan, a guy with some heavy things on his mind (an impending bid being chief among them). That said, Carl Schurz Park is probably not the first park you think of when you think of parks in New York City. Nestled on the edge of the affluent Upper East Side, it's not a locale one associates closely with Lee's work, either.

What you don’t see from these shots, however, are the housing projects that overlook the park. Many locations in Lee’s films are overlooked by projects. From Clockers' Gowanus Houses to the O’Dwyer Gardens in He Got Game, Lee’s work often takes a projects’ eye view of New York City, reflecting a specific vision of Gotham, one by turns brutal and hopeful.

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