Take the NYC TV & Movie Tour and visit some of the key locations used in the blockbuster I Am Legend. Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) is the last human survivor in New York City—and possibly the entire world—after all other humans are wiped out by a biochemical disease that was supposed to cure cancer in 2009. Neville lives in a townhouse on Washington Square in Greenwich Village (which you will see on this fabulous tour) with his dog Sam. They explore New York looking to discover a cure for the disease and to find any other people who might have survived. However, at night the infected human zombies watch Neville, waiting for him to make a mistake as he attempts to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood that the infected are hunting for. Neville quickly runs out of time and is outnumbered in a lonely New York, where you can drive any car without gridlock, and weeds are growing on the glamorous sidewalks of Fifth Avenue.
In order to create such a powerful effect on viewers, filmmakers convinced authorities to close off busy areas of the city like Grand Central Terminal, some of Fifth Avenue and Washington Square Park. If I Am Legend’s desolate scenes caught your eye then definitely take the NYC TV & Movie Tour and see the city in action that Robert Neville fought to get back!
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is filled with beautiful historical architecture, the tallest skyscrapers, and is known as the largest central business district in the United States. The New York TV and Movie Sites tour will take you right past Columbus Circle which is featured in I Am Legend without any traffic to get in Robert Neville’s way! This area has also been featured in many other movies including Ghostbusters, Enchanted, Taxi Driver, The Devil Wears Prada, and Home Alone 2. Columbus Circle is the entryway to Central Park, and served as the first traffic circle in the United States. Christopher Columbus stands atop a seven-story granite pillar commemorating Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas and is the centerpiece of the famous streets of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South, and Eighth Avenue.
Nearby Sights Include:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, specifically inside at the Sackler Wing, Robert Neville sat to ponder on what to do next as he watched the fish and thought of a cure for the disease that killed everyone
- The beautiful and historical St. Patrick’s Cathedral which is featured empty in I Am Legend
- Times Square, where we see Neville hunt for deer at the beginning of the movie in the unbelievably desolate area
- The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum Pier at 86 where Robert Neville spent time playing golf off of a jet alone.
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is comprised of many small neighborhoods, each special with its own unique character and style. On this amazing guided tour you will pass by Washington Square Park, which is the beautiful view outside Robert Neville’s expensive townhouse that looks directly at the marble Washington Square Arch, modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Washington Square Park is one of New York City’s best-known public parks, and a major landmark to the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village. The park’s fountain area has long been one of the city’s popular spots for residents and New York University’s students.
The tour of New York TV & Movie Sites also takes you right past the world-famous Flatiron Building, an easily recognizable symbol of the city, famous for its odd architecture which resembles a clothing iron. The Flatiron Building is one of the oldest of the original New York skyscrapers. It is an extremely popular spot for tourists and photo ops, and is frequently seen on commercials and documentaries, famously appearing in the opening credits of The Late Show with David Letterman. In I Am Legend, it stands completely empty without any human habitation and the sidewalks surrounding the triangular island block are covered in weeds.
The northern tip of the Flatiron Building is Madison Square, home to Madison Square Park, a perfect place to relax and home of the Shake Shack, famous for their milkshakes and burgers! In the film, Madison Square Park is overrun with weeds and even stalks of corn.
The High Line is another locale featured in I Am Legend, where Robert Neville trudges through its grassy tracks. The High Line is an abandoned elevated rail line in far west Chelsea, running north from Gansevoort all the way to 34th street. The High Line was originally constructed in the 1930s, to lift dangerous freight trains off Manhattan’s streets. Section 1 of the High Line is open as a public park, owned by the City of New York and operated under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. When all sections are complete, the High Line will be a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park, running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen. It features an integrated landscape, designed by landscape architects James Corner Field Operations, with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, combining meandering concrete pathways with naturalistic plantings.
Nearby sights include:
- 10th Avenue and 14th street where Neville’s dog, Sam, spots a deer in the city streets and follows it until it runs off into a building and hides.
South Street Seaport
Though not included on our tour, no trip to New York would be complete without a stop by South Street Seaport, a historical district, featuring some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan. It is located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District.
In I Am Legend, Robert Neville creates an automated, continuous radio broadcast instructing any uninfected survivors to meet him at the Seaport. The Seaport includes the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city and renovated original mercantile buildings, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, and modern malls featuring food, shopping and nightlife, great for a day trip. Stand on decks and piers for outstanding views of the East River, Brooklyn Bridge, and Brooklyn Heights, unable to be seen anywhere else in the city. The seaport, with its old-fashioned buildings and docked sailing vessels transports visitors back in time to New York’s mid-1800s to show what life in the commercial maritime was like.
* In an effort to stay current, we are constantly updating our tours with new locations and cannot guarantee the presence of locations mentioned on our site. If you have a particular interest in locations from a specific TV show or movie, please let your tour guide know and we will do our best to accommodate your request.