Sex and the City

7. Brooklyn Bridge

New York, NY

Book Now

One of the most dramatic and moving scenes of Sex and the City was when Miranda and Steve meet on the Brooklyn Bridge. This graceful structure over the East River, which connects Manhattan to Brooklyn (making it the central point between Miranda's and Steve's homes), has long been a symbol of New York, loved by millions. The bridge was built in 1883, and was originally known as The New York and Brooklyn Bridge and the East River Bridge. It later became The Brooklyn Bridge, named after a letter with the same name that had been previously written to the editor of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on January 25, 1867. The city government formally changed the name to The Brooklyn Bridge on 1915. Construction was not easy: the designer, German immigrant John Augustus Roebling, had his foot crushed between a ferry and a piling while taking surveys for the project. He had to have his toes amputated and later died of tetanus. His son Washington Roebling took over, but did not fare much better, becoming paralyzed after contracting decompression sickness (an illness in which dissolved gases form bubbles in the body upon depressurization, most commonly suffered by underwater divers). Over the next 11 years, his wife helped him supervise the construction of the bridge. It was designed to be 6 times stronger than it needed to be, which is why it is still standing, when many bridges built around the same time are not. The 1,595 foot-long bridge has 6 lanes for cars and a wide center lane above for cyclists and pedestrians. This foot traffic lane proved very helpful during the 1965, 1977 and 2003 blackouts, when people had no other mode of public transportation. On September 11, 2001, subway service was suspended after the World Trade Center attacks and droves of people walked across the bridge to escape Manhattan. On October 1, 2011, over 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested for trying to march across the automobile lanes of the bridge. Many movies were filmed on the Brooklyn Bridge, including It Happened in Brooklyn, Once Upon A Time In America, Captive Women, The Fifth Element, Deep Impact, Godzilla, Gangs of New York, I Am Legend, Life After People, Cloverfield, Zombi 2, Oliver & Company,Enchanted, and The Dark Knight Rises. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.