Where Blue Bloods Actually Filmed
I started keeping track of filming locations back when the show first premiered in 2010. Most people just care about the Reagan family brownstone facade, but the actual production ran across at least a dozen different New York area spots. The show has been on for fifteen seasons now, and they still haven't moved the entire operation out of the state like most shows do. That matters when you're trying to visit these places because it means they're mostly accessible to the public. The main exterior of the Reagan townhouse is the Warner Bros. backlot facade on Studio Drive in Burbank, California. It's the same building used for the exterior of the house in "Parks and Recreation" and various other productions. You can't get inside it obviously since it's a soundstage exterior, but you can stand right up to it and take photos from the street. I've taken groups of fans there on organized location tours and the worst problem I run into is people expecting to find it in New York. It's in Southern California. I always tell people to bring their expectations down to earth before we leave the hotel. The NYPD 99th precinct interior shots are filmed on a set at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens. This is a working studio lot so you can't just walk in, but the exterior of the building is visible from the street. The precinct's actual front entrance used early seasons was the old Staten Island courthouse at 10 Front Street. That building sat empty for a while after the show started using it, which is unusual for a location that gets this much screen time. I remember driving past it in 2015 and finding the lobby still had the production signage up from filming. The building is now being redeveloped into residential space, so that location is effectively gone as a pilgrimage site.
Frank Reagan's office at the Daily News building is actually the lobby of the former New York Daily News building at 220 East 42nd Street. The production struck the interior set but used the real building for establishing shots. The press pass requirement for entering the building still applies unless you're on an organized tour that has a media arrangement. I had a caller once who flew in from Chicago expecting to walk right in and took it badly when security stopped him. Bring a government-issued ID and be prepared to explain why you're there. Danny Reagan's apartment is the same apartment complex used for the "Blue Bloods" pilot episode on the Upper West Side. The specific building is at 250 West 76th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam. You can see the actual door numbers from the show in the hallway if you know what to look for. The doorman doesn't mind visitors taking photos of the exterior. I usually tell people to come between 2 and 5 PM on weekdays when the lighting is decent and the street isn't too crowded with tourists who think they're somewhere else entirely. The Brooklyn Bridge and the FDR Drive footage is real location work. Parts of it, anyway. The production uses a mix of actual NYC streets and the Warner Bros. lot for car chase sequences. The scene where Frank gets tased in season 3 was filmed on a closed section of Riverside Drive near West 93rd Street. The department of transportation notification for that shoot was filed under a production company called Initial Entertainment, which is the parent company behind Blue Bloods. If you're researching locations for your own project, that filing system is publicly accessible through the NYC film office.
Air Force One interior scenes are shot on a soundstage at Burbank Airport. This is a rare example of the show going to an actual airport facility rather than building a set. The seat configuration matches a C-32, which is the military version of the Boeing 757 used for presidential transport. I measured the aisle width against the actual Air Force One spec once and it was off by about three inches. Minor detail but it matters if you're doing location accuracy work. The show also films at the actual Manhattan Criminal Court at 100 Centre Street for courtroom scenes. The Third Department Appellate Division inside that building serves double duty as both the trial court and the appellate court depending on the episode. The bailiffs on set are real court officers borrowed for the shoot. They don't interact with the cast between takes, which I found surprising given how friendly most court staff tend to be. This is probably a protocol thing I wasn't aware of at the time. One location most guides miss is the Litchfield County courthouse in Connecticut, which stood in for upstate New York court scenes in several mid-series episodes. The production traveled there because the existing courthouse had the period architecture they needed without requiring extensive set dressing. I found this out by cross-referencing the episode credits with the Connecticut film office's location database. The database lists the address but not the specific building name, which is frustrating if you're trying to pinpoint exactly where they shot.
Get the Full Details
There are practical limitations to this kind of location hunting. Many of the interior sets have been modified or demolished between seasons as the production updated them. The original Franklin Avenue synagogue set that served as the family home interior was struck after season 4. You can find screenshots of it online but you can't visit it. The show also uses virtual sets now for certain background elements, which means some of the New York street views you see are digital composites. This started around season 11 when post-production budgets got tighter across the industry. If you want a complete list, the best resource is still the New York State Motion Picture Industry website, which maintains a publicly searchable database of permitted locations. It's not perfect — some entries are missing addresses and others list the production company rather than the actual site — but it covers more than any fan-maintained list I've seen. I maintain my own spreadsheet that I update whenever new episodes air, and I've found about thirty distinct locations across the run. Some of those are one-shot establishing frames, but most appear multiple times throughout the series. The franchise also has spinoff content filmed at different locations. "Blue Bloods: City Justice" was shot primarily at the Albany County Courthouse, which is about two hours north of Manhattan. If you're doing a location tour, factor in that the upstate footage is spread across at least six different county courthouses in the Capital Region. The production has a standing relationship with the Albany film office that makes permits faster than usual, but you still can't just show up and start filming.
For anyone planning an actual visit to the primary locations, I recommend grouping them by neighborhood to save time. The Upper West Side apartments, the Midtown court scenes, and the East River bridge shots are all within walking distance of each other. The Burbank locations require a separate trip since they're in Southern California. I've done both routes and the New York circuit takes about a full day if you move at a reasonable pace. The California route is more efficient logistically but fewer locations are publicly visible. The show's production office is based at Silvercup Studios, which means most of the day-to-day filming happens in that Queens complex. There's no public access to the studio lot itself, but the exterior is visible from Roosevelt Avenue. The parking garage on the opposite side of the street offers a clear view of the main entrance. I go there occasionally when I'm in the area and check the call sheets posted on the studio website to see what's shooting that week. It's a useful habit if you want to catch the crew in action. Some locations have changed significantly since the show began. The Bronx courthouse used in early seasons has been renovated and the exterior looks different now. The original location can still be identified by the columns and steps, but the signage and landscaping are updated. I'd advise checking recent photos of any location before traveling there, because the gap between when the episode aired and when you visit can be substantial for a show this long-running.
