Carrie Bradshaw’s Stoop (Sex and the City)

It is the most famous set of steps in the West Village — maybe the most photographed doorstep in Manhattan. This is where Carrie Bradshaw clicked down in her Manolos, coffee in hand, narrating the city into her column; where she fought with Big, made up with Aidan, and carried home enough shopping bags to need a second closet. But here is the first plot twist of this hunt: Carrie never lived here. Her show address was 245 East 73rd Street — uptown, on the Upper East Side. The stoop? Pure downtown.

The Scene

From Season 3 through the series finale, the exterior of Carrie's apartment was the brownstone at 66 Perry Street, chosen for its slightly more ornate stoop. Before that, the production used the building next door, 64 Perry Street — sharp-eyed rewatchers can spot the swap. Season 1 kept things even less settled: exterior shots are believed to have used 960 Madison Avenue (a building with no stoop at all) and a since-demolished brownstone at 34 East 62nd Street. Everything inside — the walk-in closet, the galley kitchen, the mint-green walls — was a set built at Silvercup Studios in Queens.

The Backstory

66 Perry Street is a genuine 19th-century brownstone in the heart of the historic West Village — a real, privately owned three-family home, not a film set. Its owner, identified by the New York Times as Barbara Lorber, reportedly bought the building in 1979, long before a location scout knocked on her door. She later said she felt sorry for the young NYU film graduate who told her he would lose his first real job if she refused. Nobody involved guessed the show would run six seasons, spawn two movies, and turn her front steps into a global tourist destination. Decades of flash photos and the occasional trespasser wore the welcome thin: on the NYPD 6th Precinct's advice, the owners chained the steps with a no-trespassing sign, got the building blurred on Google Maps, and in January 2025 applied to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to install an iron gate.

What to Look For

Take your photo from the public sidewalk — the chain and the "Do NOT go on the staircase please" sign mean exactly what they say. Then look closer: this is the ornate stoop from Season 3 onward. Compare it with the building next door at 64 Perry Street — the earlier-season stoop — and see if you can spot the difference that made the producers switch. The owners once kept a donation box for homeless cats and dogs at the base of the steps, but guides report it has been gone for a while. For the full pilgrimage, Magnolia Bakery — where Carrie and Miranda grabbed cupcakes in a Season 3 episode — is a short stroll away at 401 Bleecker Street.

Getting There

The address is 66 Perry Street, between Bleecker and West 4th Streets in the West Village. Take the 1 train to Christopher St–Sheridan Square and walk about two blocks east — that is the closest stop. The A, C, E, B, D, F, and M trains all stop at West 4th St–Washington Square, a short walk west. Pair it with a Village wander and a Magnolia Bakery cupcake.

Trivia

• Carrie's full in-show address — 245 East 73rd Street — appears written out on a baby shower invitation in the Season 1 episode "The Baby Shower." The address does not exist, and the block it would sit on has no brownstones.
• Even Sarah Jessica Parker herself got in trouble here: in October 2014, while filming a commercial for her shoe line on the sidewalk, she reached over the chain to place shoes on the steps — and the owners were not amused.
• The neighbor at 64 Perry Street is the George F. Coddington Jr. House, once home to Project Runway's Tim Gunn; it sold in November 2013 for $13.25 million.
• In October 2024, a 490-square-foot studio at 66 Perry was listed asking $4,000 a month — then pulled.

The Hunt Clue

In the Village where the brownstones stand in a row, Carrie clicked her heels through rain and snow. Find the stoop on Perry where she typed her view — snap it from the sidewalk, that's your cue!

Photo by Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0