“Why are they always picking on New York?” A friend asked me this question when we were discussing disaster movies. Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact. Whenever world disaster struck, New York City was always hit. Why?

New York has more recognizable structures than many other American cities. Think about it. Hollywood may be the movie mecca, but what structures to you see in Los Angeles that immediately identify the locale? The Hollywood sign? The Capitol Records Building? What about St. Louis? You’ve got an arch, but then what? Seattle? A needle? Boston? (Nothing for Boston is really springing to mind for me, so I think you get my point.) New York has the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building, we had the Twin Towers, Grand Central Station, etc…

What defines the face of NYC outside of these structures, at least visually? What is the face of “the real” NYC, outside of tourist destinations? In the seventies and early eighties, we would have probably said, “Times Square”. Pretzel vendors, XXX theaters, checkered taxi cabs, and guys hustling watches on the street corners. Times Square is very different now, looking more like a Long Island mall than the centers of the most urban of urban locations.

Maybe the face of the city lies further south, in the areas like Soho, Noho, Tribeca, etc… It seems like all that is there anymore is designer boutique after designer boutique with the occasional pop music princess going from store to store.

There is hardly a dilapidated building in site, as everything is being renovated, rebuilt, or remodeled. Graffiti is almost a thing of the past, like 8-track cassettes. When you ride the subways, you won’t hear a live human voice announcing the next stop, that’s now pre-recorded. Maybe that’s the only thing that hasn’t really changed for a long time, the subway stations themselves.

Then again, much of the subway has changed. The turnstiles and booths are completely different, and is now an almost human-less enterprise, with the advent of the MetroCard. Remodeling the platforms, specifically the underground ones would be a monumental undertaking. It may be done someday. The elevated platforms are currently undergoing renovation, complete with new stained glass, new signs, etc… I’m not quite sure what the purpose is, but it’s happening all over the Bronx and Queens. Come to think of it, this project excludes Manhattan, as I don’t think there are any elevated subway lines.

So… if I was going to shoot a film tomorrow, and I wanted a shot that established NYC as the location, but I did not want to use one of the “tourist traps”, would the NYC subway be my only option? Does Central Park work? How about Battery Park?