‘Live and Let Die’ in New York

01 Sunday Feb 2026

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007, filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, Live and Let Die, New York, New York City, USA

In ‘Live and Let Die’ James Bond (Roger Moore) arrived to New York, USA. After landing, he left the airport and got into the car waiting for him. While driving, he received a call from Felix Leiter from the CIA. On a multi-lane road in Manhattan, a white Cadillac approached the car carrying agent 007 and fired a fatal shot. Bond’s chauffeur died, and 007 had difficulty controlling the driverless car.

New York scenes were the last shot for the film. It was March 1973, less than 3 months before the premiere, when the film crew arrived to NYC.

The car chase was filmed on East River Drive on Sunday, when street closures caused the least disruption. The day they were filming the car chase, the management from United Artists came to the film set to see how the film was made. Director Guy Hamilton told them: ‘You won’t really see anything. Why don’t you ride in one of the cars?’. He made sure they were in the car that would be bashed and they didn’t know about it. He later recalled with laughter that they were pale when they got out of the car.

East River Drive at East River in New York, USA — *East River Drive at East River in New York.*

New York, USA — *East River Drive at East River in New York.*

The location of Leiter’s headquarters was shown in a short establishing shot filmed from South Street looking into Wall Street.

Wall Street at Lower Manhattan in New York, USA — *The Wall Street pictured from South Street.*

The car crashed at East River Drive near the Manhattan bridge.

James Bond took a taxi to the ‘Oh Cult Voodoo Shop’. Through its back room he entered the underground garage, where he found the white Cadillac in which the killer had previously driven. Suddenly, a group of people entered the garage, including Solitaire (Jane Seymour) and Tee Hee Johnson (Julius Harris). Bond secretly watched them get into the car and drive to the elevator. A moment later, he ran out into the street and hailed a taxi, which he followed after the departing car. The route led through Central Park to the ‘Fillet of Soul’ restaurant in Harlem.

The shop was filmed at 33 East 65th Street in New York. For 50 years this film location has not changed much.

35 East 65th Street in New York, USA — *33 East 65th Street in New York.*

The villains car drove out of the gate next to the store at 33 East 65th Street. Behind the gate there is actually a garage where the movie scenes were filmed.

Entrance to the underground car park at 35 East 65th Street in New York, USA. — *Exit gate from the underground car park.*

Bond entered the garage through the door which now reads: ELEVATOR MOTOR ROOM”. As you can see in the photos below, the interior of the garages looks almost identical to what it looked like 50 years ago. To enter the garage you still have to use the elevator.

Underground car park. — *Interior of the underground parking lot.*

Elevator in the underground car park. — *An elevator that carries cars into and out of the underground car park*.

Elevator door in the underground car park.

Entrance to the underground car park. — *Exit gate from the underground car park.*

Central Park in New York, USA — *A street through the middle of Central Park*.

The ‘Fillet of Soul’ restaurant that Bond went to in the film, was located at Lenox Avenue in Harlem. In reality the fake facade of the restaurant was built for filming at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 94th Street. The fight scene in Harlem was shot at 118th Street.

Thank you James H. for showing me the film location.

Go to LOCATIONS GALLERY – ‘LIVE AND LET DIE’ to see locations photos compared with movie scenes.

More photos from New York:

‘A View to a Kill’ in San Francisco

31 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by Piotr Zając in A View to a Kill, San Francisco, USA

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007, A View to a Kill, California, filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, movie location, San Francisco, USA

Among many interesting filming locations of ‘A View to a Kill’ there are two that belong to the most recognizable in the world: the Eiffel Tower in Paris (‘A View to a Kill’ in Paris) and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Maks Zorin (Christopher Walken) and May Day (Grace Jones) arrived to San Francisco in the airship. They were looking down at the city and they saw the Golden Gate Bridge in the foreground.

In the next scene James Bond arrived to Fisherman’s Wharf in famous San Francisco Cable Car. In two photos below you can see the car number 22, the same number as the one on the car seen in the film.

Actress Maud Adams, who played Andrea Anders in “The Man with the Golden Gun” and Octopussy in “Octopussy”, visited the crew while they were filming at Fisherman’s Wharf. She was offered to appear in third Bond film as one of extras.

At one of Fisherman’s Wharf stands James Bond met CIA agent Chuck Lee (David Yip). In photo below you can see the stand similar to the one in the film.

James Bond met Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) who was also against Max Zorin. They went together to the San Francisco City Hall to find some information that would help to discover Zorin’s plan.

While they were reading documents, Max Zorin and May Day entered the room. The villain shut Bond and Sutton down in an elevator and set fire to the building.

Diane Fennstein who was mayor of San Francisco at the time of filming allowed to set fire to the real City Hall building (photo below). She also gave an instruction that everybody in the City Hall should close their windows. However there was one clerk who had very wet desk the next morning.

The fire scene was filmed by the first unit directed by John Glen. They had giant ground flares and tanks of propane on the roof of the building. Dick Ziker and Karen Price were Roger Moore’s and Tanya Roberts’ stunt doubles.

James Bond and Stacey Sutton escaped from the fire. Immediately after that car chase with 007 and Sutton in a fire truck began.

While first unit was working on scenes in the City Hall, the second unit with director Arthur Wooster was filming car chase with fire truck and police cars. They were filming for three weeks from the beginning of October 1984.

James Bond and Stacey Sutton arrived at the mine, which Zorin planned to sink to destroy Silicon Valley. Agent 007 prevented the explosion. Zorin tried to escape in his airship. Bond grabbed the airship’s mooring line. While flying at the end of the rope above the city he nearly crashed at the Transamerica Pyramid.

Close-ups with Roger Moore holding the mooring rope were filmed at Pinewood Studios in UK. Shots with the city in background were filmed in San Francisco with stuntman John Arnett.

Filmmakers came to the idea of using an airship in the film while they were visiting San Francisco and saw the airship with Fuji logo above the city. They contacted the company to get a permission to film the airship near the Golden Gate Bridge.

When the airship was flying over the Golden Gate Bridge, 007 tied the mooring rope to the framework of the bridge. The airships stopped and the fight between Bond and Zorin began.

About 5 percent of the shots of a fight sequence atop the Golden Gate Bridge was filmed on a real object, while the rest was filmed using replicas of the upper parts of the bridge and the airship built in the Pinewood Studios in UK.

The world premiere of the film took place on May 22, 1985 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco (photos posted below).

Sources:
– A View to a Kill Audio Commentary, A View to a Kill Special Edition, Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation, 2006
– Inside „A View to a Kill”. An Original Documentary, reż. John Cork, Danjaq, LCC and United Artists Corporation, 2000
– „James Bond. Szpieg którego kochamy” Michał Grzesiek, Wydawnictwo Bukowy Las 2011
– www.mi6-hq.com

More photos from San Francisco: