Astoria, Featured, Television
Aug 27, 2013

Orange Is The New Black in Astoria

So, have you watched the inaugural season of Orange Is The New Black, a series based on the memoir of Piper Kerman about life in a women’s prison upstate? I (…)

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So, have you watched the inaugural season of Orange Is The New Black, a series based on the memoir of Piper Kerman about life in a women’s prison upstate? I have and I loved it! Mostly because it’s just great television and excellent storytelling, but also because part of it was filmed in Astoria, both at Kaufman Astoria Studios and on location in the neighborhood.

We thought we’d show you some of the places they shot in the neighborhood. I recommend clicking into the images to enlarge them for a better effect. WARNING: I’ve tried to make things vague here regarding spoilers, but YMMV.

In this scene from Episode 2, the interior of Rosario’s Deli has been transformed into a kind of Russian cafe/store. You can see the Game Stop across the street.

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In this shot in the background, you can see the pizza oven where Rosario’s tasty pizza is made. Some say it’s one of the best in Astoria.

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Later in Episode 2, Red and her comrades are taking a fitness walk in… Astoria Park.

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Here you can see the large apartment building on 19th Street along the park near Greek restaurant Agnanti.

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Here’s the northwest tip of Astoria Park, where Red and the pack part ways.

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Toward the end of the episode, Red is handling charcuterie and cheese in front of the cheese and meat case at Rosario’s.

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In Episode 3, we see how Piper and Alex meet, which is filmed at The Sparrow Tavern. You can tell it by the familiar wallpaper in the corner and the blackboard on the left where Sparrow writes down their specials. H/T to WHA readers Adrienne and LJ for pointing this out!

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Here’s Piper’s entrance into the bar earlier, where you can see familiar Sparrow furniture.

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In Episode 8, Larry visits a local bodega. This is at the Convenience Store next to the froyo spot and a couple doors down from Rose & Joe’s on 31st Street.

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You can see the stairs at the Ditmars stop in the background of this shot.

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Episode 8 features Rosario’s again, and here’s a shot looking toward the side wall which normally has boxes of pasta on the shelves, which also appear in this scene.

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Some folks on Instagram snapped shots of the production part of the show. Here are two photos from the shoot at Rosario’s.

So there you have it. We hope they will shoot on site in Astoria for Season 2, too. It’s a lot of fun seeing the neighborhood in this excellent TV series!

About Meg Cotner

Meg Cotner was trained as a harpsichordist and now works as a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of "Food Lovers' Guide to Queens," and is a skilled and avid home cook, baker, and preserver.

13 Comments

Chris Bungo

Nice piece. I love stuff like this that documents locations used in shooting TV and films.

Reply
Susan

How cool! I recognized the park but totally missed Sparrow. Great show, and even better knowing it was shot in our neighborhood. Make this a regular feature!

Reply
adrienne

Also, the flashback scene showing when Piper and Alex met at a bar was filmed inside The Sparrow.

Reply
megc

OMG you are right! I just took a look. It’s totally Sparrow. Will add those into the post. Thanks to you and LJ for the tip!

Reply
Cindi

On August 16th, they were taping season 2 on 37th street between Broadway and 34th Ave.

Reply
megc

Cool! Thanks for the info. We hope to do another post after Season 2 comes out – here’s to more shots of Astoria to come!

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