Astoria, Television
Jul 03, 2014

Orange Is The New Black Season 2 in Astoria

We continue to be excited that Orange Is The New Black films here in Astoria—both at Kaufman Astoria Studios and around the neighborhood. We’ve heard from many of you over (…)

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We continue to be excited that Orange Is The New Black films here in Astoria—both at Kaufman Astoria Studios and around the neighborhood. We’ve heard from many of you over the months that you’ve spied some of the actors, the film shoots, and some of you lucky ducks have even had a chance to chat with some of the cast members.

We watched Season 2 and boy was it GOOOOOOD! We loved seeing Astoria play a co-starring role again this season, and we couldn’t resist compiling screen grabs (click to enlarge) of locations where OITNB was shooting in the neighborhood (we did that last year, too). A few exact locations are iffy in our minds (but are totally obviously Queens), so if you have the skinny, let us know! We’ll be happy to credit you, too.

And it goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway—this post contains SPOILERS. Let’s go!

Episode 2

OK, this is definitely Astoria, but where?

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For us, it’s that chrome fencing business you see everywhere in town that tips us off to its Astoria-ness.

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This also looks very much like Astoria.

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Episode 3

This is the scene where Larry is on a date with the pediatric neurologist. It was filmed at The Astor Room.

astor-room-ep-3-s-2-oitnb-astoria-queensEpisode 5

There are two main locations  in Astoria in this episode—in a bodega we believe to be at 28th Avenue and 37th Street, and 35th Street near 35th Avenue, thanks to a WHA commenter. Oh, and a playground at Steinway and 35th Ave at a mystery location.

Here’s the bodega. you can see the Peter Vallone election sign affixed to the window outside.

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Another view of the bodega and the jerkwad abusive boyfriend.

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I think this is Gloria’s mom (or maybe her aunt), who is pissed because said jerkwad boyfriend hit Gloria in the face.

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Toward the middle of the episode, Gloria is at the playground with her son, and ends up making up with the boyfriend.

playground-oitnb-ep-5-s-2-queens

Later on in the episode, Gloria is arrested because of food stamp fraud. Seems that an angry customer turned her in.

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Later on, the boyfriend returns because he knows where Gloria has been stashing the cash relating to her food stamp crime. Here he is sneaking into the bodega from the back room.

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He looks for the container that holds the money. Good thing he gets his in the end.

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Also in the episode there’s a scene where Larry and Piper are talking on the phone. This was filmed as he was walking north on 35th Street toward Sunswick, which is right outside Kaufman.

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You can see Alpha Mart here.

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And the outside of Sweets First here.

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He hangs out by Sunswick toward the end of the convo, and you can see their chalkboard in this shot.

sunswick-walking-35th-st-ep-5-s-2-queens

Episode 9

This is the episode where Piper miraculously gets furlough to see her dying grandmother. Red asked her to head to Queens on the N train to see how her shop, which is really Rosario’s deli in real world Astoria, is doing. Piper, when she returns to prison, lies and says there was a line for her food. Sadly the space is for rent (but thankfully the real space—Rosario’s—is open and not going anywhere).

Here Piper has just arrived in Astoria off the subway at the Ditmars stop. You can see the colorful mural on the west viaduct wall behind her, as well as Frankie’s Pizza.

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Here she stares ahead, supposedly at Red’s shop.

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She sees Dmitri’s is for lease. A sad moment. That’s Shawarmania to the left.

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The camera panned quickly and I caught this blurry shot of Ditmars Station and a little bit of O’Hanlon’s.

blurry-ditmars-station-ep-9-s-2-oitnb-astoria-queens

Piper goes into a bodega to get some alcohol (something she was forbidden to consume while on furlough, but she doesn’t care). Not sure where this is exactly, but I’d guess it’s the bodega across the street from Rosario’s (Sion Grocery).

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We find Piper in the next scene drinking and eating a burger on an overpass—unknown location but perhaps in LIC?

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The focus on the Empire State building at the end is a nice touch.

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So there you have it! Did we miss any? Let us know in a comment or a tweet! And again, here is our post from last year, Orange Is The New Black in Astoria.

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.

10 Comments

Kristina Anderson

Got it wrong, totally wrong. Piper’s furlough bodega is the one corner of 28th Ave / 37th St. Then she sits on the overpass bridge near Astoria Blvd and drinks it.

Reply
Codie

I’m not positive but fairly certain Piper is sitting at Gantry plaza in LIC, I recognize the fence.

Reply
Jenn

I don’t think that’s the shitty playground on Steinway and 35th ave. It looks too nice. The equipment there is old, yellow and peeling. I rarely take the boy there because it’s so nasty.

Reply
megc

Yep, I think you’re right – I just reviewed it and the details a source gave us aren’t there. We’ll see what we can find! Maybe it’s in LIC?

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GersonK

But they will be shooting nearby – permits are up for Tuesday the 15th on 41st between 35th & 34th Ave.

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Chelsea

Does anyone know what the bars Caputo’s band, the hilariously named “Sideboob”, plays at? Or what bar it is they use in the flash back with Alex & Piper? I couldn’t recognize any of the interiors. I know it’s possible that it’s sets on sound stages, but in case they were real bars, I was curious to know what they used.

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megc

I also wondered that! I thought it might be Sunswick but it just didn’t seem to fit. I wonder if it is a bar near the location where they film the prison scenes?

Reply

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