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In the Heights, which first opened on Broadway in 2008, is composer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s love letter to the New York City neighborhood where he grew up. It makes sense, then, that the Hamilton composer would not settle for anything less than the real thing when it came to filming the In The Heights movie.
With director Jon M. Chu at the helm, it couldn’t be more clear that the In the Heights movie took the time to location scout all the best spots in the real Washington Heights, a primarily Latino neighborhood in New York City. The production filmed in July 2019, forever capturing the blocks of Washington Heights in a very pretty (and very expensive) time capsule.
In the Heights is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max, which means you can see the titular neighborhood on the big screen, or at home in your living room. But you can also check out the In The Heights filming locations in person, if you’re able. (You may even run into a kiosk constructed by HBO Max for its three-day pop-up experience, “HBO Max On Location,” which will take place from June 11-13 in various places in New York City, including J. Hood Wright Park and United Palace Theater.)
Read on to learn all about where In the Heights was filmed.
Where was In the Heights filmed?
In the Heights was filmed on location in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, in New York City. It’s the neighborhood where composer Lin-Manuel Miranda grew up and still lives to this day.
Where is Washington Heights?
Washington Heights is located in New York City’s Manhattan borough, north of Harlem and south of Inwood. The neighborhood, which is primarily Latino and has a large population of Dominican immigrants, is generally considered to run from 155th Street up to 192nd Street. Or, as Lin-Manuel Miranda puts it, “You must take the A Train / Even farther than Harlem to northern Manhattan.”
What are the In the Heights filming locations?
Scroll down for a look at some of the uptown spots that Jon M. Chu and his crew featured in the In The Heights movie, including Highbridge Pool, J. Hood Wright Park, and more.
Highbridge Pool
The show-stopping number “96,000,” takes place at the huge public pool, a facility that’s a part of Highbridge Park on the east side of the neighborhood. In an interview with Decider, In the Heights choreographer Christopher Scott said the production nearly scrapped the pool idea after they saw how massive it was in real life.
“The concept is everybody’s at the pool, but we can’t afford 1000s of people to fill up this pool,” Scott said. “There was a point where when it was like this might go away—we just can’t handle it. Not cutting the number, but removing it from the pool, so that we didn’t set ourselves up for failure. But Jon [M. Chu] was like, ‘No, this is it, it’s screaming for it. We’ve got to figure out a way to make it work.'” In the end, 90 dancers and 500 extras gathered at the pool.
Address: Amsterdam Ave. & W. 173rd St, Park, New York, NY 10033
J. Hood Wright Park
Nina gets reacquainted with her neighborhood and her son with Benny, “When You’re Home.” Corey Hawkins and Leslie Grace sing and dance their way around J. Hood Wright Park, a public park on the west side of the neighborhood with a raised platform that offers a spectacular view of the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River.
Address: W. 173 St &, Haven Ave, New York, NY 10033
191st Tunnel
Easily the most heartbreaking moment of the film is Abuela Claudia’s solo number, “Paciencia y Fe.” Sung by Olga Merediz—who also played the role on Broadway—the number takes on a whole new meaning in the film adaptation, serving as a goodbye song for a dying Claudia as she reflects on her life and then passes on to whatever may come next.
In a stroke of genius, Chu staged the song in the long pedestrian tunnel at the 191st St. stop on the 1 train, which is known for its colorful graffitied walls, which began as an art project commissioned by the city, completed in 2015. Since then, many artists have added their own additions, and in In The Heights, the steps leading up to the street at the end of the passageway are both literally and metaphorically the light at the end of the tunnel.
Address: 191st St Station, Entrance on St. Nicholas Ave.
Audubon Avenue and 175th St.
The exterior shots of Usnavi’s bodega and Rosario’s hair salon were both filmed on different corners of the block at the intersection of 175th St and Audubon Avenue. The opening “In the Heights” dance number takes place on this street.
The bodega and salon are both fictional “fake overs”—signs put over real businesses—but there is a real bodega on that block, Santo Domingo Grocery Inc., that you can go check out.
So much time was spent on that block, that Miranda tweeted out a thank you to the residents after the production wrapped.
Floridita Bar and Restaurant
Not all of the businesses in In the Heights are fake! Actors Leslie Grace and Jimmy Smits filmed a scene where Nina and her father catch up at Floridita Bar and Restaurant, which is a real Cuban/Dominican fusion eatery in Washington Heights. (They also have a second location in Inwood.) Check out the restaurant’s website to learn more.
Address: 4162 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10033
Cooper Triangle
Though the vast majority of the film takes place in Washington Heights, you can spot a few downtown NYC locations in In The Heights, too—like the scene where Sonny and Nina are at a protest and sit down to chat in Cooper Triangle, a teensy little park in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. Peep the Village Voice building in the background—an iconic New York City alternative paper that stopped producing new editorial content in 2018.
Address: 36 Cooper Square New York City 10003
10th Ave and 207th St.
Nina makes a trip up to Inwood for her song “Breathe,” walking by the stairs to the entrance to the 207th St. stop on the 1 train—an above-ground subway station stop—and she passes by local businesses including Tulcingo Azteca Restaurant and S&S Discount, a 99 cent store.
Address: 3865 10th Ave, New York, NY 10034
