Ghostbusters in New York

Has it been a few decades since you've seen Ghostbusters? Maybe the recent passing of Harold Ramis has brought it back into your consciousness. But this comedy gem never should have left it in the first place. The opening scenes strike an unmistakably New York City tone: a ghost pushes books from shelves and gobbles up papers in the stacks below the New York Public Library; and then, future ghostbuster Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) surveys some students at Columbia University (in the fictional Weaver Hall Psychology Department; interestingly, there is a Weaver Hall at NYU that holds mathematical and computer sciences—nothing paranormal there). The most famous location in the flick is no doubt the firehouse the ghostbusters commandeer as their office, aka Hook and Ladder #8, down in Tribeca. Spotting the sidewalk mural out front (with a rather liberal version of the familiar Ghostbusters logo) will help you know you've reached it. Another crucial scene takes place in front of the fountain at Lincoln Center. The water pyrotechnics are a bit different these days, thanks to a renovation a few years back, but the plaza remains a great place for a meeting or picnic—or to woo a cellist from the Philharmonic. Consider other pit stops: Tavern on the Green, the Manhattan Bridge, Umberto's Clam House, Prometheus at Rockefeller Center and, of course, City Hall, where the mayor exonerates the team and signs on to have them eradicate Gozer the Gozerian once and for all.
Fun fact: Sigourney Weaver's apartment building in the movie (apparently, they paid cellists well!) is the same as that of the family in Elf—55 Central Park West.