The time when Hollywood built a building on N. Moore
John Willenbecher sent in these crazy photos he took in 1993 when the northwest corner of N. Moore and West Broadway was an empty lot and became the set for “It Could Happen To You.”
The building that stands there now — 1 N. Moore, with a townhouse and condos — was built in 2011. But for decades before that, it was an empty lot (and the four-story building directly north of it must have been 240 Broadway, which was demolished at some point and is now part of the new building — it’s been gone since 2007). When it came time to shoot the comedy starring Nicholas Cage, Bridget Fonda and Rosie Perez, the production company built a set from scratch.
“There, as if by magic, something very surprising was created: an entire complex of buildings that looked like a generic replica of the old neighborhood,” wrote John. “The realism of the emergency period was breathtaking, and it was heard that the street floors of the ‘cafeteria’ were all movable to improve the camera angles.”
While searching for this corner in my own archives, I found this photo by Robert Ripps, who added to this post more photos of the neighborhood from not too long ago, although they look like they’re from a completely different era (or so I guess).
