Prince Akeem of Zumunda appears to be living the life - an orchestral alarm clock, showered with rose petals at every step, bathed and brushed by servants. But he longs for a woman who has her own mind. For someone to care, someone to share lonely hours and moments of despair. To be loved! To be loved! To be loved! He travels to Queens, NY with his best friend in pursuit of that someone. After a tireless search and some Sexual Chocolate, he finally finds her under the Golden Arcs.
Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall are out of this country ;-) not only playing their characters but several others as well. Rounded out by a stellar supporting cast, Coming To America is a modern day fairy tale for the masses with one of the biggest box office returns of 1988. And with that commercial, who wouldn't want to just let your Soul Glo?
Location: Akeem & Semmi's Apartment Building/The Barbershop
Address: 392 South 5th Street, Brooklyn, NY
The Barbershop, of course, is right downstairs. Due to frigid temperatures and recovering from the flu, I didn't get an exact matching shot...
Or the right angles...
Fuck you too!
Location: McDowells
Address: 85-07 Queens Boulevard, Queens, NY
At the time of filming, McDowells was actually a Wendy's. Sadly, it is now an apartment complex...
Location: Strolling Queens
Address: 26 New Dock Street, Brooklyn, NY
This area is also seen in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) and Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It (1984)
Location: The Basketball Game
Address: 4 Penn Plaza, New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Location: The Waldorf Astoria
Address: 301 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Location: The McDowell House
Address: 555 S. Muirfield Road, Los Angeles, CA
Thanks to a commenter below for finding this location...
Location: Lisa Runs In The Rain
Address: Queens Boulevard & 87th Avenue, Queens NY
Location: Lisa Enters The Subway
Address: 5657 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Location: The Subway Station
Address: Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street Station, Brooklyn, NY
Locations Visited: June 2017, December 2017, December 2020, June 2021
Related Locations:
Nice work. How did you figure those locations out? I love Coming To America, but wouldn’t have recognized those buildings if I drove past them. And you actually have time to not only figure out the locations, but also had time to photograph and post and try to get the proper angles too? I wish I had that kind of commitment and dedication to a task such as this. Much love though and thanks again.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sir Marlowe! Visiting filming locations is a huge hobby of mine. For this particular movie, most of the location information was already online. Sometimes, it's hours spent on Google maps trying to track things down. I hope to post the subway station pics soon.
ReplyDeleteI dying to know where the McDowell house is!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
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Deletehttps://www.google.com/maps/place/555+S+Muirfield+Rd,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90020,+USA/@34.0640739,-118.3300135,3a,42.9y,298.43h,102.79t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s7F4A7wdd4POaaAGhjYUJRg!2e0!5s20090501T000000!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D7F4A7wdd4POaaAGhjYUJRg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D303.97226%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2b8e9a0813e85:0xbfad8f74e118b682!8m2!3d34.0642585!4d-118.3303273
DeleteWow! Thanks so much for the info! That was a real headscratcher. I was looking all over Queens.
DeleteMcDowell house 2432 Derby Avenue, Jamaica Estates, Queens, New York
ReplyDeleteThat's a fictional address
DeleteUgh... 🤔🤦🏼♂️
Deleteas posted above, yeah the McDowells house is (of course) in LA (you can easily tell by the style) @ 555 S. Muirfield Ave. in snobby Hancock Park lol
ReplyDelete(used to be owned by Dan Blocker & Rob Zombie)