Mad Men's New York
As in advertising Mad Men almost everything is a lie the series is recorded primarily on set in California and basically contains interior scenes (those work cubicles…) but the new york atmosphere permeates everything, even in the very denial of Manhattan that is living in the suburbs populated by apparently happy but terribly tragic families, as if taken from Revolutionary Road .
Don and New York
They are there Rye , where Betty settles with her husband already as Mrs. Francis; Cos Cob , Pete Campbell's home with loose taps that his wife Trudy demanded or the same Draper house from the first seasons in Ossining , in Westchester County. From the suburbs, you reach the main stage through **Grand Central Station** where millions of men in gray suits –and some women with conical bra- end up to live in a very particular New York; a city made of offices, of bars to those who escape from work at the time when the children drink their little glass of fluoride, from ** hotels in which to have clandestine dates **, from private gentlemen's clubs in which to catch a good deal and from restaurants to those who go to close it. The places mentioned have been carefully mapped here.
Don Draper 'invaded' at Grand Central Station
OF OFFICES AND HOTELS
First the obvious: in the 405 Madison Avenue , the street that gives its name to the series, there is no office of Sterling Cooper but it was fundamentally on that street where other real agencies were changing the pulse of advertising in the sixties, like Ogilvy or DDB that caused so much unease in the protagonists with his Volkswagen 'Lemon' campaign, and in which legendary publicists worked who together make up the amalgam of inspirations to build Don Draper.
Following the spin-off at the end of season three, Don recruits a handful of Chosen Ones to temporarily move the agency to room 435 of the Hotel Pierre (2 East 61st Street). That is where for the first time Joan (who could not be absent) answers the phone pronouncing the name of the new agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce was born at The Pierre
In the following season we find them already established in the building timelife, at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, at 37th floor for those who want to try to get closer to browse. At the end of the fifth season the agency is doing so well that they can buy more space on the top floor: Joan marks with a red spray the place where the ladder will go between the two floors and the silhouettes of the five partners are silhouetted against the windows.
Another classic address when talking about the Madmenian Manhattan is that of the Roosevelt Hotel (45 East 45th Street), Don's forced retirement during the second season when Betty kicks him out of the house. Happier times (or not) lived when **they spent Valentine's night staying at the Savoy-Plaza ** (Fifth Ave East 59th Street; today demolished, the FAO toy store occupies its place), Betty takes the opportunity to show off garter belts and they end up watching on TV the tour of the White House of Jackie O.
More clandestine are the dates that she pretended to have (and finally have) pete with beth , the sad wife of his train companion in the fifth season, at the ** Hotel Pennsylvania ** (401 Seventh Ave); in the Sherry-Netherland (781 Fifth Ave) Roger Sterling proposes to Jane, the seemingly harmless secretary, and Peggy Olson sleeps with Duck Phillips in the Elysee (60 east 54th street) as Kennedy is shot in Dallas. A hotel with character that also appears in the series is the Waldorf-Astoria (301 Park Ave), where the Clio Advertising Awards are held or Don Meets Conrad Hilton.
Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce at the Time Life Building
Waldorf Astoria, where to celebrate a Mad Men awards ceremony
FROM HOTELS TO HOMES
Although we identify the series with the single-family houses in residential areas , the series also throws us a handful of addresses in the city: flats in the Upper West Side , ideal neighborhood for liberal professionals such as the psychologist Faye Miller (Broadway corner W. 72nd Street) ; in the Upper East Side for more or less well-off couples like Pete and Trudy Campbell (E. 83rd Street and Park) before you move in or Don's house and the second (or third) Mrs. Draper, Megan (783 Park Ave., Apt. 17B) in which she sings the already historic television 'Zou Bisou Bisou'.
Less than possible (at the time) but still respectable is the home of Joan Holloway at 42 West 12th Street. The Village It is the territory of bohemians like Midge , though Don also owned an apartment (3R) at 104 Waverly Place.
Midge's house: pure 60's
This is where Don lived, in Waverly Place, trying out cool cars
GENTLEMEN TERRITORY
Appropriate places to socialize and do business, the gentlemen's clubs they shine in the series, full of constant mentions: at the ** Stork Club ** (3 E. 53rd Street) Jimmy Barrett and Don face each other; in the Century Club (7 W 43rd Street) Pete could get in thanks to family connections; in the Turkish bath of the **Athletic Club** (180 Central Park S) gets contracts Duck Phillips listening to other people's conversations. A special role has the Playboy Club (5 East 59th Street), in which Briton Lane Pryce has a crush on a black waitress. Playboy clubs are long gone, leaving a nostalgic memory of the days when you could pinch a waitress's ass without getting sued for sexual harassment.
Playboy Club in Mad Men
In the case of Mad Men, we know that sooner or later it will be time to talk about the overwhelming presence of alcohol in the series e and of the smoke-filled bars and restaurants that practically everyone who populates the series goes to. A special mention for PJ Clarke's (915 Third Ave. 55th Street) in which Peggy celebrates with her peers her first step into the joys and sorrows of being a copywriter after her remark about the "kissing basket" in the campaign for Belle Jolie. They continue to serve hamburgers and beers to celebrate work triumphs or misfortunes.
Another Manhattan classic that refers to the Broadway theater movement is sardi's (234 West 44th Street), where Don meets Bobbie Barrett, his main (but never only) love interest in season two. Also still open Minetta's Tavern (113 MacDougal Street) in the Village where Abe proposes to Peggy, to her initial disappointment, that they move in together. Keens Steakhouse (72 W. 36th Street), from where Roger calls Don to ask him to come and see the historic fight between Liston and Cassius Clay or The Palm (837 2nd Ave.) are also gastronomic highlights in the series and in the city
PJ Clarke's, the Madmenian soiree
To finish, a couple of references to museums because no visit to the city, however Madmenian it may be, would be complete without enjoying a bit of everything it has to offer culturally. When Bertram Cooper installs a enigmatic Rothko in his office half an agency is disconcerted by this irruption of modern art in their lives; Rothkos from the same period can be seen in the mom . A visit to Museum of Natural History and its living pictures of stuffed animals will take us immediately to the moment in which the little Sally Draper receives the empirical verification that she is not so little anymore.
The breaks between seasons of Mad Men are always very long . To shorten the wait, you can tour the city through the addresses we have given here or read a little about the series in this book. And of course, we will always have a glass of whiskey and one of our favorite chapters.
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- When Don Draper speaks...
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