Hope you have already been vaccinated! Soon it will be possible to return to tourism as before. I have a suggestion for you: How about taking an OITNB fan tour around NY? If you’re not able to travel yet, you won’t miss out on where Orange is the New Black was shooted. Go to where Piper and Alex met, where Litchfield Penitentiary was and Where Red’s restaurant was! Don’t forget to play You’ve got time before starting the trip!
First stop, Where was Litchfield?
Rockland Psychiatric Center, Exterior Set of Orange Is The New Black
The series is set in a fictional prison in Litchfield, New York, which is a real town in upstate New York, but it does not have a federal penitentiary. The Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Hospital occupies an area of 2.4 km2 and has been partially abandoned for some years (some even say that it is haunted).
It houses both a minimum-security prison and a maximum-security prison. In Seasons One and Two, it was run by the Federal Department of Corrections. After a threatened closure in Season Three, Caputo was able to convince MCC, a private corporation that specializes in prisons, to invest in it so that it could remain open. It is located in upstate New York, near Utica. The minimum-security part of the prison housed about 250 inmates before Litchfield’s expansion in Season Four. Just beyond the grounds is a lake.
In the sixth season the production of the series can no longer use the location, and this directly influenced the plot! For this reason in the fiction they were transferred to the maximum security prison.
The most important thing to remember is that this is a TV show. That’s why it should come as no surprise that most of OITNB‘s interior scenes are filmed on a sound stage. The sets are located at Kaufman Astoria Studios – New York City (Queens).
According to The Daily Beast, the prison sets are “designed with all the functionality of a real prison . . . unlike the three-walled sets of Hollywood soundstages, this is made for every nook and cranny to be filmed.” Apparently, according to production designer Michael Shaw, even Piper Kerman (whose true story inspired the show) was a little freaked out.
Where did Alex first meet Piper?
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- I Got Addicted to Orange is the New Black in Season Five
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They met at The Sparrow Tavern. Click here to see the site . The bar is also in Astoria, a very nice part of Queens (and close to Manhattan), that’s where the bar is where Piper meets Alex. It exists in “real life” and is called The Sparrow Tavern. Mac & Chesse is one of the most praised dishes. In the same region is Dmitri’s, Red’s delicatessen, which is actually Rosarios’s Deli. And speaking of the cook, remember the scene where she appears running with the group of silicone trucks? It was recorded at Astoria Park.
Rosario’s Deli on Ditmars in Astoria was converted into Dmitri’s Russian Market, which Red and her husband Dmitri own. It’s also the scene of many meetings with the mob bosses. Red initially serves them coffee, but later pushes out her husband to become a key member of the ring.
Brooklyn – Most of the quotes and locations in the series are there, that’s because Piper and Larry live in Park Slope, a super cool area near Prospect Park, with several restaurants, shops. It’s a delightful neighborhood with lots of families, kids and LGTBQ+ couples. Near the Park Slope is Red Hook, a super cool neighborhood where the Fairway is located, the famous market where Fischer used to be a cashier. In this episode she remembers that Piper used to frequent the place and always forgot the recyclable bags.
Now heading to Manhattan, Whole Foods is mentioned a few times, like when Piper and Larry talk on the phone and he describes the purchases he’s made and in Tricia’s flashback when she tells him she stole a carrot and candy bar at that grocery store.
Murray’s Bagels is super famous and appears in episode 4 of season two, when Larry and Polly.
These are just some of the locations where the OITNB series was filmed. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Maybe one day I’ll visit them all. It would almost be like being inside the show. If you want to go, there are websites giving the geographic coordinates of each location. This makes it impossible to make mistakes. I would particularly like to go to The Sparrow Tavern for a drink. If you have photos at any of the OITNB locations, send them to me. It would be a pleasure to publish them here. Kisses.
Evil Jenji Show 
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