Ernie Hudson, the actor who played Winston in “Ghost-busters,” lives in Los Angeles but says that filming that 1984 classic solidified his love for Gotham.
“It was otherworldly,” he tells The Post. “I’m glad that [it]was able to capture that feel of New York.”
For its 30th anniversary, “Ghostbusters” is back in theaters for one week, through Thursday; the Blu-ray anniversary editions of both that film and its 1989 sequel, “Ghostbusters II,” drop Sept. 16.
This is Hudson’s “Ghostbusters” New York.
Hook & Ladder 8 firehouse, 14 N. Moore St. (Ghostbusters headquarters)
“A lot of the interior stuff was shot in LA, but some of it was shot in New York. Fans would stand outside the firehouse in the cold for hours watching from across the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of Bill Murray. Every once in a while, he would slip away over to them and absorb himself into the middle of them, which was always a concern for director Ivan Reitman and all the people who wanted to get on to the next scene. Bill had a way of connecting with people in just a real hands-on way. The most fun part was just being with him on the streets of New York, seeing how much love he got and how much he gave back.”
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street
“When I first went to the East Coast, I was going to Yale. I would come down to New York when I was writing. I’d just go [to the library’s main study room] and try to get some work done. That is to me the best moment in the movie, when the [ghost] librarian comes out [of the stacks], and then they panic and run out of the building. I find with little kids, my grandkids, if you can get past that little moment, then you’re on the ride. The librarian is pretty intense.”
Tavern on the Green, Central Park West & 67th Street
“I’ve never really particularly remembered enjoying the food there, but I would go there a lot because of the scene in ‘Ghostbusters.’ My kid Ross used to love it. We went there for a couple of his birthdays because he loved the scene where the terror dogs come for Rick Moranis. He was probably 7 or 8. All the patrons sang happy birthday to him, it was such a great experience. The next year we went back and it was just the opposite. The staff hardly paid attention.”
Central Park West, near 72nd Street
“The car we had in the movie broke down around 72nd, going across Central Park. We would seal off the road and block traffic up, and the car breaks down. There’s nobody around, so me and Danny are trying to push the car to the side. Those are heavy, heavy cars. It broke down more than any car. It was just the worst. It only worked long enough to get the shot.”
55 Central Park West (home to Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett)
“We climbed a lot of stairs shooting the final fight on the roof. Obviously you try to make it look like there’s flights and flights. We did do more than our share of climbing, but we didn’t have to climb them all. Those backpacks aren’t the lightest things, either. The original ones were made out of metal, but we had some rubber ones we would use when we were falling around or running. Now, some of the ones the fans have made are really extraordinary.”
Manhole in front of the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House, 1 Bowling Green (“Ghostbusters 2”)
“The winds would just be painful in the winter. The night we shot coming out of the manhole after investigating subterranean ooze was one of the coldest nights of my life, because we were drenched in slime. The studios didn’t provide heaters for whatever reason. The next day we came back, there was a problem with the camera and we had to shoot the whole scene over again. It was an awful night.”
Statue of Liberty (from “Ghostbusters 2”)
“We shot a little bit inside of the statue. We had quite a bit of access. It’s very tight [inside] . . . After doing the movie, I took my kids there. We got on the boat and somebody recognized me and he ran through the boat shouting, ‘It’s Ernie Hudson, the guy from Ghostbusters!’ The people who were there on vacation surrounded me and cut me off from my family. ”