Even A-list actors, it seems, are fans of filming locations! As New York Times “critic at large” Amanda Hess reported back in 2020, “One morning in January, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick found themselves together on the Upper East Side, close to a luncheonette they used to love, with an hour to spare. Parker couldn’t recall the name of the spot, but she did remember that 20 years earlier, Broderick had told her that it was the one from Robert Redford’s C.I.A. lunch run in ‘Three Days of the Condor,’ and that shared memory was enough to navigate them to the door of the Lexington Candy Shop.” SJP is such a fan of the historic NYC diner, in fact, that just this month, cameras captured the actress shooting a scene there for an upcoming season two episode of the “Sex and the City” reboot “And Just Like That . . . “ along with Che Diaz themself, aka co-star Sara Ramirez.
It is not hard to see the eatery’s appeal. Standing corner-side at 1226 Lexington Ave., just three short blocks from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the nearly century-old restaurant is a certified step back in time, a pristinely preserved slice of nostalgic Americana situated right in the heart of the city.
As the name suggests, the establishment initially operated as a candy store/soda fountain, founded in 1925 by Greek transplant Soterios Philis, who hand-crafted chocolate confections each day onsite in the basement. According to CBS News New York, Philis chose the prominent brick-faced corner storefront thanks to the fact that it “faced oncoming traffic,” therefore “maximizing visibility.” The gimmick worked. Lexington Candy Shop has been a staple of the Manhattan landscape – not to mention filming scene – pretty much ever since.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Lexington Candy Shop A beacon of familiarity and comfort, the luncheonette remains in the Philis family today, initially taken over by Soterios’ son, Peter, who started working on the premises in 1930 and ultimately assumed command in 1947. The following year, he remodeled and expanded the interior, installing a set of wooden booths along the café’s north side, and also shifted gears to focus more prominently on serving lunch offerings rather than sweets, though the Lexington Candy Shop name was left firmly intact. Little of the menu or décor has been altered since.
The site is currently run by Soterios’ grandson, John, who began managing the place in 1984 and, per a 1999 New York Daily News blurb, “practically has malt powder running through his veins,” along with his business partner of 33 years, Robert Karcher.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Lexington Candy Shop Today, the 840-square-foot restaurant remains a time capsule of old-school dining, complete with a charmingly scuffed Formica counter, round metal stools, zigzagging Terrazzo flooring and blush-hued tabletops.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Lexington Candy Shop The food and drink offerings are also decidedly retro. As John told the Daily Mail, “We try to do things the way they were done originally, the ‘old fashioned way,’ so to speak.” That includes mixing the sodas just as Soterios did in the early days, blending homemade syrup with seltzer from the fountain by hand.
Milkshakes are also prepared via Soterios’ original method, courtesy of the former proprietor’s antique Hamilton Beach mixer, which John has given prominent placement on the restaurant’s rear counter. The Daily News reports, “Although he owns newer blenders from the same company, Philis is convinced that this one makes better malteds. His only regret is that finding parts for a kitchen appliance from the 1930s costs more than the price of three or four brand-new machines put together.”
Featuring an extensive menu chock full of comfort fare (there’s an entire section dedicated to club sandwiches alone!), specialties of the house include the Butter Burger, a certified Angus beef patty served piping hot with a scoop of butter on top, French toast made with bread from Orwashers (a historic neighborhood bakery initially founded in 1916), malteds crafted with Soterios’ original Borden’s Malt dispenser and a wide variety of egg creams. The latter are so beloved the eatery sells about 600 of them each week, according to a 2018 Newsday blurb.
Recognized worldwide as a must-dine spot by publications ranging from Travel + Leisure Family to British Traveler Magazine, Lexington Candy Shop is a staple for native New Yorkers, tourists and stars alike. As the menu notes, “Don’t be surprised if you spot a celebrity or two also enjoying a step back in time.” Along with Parker and Broderick, just a few of the restaurant’s famous fans include Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Alec Baldwin and Al Roker.
Lexington Candy Shop’s neon signage and classic booths have even provided a backdrop for photo shoots for such high-end fashion labels as Kate Spade and Michael Kors, as well as for countless movies and television shows.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Lexington Candy Shop As SJP correctly recalled, C.I.A. analyst Joe Turner (Redford) does indeed head there to grab lunch in the 1975 political thriller “Three Days of the Condor.” It turns out to be a fortuitous outing, too, as all of Turner’s co-workers are gunned down in their office during his absence and he spends the rest of the film attempting to figure out why.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Lexington Candy Shop One glance at the scene confirms how little the place has been altered over the past half-century. As John told 6sqft, “Of course, we’ve had to change the wallpaper every so often and reupholster, but other than that the coffee urns are from 1948.” It is that retro aesthetic and familiar vibe that keeps location managers coming back time after time.
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Image Credit: CBS Philis takes great pride in Lexington Candy Shop’s history, both real and cinematic, fastidiously chronicling its many big and small screen appearances on social media, even regularly posting notifications as to when its cameos are set to air.
Just a few of the other productions to feature the eatery include the 1985 made-for-television movie “Kojak: The Belarus File,” in which Lieutenant Theo Kojak (Telly Savalas) enjoys a cup of coffee at the Candy Shop’s counter.
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Image Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) takes her young ward, Grayer (Nicholas Art), to Lexington Candy Shop for a bowl of Cheerios, despite his mother’s definitive ban on all sugary cereals – even low-sugar varieties – during a special “break the rules day” in the 2007 dramedy “The Nanny Diaries.”
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Image Credit: NBC Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) noshes there – and catches an episode of “American Diva” – with his daughter, Zara (Alison Fernandez), in the season 15 episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” titled “Dissonant Voices.”
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Image Credit: Millennium Entertainment Neighborhood patrol officer Dovi (Liev Schreiber) pops into the diner to ask questions about some local goings-on in John Turturro’s 2013 comedy “Fading Gigolo.”
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Image Credit: Focus Features A young Ruth (Claire van der Boom) learns that her mother doesn’t approve of her interracial relationship in a flashback scene that takes place at the restaurant in 2014’s “5 Flights Up.”
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Image Credit: Magnolia Pictures Social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) and his wife Alexandra “Sasha” Milgram (Winona Ryder) have a terse meeting on the premises in the 2015 biographical film “Experimenter.”
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Image Credit: CBS And Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) investigate a robbery/multiple homicide at Lexington Candy Shop in two episodes of “Elementary,” season four’s “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “Turn it Upside Down.”
Most actors can only dream of such a resume!