Real-Life Owner of Carrie Bradshaw’s ‘Sex and the City’ Apartment Takes Drastic Step To Stop Fans From Taking Photos on Iconic Stoop

“Sex and the City” fans hoping to snap a selfie at one of the show’s most iconic filming locations could well be met with bitter disappointment in the coming months—after the property’s owner took a major step to prevent photo tourists from stepping foot on the stoop ever again.

The property in question is a historic brownstone that served as the facade for lead character Carrie Bradshaw’s Upper East Side apartment. That real-life abode is actually located on Perry Street in the West Village, where it has become a “global tourist destination” for devoted followers of the HBO series.

Now, after years of fending off would-be photographers and wannabe Carries from the stoop, even erecting a chain barrier across the front step with a sign reading “private property: no trespassing,” the homeowner has taken drastic new action to ward off unwelcome visitors.

As first reported by the New York Times, the owner of the landmarked building has submitted an application to New York City’s Landmark Preservation Commission to install “a stoop gate” at the foot of the brownstone’s steps.

In a letter submitted with the application, the owner lays bare the toll of the seemingly endless parade of fans, whose interest in the property has been fueled by social media and the release of a “Sex and the City” sequel titled “And Just Like That.”

According to the letter, the owner takes responsibility for allowing filming to take place on her front stoop some three decades ago, explaining that they agreed to the request only because they “felt sorry” for the location scout who came knocking on their door to ask about using the home in the show.

“The front of my home appeared in the ‘Sex and the City’ TV series as the exterior of character Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment,” the letter explains. “My fault: I felt sorry for the young location scout who was a recent grad from NYU Film School. He told me if he didn’t secure THIS house, he would lose his first real job in the business.”

The owner could not have foreseen the incredible and prolonged success of the series—nor its very passionate fan base, the letter says.

“At the time, no one knew the show would turn into anything long lasting … much less, the iconic fantasy vehicle and touchstone for NYC’s magic that it has become.”

Suffice it to say, living in an iconic piece of TV history has its downsides. Adding a chain across the stairs to keep fans away hasn’t had the desired effect, the letter says.

“My home is now a global tourist destination. The show is in endless reruns in 34 different languages, increasing an already massive fan base coming to my stoop from throughout the US and around the world,” the letter says.

The owner describes hordes of visitors making a pilgrimage to the property, no matter the time of day.

“At any hour of the day or night, there are groups of visitors in front of the house taking flash photos, engaging in loud chatter, posting on social media, making TikTok videos, or just celebrating the moment,” the letter says.

“The 6th Precinct advised me years ago to put a chain across the base of the stoop with a ‘No Trespassing—Private Property’ sign. It helps, but not enough. Many visitors respect the chain. But many do not. They climb over the chain, pose, dance or lie down on the steps, climb to the top to stare in the Parlor windows, try to open the main entrance door, or, when drunk late at night, ring the doorbells.”

The woes have piled up, the homeowner says in the letter. “We’ve also had graffiti painted on the steps and initials carved into the main door frame.”

It’s time for a more drastic change, the letter states.

“After 20 plus years of hoping the fascination with my stoop would die away and fans would find a new object for their devotion, I have acknowledged we need something more substantial. In order to regain a reasonable quality of life for our tenants and ourselves: we need to install a proper gate.”

The historic building was constructed in 1866, and the owner looks to have purchased the landmarked building in 1978.

Although the show used the stoop to represent Bradshaw’s living quarters, the setting is meant to represent Bradshaw’s fictional (and apparently rent-controlled) apartment in a different neighborhood on the other end of the city on the Upper East Side.

That didn’t fool fans, who figured out the real address years ago and headed to the Greenwich Village locale to snap photos.

The ground-breaking show following the sex lives of four friends living in New York City is based on the newspaper column-turned book by Candace Bushnell. The series ran from 1998 to 2004 and led to two feature-length movies in 2008 and 2010 with the same cast of Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Kim Cattrall. In 2013 there was even a prequel on the CW called “The Carrie Diaries.”

The original show returned as the rebooted “And Just Like That” on HBO Max in 2021, with Parker, Davis, and Nixon reprising their roles.

The original series recently arrived on Netflix, introducing the characters to new generations of fans.

Asked to comment by the New York Times, author Bushnell commiserated with the homeowner’s issues.

“’Social media’s really changed a lot—people know about things and they make pilgrimages there for an Instagram photo,” she said. “I think that’s probably why they’re saying, ‘Hey, help us.’ That is something that I never thought would happen when I first started writing ‘Sex and the City.’”