Empire Hotel

The Empire Hotel is a boutique hotel at 44 West 63rd Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, close to Lincoln Center and Columbus Circle. The current hotel building opened in the early 1920s, replacing an older hotel structure on the same site. Its most recognisable feature is the red rooftop neon sign reading “Hotel Empire”, which has made the building easy to spot from the surrounding streets. The hotel’s combination of Upper West Side location, Art Deco-inspired character, lobby spaces and rooftop bar has made it a useful screen location for stories set in the more glamorous side of New York.

The Empire Hotel is best known on screen through Gossip Girl (2009–2012), where it becomes one of the series’ most important recurring locations after Chuck Bass buys the hotel in season 3. The hotel has also been used in Sex and the City 2 (2010), Power (2014–2020) and Dexter: Resurrection (2025–), while its rooftop sign has become a recognisable piece of New York screen geography in its own right.

In Gossip Girl (2009–2012), The Empire Hotel becomes closely tied to Chuck Bass after he buys the hotel in season 3, episode 3, “The Lost Boy”. From that point, the hotel functions as both his business and one of his main personal power bases in New York. The location appears in several later episodes, including “The Empire Strikes Jack”, where Chuck’s conflict with Jack Bass is connected to control of the hotel, “Touch of Eva”, where the hotel hosts a charity gala, and “The Witches of Bushwick”, where the Saints and Sinners masquerade takes place. The hotel’s lobby, exterior and rooftop bar all contribute to its role as one of the show’s most recognisable Manhattan locations.

In Sex and the City 2 (2010), The Empire Hotel appears as part of the film’s New York location work. The hotel’s Upper West Side exterior places the film within the polished Manhattan setting associated with Carrie Bradshaw and her social world before the story moves away from New York. The building’s recognisable sign and location near Lincoln Center make it a clear city landmark rather than a generic hotel backdrop.

In Power (2014–2020), The Empire Hotel appears in the pilot episode. James “Ghost” St. Patrick meets Felipe Lobos at the hotel, using the location as part of the series’ early introduction to New York’s mixture of nightlife, money, crime and high-end business. The hotel setting fits the show’s contrast between legitimate luxury and the criminal world operating beneath it.

In Dexter: Resurrection (2025–), The Empire Hotel is used as the hotel where Harrison works and also lives. Since Harrison has no permanent home in New York, he stays in available rooms at the hotel, making the location one of the central places in the series rather than a brief background setting. The hotel becomes closely tied to Harrison’s attempt to build a life in the city, while also placing him in the same kind of morally dangerous world that defined his father. One of the key scenes at the hotel is Harrison’s first murder, when he stops Ryan Foster from raping a woman he has drugged. The scene turns The Empire Hotel into an important location in Harrison’s own dark development, connecting his daily life, work and violent inheritance in one place.

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