Universal Studios’ latest element of its dream-making apparatus literally rose from the ashes of a June 2008 fire that consumed the back-lot areas known as New York Street and Courthouse Square, where such memorable movies as To Kill a Mockingbird and Back to the Future were filmed. Turning an obstacle into a stepping stone, the studio consulted Steven Spielberg, Avatar production designer Rick Carter, and other industry heavyweights and reopened a new and improved New York Street a year after the fire, this time with distinctive neighborhoods carved out of its four acres.
The generic old city streets have been transformed into urban areas resembling Chinatown, Little Italy, Central Park, Wall Street, the West Village, the Broadway theater district, Park Avenue, Embassy Row, London, Paris, and 21st-century New York, with contemporary glass-and-steel buildings. To make the areas feel more like a big city, facade heights have been increased by 10 to 25 feet, to new heights of 40 to 50 feet.
The venue offers events a kaleidoscope of possibilities, from renting one block for a more intimate gathering to booking the entire area, with a capacity of about 5,000. Universal’s event planning staff—director of special events Krista Boling, senior special events manager Morgen Hoffman, and special events manager Mandy Pullan—can customize parties with such Hollywood-worthy enhancements as geishas on stilts, break-dancers, horse-and-carriage rides, and paparazzi or newsboys to greet guests, complete with mini newspapers printed for the event.
Outdoor and tented seating is available, and planners can order any kind of cuisine from Universal’s executive chef, Andrew Humbert. Universal’s house wine is Salmon Creek Vineyard Wines, which it offers along with a full bar, but the studio can also cater to client requests.
