Article Summary
What this article covers: Mad Men’s New York locations, from the Madison Avenue offices and Don Draper’s homes to the Midtown restaurants and hotels you can still visit.
Who this is for: Fans of the series and culture-minded travellers planning time in Manhattan, including visitors from Ireland and the UK.
Key takeaway: Mad Men was filmed almost entirely in Los Angeles, yet most of the real places it named still stand in Midtown, and you can see them on foot in one afternoon.
Expert insight: “The sets were in Los Angeles, but the feeling of the show lives on Third Avenue. P.J. Clarke’s, a small brick building holding its ground beneath a glass tower, sums up the pull between old New York and new money that runs through every season.”- Ciaran Connolly, Founder of ConnollyCove
Quick Facts
- The pilot was shot at Silvercup Studios and on location in New York City, and later episodes were filmed at Los Angeles Centre Studios.
- Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce moves into the real Time-Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in the fourth season.
- P.J. Clarke’s dates from 1884 and takes its name from Patrick Clarke, an Irish immigrant who bought the business in 1912.
Mad Men’s New York locations are easier to find than most fans expect, even though the cameras spent almost all of their time in California. The writers placed the agencies and apartments at real Manhattan addresses, and many of the buildings and dining rooms they named are still open to anyone who walks in.
ConnollyCove, the Ireland-based travel and culture platform founded by Ciaran Connolly, has checked what you can see today and what has closed. Several older fan guides still send readers to rooms that no longer exist.
Table of Contents
Mad Men Was Set in Manhattan but Filmed Mostly in Los Angeles
Mad Men was a Los Angeles production for all but its first episode. The pilot was shot at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City and around New York. The Los Angeles City Council’s tribute to the show, published when it ended in 2015, notes that the rest was filmed almost entirely at Los Angeles Centre Studios downtown.
Touring Mad Men’s New York locations therefore means visiting the places where the story was set rather than where the actors stood. Creator Matthew Weiner built the series around real addresses, so the city still lines up with the script. By contrast, our guide to the Succession filming locations covers a drama that filmed at the Plaza and Oheka Castle for real.
A Quick Directory of Mad Men Locations in New York
Most of the places worth your time sit within a short walk of each other in Midtown East. The best things to see around Times Square are only a few blocks west of Grand Central.
| Location | Role in the show | Address | Status today | Worth visiting? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.J. Clarke’s | Peggy celebrates her first copywriting success | 915 Third Avenue | Open | Yes, for lunch or a burger |
| Time-Life Building | Home of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce from season four | 1271 Avenue of the Americas | Office tower | Yes, from the street |
| Sterling Cooper | The original agency | 405 Madison Avenue (as given in the show) | Nothing to see inside | Only as a stop on a walk |
| Grand Central Terminal | The commuter hub of the era, with a historic oyster restaurant below | 89 East 42nd Street | Open | Yes, ideally at lunchtime |
| Waldorf Astoria | Conrad Hilton’s hotel; Hilton is Don’s client in season three | 301 Park Avenue | Reopened July 2025 | Yes, for the lobby |
| Roosevelt Hotel | Linked to Don in many fan guides | 45 East 45th Street | Closed | No, exterior only |
The Sterling Cooper Offices and the Time-Life Building
The Time-Life Building is the one Mad Men office you can stand in front of. Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce takes space there from the fourth season. The modernist tower sits on the western edge of the Rockefeller Centre complex, which makes it easy to pair with Top of the Rock from our list of things to do in New York.
The original Sterling Cooper is a different matter. The show gives its address as 405 Madison Avenue in the high East 40s, but the offices were Los Angeles sets. Treat the address as a pause on your walk rather than a destination.
Where Don Draper Lived in New York and Ossining
Don Draper has three main homes across the series, and none of the interiors can be visited. For the first three seasons, Don and Betty live in Ossining, a commuter town in Westchester County, at a house the show places on Bullet Park Road. The exteriors were filmed in Pasadena, California. After the divorce, Don moves to a Greenwich Village flat on Waverly Place, a few streets from the building in our Friends fan’s guide to New York.
From the fifth season, Don and Megan share a penthouse at 783 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side. The building is real, but the sunken living room was a set, and the flats are private homes, so a look from the pavement is enough.
Mad Men Era Restaurants and Landmarks You Can Still Visit
P.J. Clarke’s is the strongest surviving link between Mad Men and modern Manhattan. In the first season, Peggy and her colleagues celebrate her Belle Jolie lipstick copy there, dancing to “The Twist” on the jukebox. The small brick building at 915 Third Avenue still sits beneath a 47-storey office tower. It opened in 1884 and takes its name from Patrick Clarke, an Irish immigrant who worked there for about ten years before buying it in 1912. That Irish thread will appeal to anyone who enjoyed our guide to traditional Irish proverbs and their meanings, and the bacon cheeseburger is still the dish to order.
The seafood restaurant on the lower level of Grand Central Terminal opened with the station in 1913. A lunch of oysters under its tiled vaults is about as close to a Roger Sterling business lunch as you will get. Just outside its entrance is the Whispering Gallery, where a voice carries across the curved ceiling from one corner to the opposite one. It makes a good free stop before you head back up to the main concourse.
Mad Men Haunts That Have Closed or Changed
Older guides still send fans to the Roosevelt Hotel, but the hotel closed in 2020 after almost a century in business. From 2023 until June 2025, the city used it as its main arrival centre for asylum seekers. Its future now depends on redevelopment plans for the block beside Grand Central, and our guide to New York’s cultural streets covers the surrounding neighbourhood in more depth.
The Waldorf Astoria has gone the other way. It closed in 2017 for an eight-year restoration and reopened on 15 July 2025 with 375 rooms instead of the 1,400 it once held. It is now the reliable choice on Park Avenue for a grand period lobby.
A Self-Guided Midtown Mad Men Walk
You can cover the Midtown core of Mad Men’s New York locations in about three hours on foot. Start beneath the clock on the main concourse at Grand Central and have lunch at the oyster restaurant on the lower level. Then walk north up Madison Avenue through the high 40s, head west to the Time-Life Building on Sixth Avenue, and come back east to the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue.
Finish at P.J. Clarke’s on Third Avenue at 55th Street for an early dinner as the office crowd heads home, when the room feels most like the one Peggy danced in. If you would like to end the day with something Irish, our collection of Irish farewell blessings has a few lines worth taking home with you.
Seasonal Timing and Booking Advice for Your Visit
Late spring and autumn suit this walk best, because July and August are hot and humid and December fills Midtown with shoppers. Book ahead at weekends for P.J. Clarke’s, the oyster restaurant at Grand Central and the restaurants at the Waldorf. A tip of around 20 per cent is normal in New York restaurants.
Opening hours change, so check each venue’s website before you go. For transport and wider planning, our tourist’s guide to New York City is the place to start. ConnollyCove’s film and TV location guides also sit alongside its Irish heritage coverage if you want more screen-inspired trips.
FAQs About Mad Men’s New York locations
Mad Men’s New York locations prompt plenty of questions from fans planning a trip. The short answers below cover the ones that come up most often.
Was Mad Men filmed in New York?
Only the pilot was shot in New York, at Silvercup Studios and on city streets. Every later episode was filmed in Los Angeles.
Where does Don Draper live in Mad Men?
Don starts in suburban Ossining with Betty and later moves to Manhattan, first to Waverly Place and then to 783 Park Avenue with Megan.
Where was Sterling Cooper located?
The show places Sterling Cooper at 405 Madison Avenue, and the later firm moves into the real Time-Life Building on Sixth Avenue.
Can you visit P.J. Clarke’s from Mad Men?
Yes, the original P.J. Clarke’s at 915 Third Avenue is still open as a restaurant.
Is the Roosevelt Hotel still open?
No, it closed as a hotel in 2020, and its future depends on redevelopment plans for the site.
Where did the Drapers live in Ossining?
The show sets their home on Bullet Park Road in Ossining, Westchester County, though the exteriors were filmed in Pasadena, California.
Before publishing, please confirm that P.J. Clarke’s and the Grand Central oyster restaurant take weekend bookings. The full article is about 1,590 words, so it stays under the 1,600 cap.
