New fans and critics of Sex and the city are born every day. The series, which premiered on HBO in 1998, spawned six seasons, two movies and two seasons of reboots And just like that. When the show was added to Netflix in April, it gained a whole new audience. Now younger generations are discovering it for the first time, weighing in on whether they are Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda or Samantha.
Introducing the beloved show to a new crop of younger viewers has sparked strong feelings online among the existing fan base. Some expressed dismay that first-time audiences would “cancel” the series due to it being out of date. Aside from an essay by a Gen Z-er who called it “cringey” and a few new memes about Carrie Bradshaw’s self-centeredness, most people recognized it for what it was: 25 years.
As someone who was introduced to the show through a streaming service, I wanted to hear from longtime fans and revisit the magic of the show’s quartet of friends. Carrie once walked 48 blocks in $400 shoes, but she’s a stronger woman than I am, so I hopped in an On Location Tours van to see the show’s iconic locations. After all, New York is the fifth main character in the series.
The tour, like the series, was for mature audiences only. Indecent jokes from the self-proclaimed Samantha of the group were thrown without discretion, as were references to the gang’s sexual exploits. Of the 15 people who joined the tour, there were at least three chaotic Carry’s, four strained Miranda’s and zero traditional Charlotte’s. In case you’re wondering, yes, I’m Carrie.
Primo, a longtime fan (and friend of Carrie’s), watched the series on VHS and DVD right after its original run ended in 2004. He introduced his future husband, Frank, to the show, and he fell in love, too. (My fellow hikers asked me not to use their last names in the story for privacy reasons.)
“The only reason I wanted to visit New York was because of the show,” Primo told me. “I saw all these hotspots and thought, ‘Oh my God, I want to live there.’
Although he did not immediately jump to New York, after 14 years with Frank, they decided to leave their family members in Texas to come to New York for Sex and the city-inspired wedding of their dreams. Although they wanted to get married on the steps of the New York Public Library — just steps away from Carrie’s ill-fated attempt at a first wedding — they settled on Central Park instead. A small group of wedding guests joined them on the tour the day before the ceremony.
Our tour pulled up right next to the fountain park at the Plaza Hotel, where Carrie once confronted Mr. Big about his engagement to another woman. Our tour guide Amanda shared behind-the-scenes facts and pointed out places to tour along Fifth Avenue. There was a hot dog stand similar to where Carrie was standing with a tutu when she was sprayed by a bus in the show’s opening credits, a restaurant that used to be another restaurant where friends used to hang out at one time and the weather was worn out… a church, where Samantha met one of the few men who wouldn’t sleep with her because he was a priest.
Our first stop was the West Village brownstone where Carrie lived throughout the original series. We took some quiet photos, but the buzz of passers-by and the excitement of the location overpowered a few of my fellow hikers. A neighbor came out of his door and firmly said, “It’s five minutes of fun for you, but it’s a whole day for us. Please be quiet.” We walked back to the van.
Tour guide Amanda said she is always amazed by the road Sex and the city unites people. She likes to “prescribe” certain episodes to people; share their problems, and she recommends a Sex and the city episode that affects him. For example, if a guy doesn’t text you back, watch season 3 episode 11, she said.
“Then they’ll come to me and say, ‘Oh, that gave me so much clarity,'” she explained. “That’s the power of the show.”
She said the tour is attracting a lot of people who watched the show on TV when it originally aired, who tell her — someone who watched the show in her dorm room when it first aired on Netflix a few years ago — that is too young to watch it. It just gives her another chance to share her gratitude for it.
“It’s just so damn timeless,” she said.
I often remind friends during re-watches as I cringe at an offensive line or cliche script that the show was groundbreaking for its time. Now it’s a time capsule—a reminder of a city and a cultural moment that was so powerful, yet out of reach for most people. The show’s core messages of friendship and true love still resonate, even though its language and technology are often dated.
Our next stop was Buddakan, the Meatpacking District hot spot where Carrie and Big had their rehearsal dinner, which ended up being ill-fated after Miranda let it slip to Big that she was shocked he wanted to remarry. Walking around its ornate rooms, I couldn’t help but wonder how high the rent must be for such a sprawling space.
We then moved along the cobblestone streets back to the West Village. Our guide reminded us that the actress who played Carrie, Sarah Jessica Parker, is an extremely shrewd businesswoman and has her own shoe store a few blocks from Carrie’s house. Visiting tour groups get a discount! The shoes were beautiful, but no one bought anything.
Our guide got us some cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, which she said were only in the show for a few minutes, but that was enough to skyrocket.
I felt like a fake fan for most of the trip. I’ve watched the series several times, but I had no idea there was a legend behind the restaurant where a bird landed on Carrie’s date, the club where Samantha faked her identity, or the playground where Miranda fell. Places that I pass by every day without a second thought meant so much to my fellow hikers.
I noticed two friends nailing every trivia question and taking on every reference. Brittany, a lawyer, told me she was in New York celebrating her 37th birthday with her girlfriend. She said the series had a huge impact on her life when she first watched it as a teenager (too young, she admitted), and her fans haven’t wavered since. Her boyfriend became a PR for Samantha. Although Miranda didn’t inspire Brittany to become a lawyer, she was her favorite character.
Everyone on the tour had Sex and the city origin story—they remembered how they found it, where they watched it, how it made them feel, and when they became obsessed with it. Angela came to the tour with a friend to celebrate their 40th “friend-enemy”. They are only a few years younger than the cast and watched the series on HBO when it first aired. Angela knew the name of every street we turned down, even though she had never visited New York before. Another tourist said she watched the entire TBS series where the sex scenes were edited out.
“So the show lasted about six minutes for you, then?” Angela joked.
Our last official stop was at Onieals Grand Street Bar, which fans may recognize as Scout – the bar Carrie’s boyfriend Aidan used to run with Miranda’s husband Steve. We were put through an assembly line to buy $15 cosmopolitans. Unfortunately, the bar did not honor the prices of the early cocktails.
After passing the alley where Carrie was robbed and another favorite brunch spot that is now a bank, the tour descended outside of Bryant Park. We were advised to visit the carousel which was featured in a And just like that scene.
So much of the New York that fans would like to see no longer exists. Even the most memorable restaurants and bars have closed and been replaced over time, but the joy of watching the show is still compelling enough to bring fans to the Big Apple just to walk a few blocks into Carrie’s Manolos.
“If anyone asks you about the tour, tell them you went down four times,” Amanda joked as we all left. She wasn’t technically wrong.
