A Night Out in New York: The Real Locations Behind 'One Night Only'

One Night Only imagines a New York where premarital sex is legal just one night a year—and condoms are mandatory. The rom-com follows Allie (Monica Barbaro), a musician who pays the bills with pharmaceutical jingles, and Owen (Callum Turner), a recently dumped pizzeria owner, as they keep crossing paths while trying to get each other laid across at least three boroughs in one chaotic night.

Director Will Gluck, a born-and-bred New Yorker, cared about keeping the geography believable: “I was very concerned with geography,” he said. He also cast local comedians, including Mike Birbiglia as a cop and Ziwe as a bouncer, and sought out corners of the city rarely seen in movies. “Most importantly, I like filming parts of New York that you don't really see in movies,” he said.

Many locations have personal roots. The fictional Claremont’s Pizza is named after Gluck’s childhood street, Claremont Avenue, and was shot at The Original Ray’s Pizza on the Upper West Side. Owen’s mother’s Hamilton Heights brownstone sits near Alexander Hamilton’s former home; a pharmacy scene uses a shop Gluck’s parents frequented; and an urgent care interior is actually a veterinarian’s office.

Lower Manhattan supplies plenty of nightlife: a Chelsea members’ club called Chez Margaux, the White Horse Tavern in the West Village, a SoHo bodega, and Electric Lady Studios. In Queens, the Foundry—a former industrial facility—stands in for a conman’s apartment and a club, with the 59th Street Bridge visible. Brooklyn scenes include a Citi Bike ride to Brooklyn Bridge Park, a police station built in an old metal factory, and a Greenpoint club exterior on Kingsland Avenue.

The film ends at the Little Red Lighthouse in Fort Washington Park, a real spot Gluck visited as a kid. “No one knows about it,” he said. “It's cool showing a grizzled New York crew a spot they haven't filmed in nor heard about.”