Some NYC filming locations from "Taxi Driver"  - then and now

"Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets..."
   Often maniacally obsessed with Martin Scorsese's 1976 film "Taxi Driver" (a film that I watch regularly and find weirdly therapeutic), it was during one of these therapy sessions that I shouted at the TV screen "Listen you screw heads... you shit heels..." ...oops, I mean... I looked at the screen and said to myself "Hey that Variety theater is still there!" ...and you know what? It is! So in February of 2004 I rode on my bike along 13th street (between 2nd and 3rd avenue), and the surrounding area, and took some photos of the specific locations that were used in those parts of the film.
    With the film literally tattooed on my gray matter from so much therapy... I found it was easy to find the exact doorways and buildings that were used once I pinpointed where the camera had been facing. It was interesting to see how things had changed, and how they hadn't. You can tell from my dinky digital camera shots that they were obviously using a wide-angle lens in the film.
    I have taken some pictures from my TV screen from the DVD (sorry screw heads, I'm too lazy to figure out how to hook my DVD player up to my computer) and compared them side-by-side below. Some of the frame lines match up, and some don't. Click on the link below each one for a much larger, sometimes more pulled-back view:
 

Here's the Variety Photoplay Theater marquee (west side of 3rd avenue between 13th and 14th street) where Robert DeNiro first encounters Jodi Foster and Harvey Keitel in the back seat of his cab:

In the film... and now (click links below all photos for larger views).
 
 

And, quite literally around the corner... here is the street (southeast corner 13th street and 3rd avenue) Robert DeNiro later walks down with Jodi Foster and the junkie girl:

In the film... and now.
 
 

If you were to keep turning left from the above shot, you would of course see the doorway (on the south side of 13th street) where Robert DeNiro meets and eventually shoots Harvey Keitel. I think it would be kind of neat to live in this building today. When you are saying goodnight to your date, to impress them you could be all "Oh... hey! Did you know that this is the exact doorway where Robert DeNiro gunned down Harvey Keitel in the film 'Taxi Driver!' Yea... you know the scene... where he has a mohawk and Keitel falls down in a pool of blood and then DeNiro goes next door and blows a bunch of people's fingers off? Well... I thought you would find that interesting... so, how about a kiss?" Here's that same doorway:

In the film (night shooting shot - more pulled back)... and now.
 
 

And if you keep panning left... here is the street Robert DeNiro walks down to pick up Jodi Foster after he has negotiated with Harvey Keitel:

In the film... and now.
 
 

And then... here is the front of the building Jodi Foster leads Robert De Niro into after he buys time with her (the building is literally down the same side of the street from the doorway Keitel hangs out in front of, exactly as it is implied in the film):

In the film... and now.
 
 

And the tilt pan up to the top of the same building:

In the film... and now.