Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!
This time around, I’ve got something special. This Friday is the opening day of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, director Jason Reitman’s long-awaited (and long-delayed) sequel to his father Ivan’s iconic horror comedies, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. Set in the present day, it’s about a young brother and sister (Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard and The Haunting of Hill House’s McKenna Grace) who discover their grandfather was none other than founding Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (played by Harold Ramis, who passed away in 2014). In no time at all, the kids find themselves picking up the family business, busting ghosts in the Midwest with the help of the other OG ’busters: Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddimore (Ernie Hudson).
So what better time for a visit to the Ghostbusters’ original headquarters in New York City—specifically the firehouse in lower Manhattan that became their office space (and garage for the Ectomobile)?
The intersection of North Moore Street and Varick Street in the neighborhood of Tribeca (which stands for the TRIangle BElow CAnal Street) is where you’ll find the home of the building’s real occupants, the FDNY’s Hook & Ladder Company 8. Yes, although it’s become quite the tourist attraction, 14 N Moore Street is still very much an active firehouse. But that doesn’t mean New York’s Bravest haven’t happily embraced their connection to the supernatural—or their location on Horror Street!
Besides the fact that the building is marked “Ghostbusters Headquarters” on Google Maps (look it up!), it was pretty apparent that the fire company was in the GB: Afterlife mood when I dropped by yesterday—as evidenced by the crowd of Ghostbusters fans I found on the sidewalk in front of the station!
Will you be dropping by GB Central this week? I’m sure the scene will get only wilder as Friday draws near!
Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, the beast called Queens’thluhu, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the regal Griffin, the Spooky Forest, and the Demon Door!