Categorized | Featured

Seeing stars — familiar locations in and around Sloatsburg and Suffern continue to transform into movie backdrops

Posted on 27 September 2017 by Editor

The old Jessie’s Bagels store on Route 17 in north Sloatsburg, NY, was recently transformed into a perfect period piece — a 1970s Sunoco station. The setup was part of the filming for Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” which has been shooting locally, including at Tuxedo’s Orange Top Diner and along Lafayette Avenue in Suffern.

Jimmy Hoffa’s fated final ride is an American legend.

The former International Brotherhood of Teamsters leader reportedly headed off to a local Detroit restaurant to meet two purported mobsters in the summer of 1975 — never to be seen again. Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran claimed to know exactly what happened to Hoffa. In his version, Hoffa’s last ride was short and ended in blood. Sheeran by his own admission was a seasoned killer before he become muscle for the mob, claiming to be familiar with a series of sensational historical events.

Martin Scorsese and crew have been filming part of the life and times of Frank Sheeran throughout the area, including scenes at Tuxedo’s Orange Top Diner, along Suffern’s Lafayette Avenue, and Sloatsburg, where the original Jessie’s Bagels store was converted into a 1970s Sunoco station.

A block of shops along Lafayette Avenue in Suffern, NY, was recently closed down and as several stores were transformed into a 1970s set during the filming of Martin Scorsese’s movie, “The Irishman,” which portrays the last days of Jimmy Hoffa. 

Robert Di Nero, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannevale are part of the film which tells Sheeran’s tale of Hoffa’s last ride. The actors are all familiars in Scorsese’s film world that often documents the intersection of crime culture in American labor and the rise and fall of working class heroes. Al Pacino portrays union boss Jimmy Hoffa, who’s entire career was reportedly intertwined with Organized Crime; Hoffa purportedly even helped fund the syndicate’s take-over of Las Vegas via union coffers, truly a great American enterprise.

Sloatsburg and the surrounding area has been a boon to the New York City film industry, providing accessible and authentic backdrops that can be bucolic and rural but also down home small town urban.

The 2005 Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers, starring Bill Murray and Sharon Stone, sort of kicked off a local movie production trend, with filming in the Flats and along Lafayette Avenue in Suffern. The popular TV show Believe shot footage at Keyes Farm along Johnsontown Road — the show Blindspot also used Keyes Farm as a shooting location. Locals at Rhodes Tavern were treated to a visit by Emma Thompson and Ben Stiller in the Adam Sandler move shot in and around Sloatsburg last year — Sandler famously mingled with locals in Suffern. The Noah Baumbach film Meyerowitz Stories saw Sandler get a critical thumbs up.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email