How Greater New York City Was Transformed Into Gotham for the HBO Series ‘The Penguin’

Production designer Kalina Ivanov shared with Architectural Digest how she transformed New York City and its neighboring areas into Gotham for the HBO series The Penguin.

Why New York City for The Penguin"? Because New York City is the love of my life. I love it decayed. I love it shiny. I love every look of New York City. It has everything.It has the streets, it has the history, and the crooked politicians. It has everything. That is why New York City had to be Gotham.

Ivanov drew from her own experience of flooded streets during Hurricane Sandy.

I lived through Sandy. As a matter of fact, the water breached where I live, and Avenue C was entirely covered in dirt. I took that memory and experience, and I transferred it to the set, in a sense.

Ivanov also explained why they chose a street in Yonkers was turned into the flooded neighborhood of Crown Point and how she looked to historic New York neighborhoods like the Five Points in lower Manhattan.

This is a real street in Yonkers. . . So Crown Point is based on the Five Points in Manhattan, particularly the Mulberry Bend. It gave us this wonderful curve to slowly reveal the Crown Point. It allowed for a flowing shot to go through this street and ends up right where you need to end up. But you don't see it from the beginning. If the street was straight, you'd see where your end point is.

She also spoke about the trolley scene, as well as the location of the Falcone mansion in Oyster Bay, Long Island.

In the '70s and the '80s, the rich fled the city. So we took that as a cue. The rich lived in Bristol township in our story, which is, of course, 30 miles outside of the city. I thought of it as Oyster Bay. ...I envisioned Carmine's residence as an Italian villa. In a sense, I was thinking of The Great Gatsby." And we went to Oyster Bay and we found this location, which is a real Italian villa from 1925. And all we did was bring the fountain in and the greens,

The History of Five Points

The Story Behind New York City's Five Points'

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