Hook & Ladder 8: the firehouse that served as the headquarters of the Ghostbusters

@ElentirENG ES 2·16·2023 · 3:49 0

In New York City, on a corner between Varick and North Moore streets, is one of the most famous fire stations in the world.

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The building was built in 1903, with an architectural style, the Beaux Arts, originally from France and which became very popular in New York in those years. It is a small building, with three tall floors, two of them covered with red brick. It was built to house the New York Fire Department's Number 8 Hook & Ladder Company, one of the city's 218 firefighting companies.

Those 218 fire companies in New York have as many barracks, so it would be unlikely that the one at Hook & Ladder 8 would be famous today, if it were not due to an event that occurred several years ago. decades. And it is that this fire station was chosen as the base for the famous Ghostbusters from the 1984 film.

The choice was a problem, as the headquarters was still active during filming, so the interior scenes of the Ghostbusters base could not be filmed there. Instead they were shot in the Fire Station No.23, a very similar-looking pump station already abandoned, except that it's located in Los Angeles, on the other side of the country.

On September 11, 2001, the Hook & Ladder 8 Company headquarters was one of the first New York fire stations to go to the Twin Towers after the terrorist attacks that ended up destroying them. The historic barracks is about 2 kilometers from the place where the Towers used to be, so it would take about 11 minutes to get there. Lieutenant Vincent Halloran of Hook & Ladder Company 8 died in the North Tower. He was one of 343 New York firefighters who lost their lives that day.

The economic crisis of 2007 threatened to wipe out this historic fire station. In 2011, a municipal plan to close 20 fire stations, including Hook & Ladder 8, but a public campaign was carried out to prevent its closure, managing to keep it open.

In 2016 a process of restoration of the building began, which included, among other improvements, the creation of a service for women (until then it did not exist in said barracks, since the vast majority of the firefighters are men). Today, the building retains Ghostbusters symbols as a memento of the movies that made it famous. In case you're ever in New York and want to see it, below are your location on Google Maps.

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Fotos: Phillip Ritz / Mig Gilbert / Paul Sableman / Daniel Schnerf / Joi Ito / Barcroft Cars.