When Harry Met Sally...: Chicago to New York

The story starts on graduation day. In 1977 Harry Burns and Sally Albright finish at the University of Chicago, and a mutual friend introduces them on the Main Quad so that Sally can give Harry a ride to New York, where he is dating her friend Amanda. The film shows them setting off for an 18-hour drive through the Gothic Cobb Gate on East 57th Street. On the road they debate their differing views on life and relationships.

Visitor guidance: Cobb Gate is on East 57th Street, between South Ellis and South University Avenues.

After the long drive, Harry is dropped off in New York. He and Sally part ways at the Washington Square Arch, never intending to see each other again; he is dropped off to carry his luggage through the arch for no obvious reason apart from visual impact. The monument is real: designed by Stanford White in 1891 for the centennial of George Washington's 1789 inauguration, it stands 77 feet tall. The film brings Harry back here on its final New Year's Eve, alone, to reflect on his relationship with Sally.

Visitor guidance: The arch stands at Washington Square Park.

By 1987 Sally and Joe have broken up. She tells her friends at the Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park, off East 72nd Street, where Marie, played by Carrie Fisher, helpfully consults her ever-ready card index of single men. The current brick-and-limestone boathouse dates from 1954 and was financed by a $305,000 donation from businessman Carl M. Loeb. Its restaurant fully reopened in March 2024 after a renovation.

Visitor guidance: The Loeb Boathouse is in Central Park at East 72nd Street; the restaurant fully reopened in March 2024.

Harry and Sally admit they disliked each other when they first met and agree to become friends. Their walks take them into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at 1000 5th Avenue, where they stop at the Temple of Dendur and Sally cracks up over the pecan pie line. The temple is real: Emperor Augustus commissioned it around 23 BCE for the goddess Isis. It was relocated from Egypt when the Aswan Dam was built, and the Met has exhibited it since 1978 beneath a stippled glass ceiling meant to mimic the lighting in Nubia.

Visitor guidance: The Metropolitan Museum of Art is at 1000 5th Avenue at 82nd Street.

The film's most famous scene. Over lunch, Harry and Sally argue about a man's ability to recognize when a woman is faking, and to prove her point Sally vividly fakes one as other diners turn to watch. A nearby patron, played by the director's mother, places her order, deadpan: "I'll have what she's having." Katz's, founded in 1888 and known for its pastrami on rye, is at 205 East Houston Street on the Lower East Side, and still hangs a sign above the table.

Visitor guidance: Katz's Delicatessen, 205 East Houston Street, Lower East Side; a sign hangs above the table from the film.

Having become friends, Harry and Sally try to set each other up with dates at the tiled Cafe Luxembourg, 200 West 70th Street near Amsterdam Avenue. They arrange a double date with their best friends, Marie and Jess, but the plan goes awry: Marie and Jess fall for each other immediately and soon move in together. That leaves Harry and Sally to go shopping for gifts for the newly happy couple.

Marie and Jess get married in the Grand Ballroom of the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street in SoHo, while Harry and Sally fall spectacularly out after their night together. The building returns for the finale: on New Year's Eve Harry runs to the party, catches Sally as she is about to leave, and declares his love in the Skylight Ballroom. Three months later they are married. The entrance Harry runs into on screen is not the Puck's own; the building was long home to Puck magazine.

Visitor guidance: The building stands at 295 Lafayette Street; a location guide says both ballrooms can be hired for events.