“Hello, Dolly!” Filming Locations
& Production Design
Then ... and Now
Hello, Dolly's production was designed by Academy Award-winning art director John DeCuir. There's no denying the sets and scale of Dolly were quite impressive.
Decuir painted his production designs in gouache and acrylic paints on 30" by 60" boards.
Dolly's 1890 New York street set was a big deal in its day. It reportedly cost $2 million to build, and stretched across the Fox lot between Pico and Olympic Boulevards. John DeCuir spoke to a reporter about it in 1967:
By ordinance you can't hang anything from existing buildings ... That means we have to install 110-foot poles, which have to go 15 feet into the ground where we run into conduits and water pipes." De Cuir went on to describe the massive construction project: "Next to the studio property building will be Fifth Avenue and the Hoffman House, a hotel-restaurant, which had the longest bar in the world and was where Boss Tweed hung out. Stage 14 will become the exterior of a tenement, and next to the administration building we'll build a clubhouse of steel, glass and Victorian flavor. We're bringing 150-foot elm trees from Nevada—they don't grow that big in Southern California—and plastic leaves for them from Japan and Italy. Millions of leaves. We found that it took 3,000 to cover one branch.
(Above) The set, as it appeared in the film; and a shot of the Fox backlot with some of the remains of the Dolly set, circa 1992.
(Below) An amazing overhead shot of the Dolly set while filming the parade scene, plus a thumbnail view of blueprints for that set.
More “Dolly” Sets & Locations ...
(Below) The end scene was filmed at Trophy Point and overlook at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. The chapel was built for the scene.
(Below) The Dolly train, now (left) and then (right). In 1968, four of Strasburg Railroad's coach cars and one locomotive were restored and used in the movie Hello, Dolly!
(Below) Vandergelder's was a location in Garrison, New York. It is currently known as the Golden Eagle Inn in Garrison. (Photo courtesy of Mark Boyce)
(Below) One of the fountains from the Harmonia Gardens set is now located at Fox Studios in Baja, Mexico. The Harmonia Gardens set was also cannibalized for Fox's Beneath the Planet of the Apes movie (where the mutants lived underground).
(Below) One of DeCuir's paintings of the Harmonia Gardens restaurant ...
(Below) An interesting ad from Gulf Oil explaining how they had to erect oil pumps under the Hello Dolly set!
Navigate to other Streisand films using the jump menu below:
