LIVE
Loading vintage finds from Amsterdam · Paris · London · Tokyo · New York · Milan · Barcelona · Berlin…

Travel story · New york

Garbo's mysterious New York

Follow the traces of Greta Garbo's hideaway in Manhattan — the quiet streets where the world's most famous face wanted only to be anonymous, and the cinemas where that face still haunts the screen.

Garbo's mysterious New York
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Day 1: The recluse's Upper East Side

Garbo lived from 1953 until her death in an apartment at 450 East 52nd Street, overlooking the East River. She walked there daily, always alone, in a trench coat and sunglasses. Start there, at the corner of East River Drive, and walk west along 52nd.

Vintage Burberry Man’s Trench Coat Size 52 With Liner. Made In England.
Vintage Burberry Man’s Trench Coat Size 52 With Liner. Made In England.

Day 2: Museum Mile, alone

She was a devoted visitor of the Met and the Frick. Do what she did: go early, speak to no one, look for a long time. The Frick is quietest on a weekday morning.

Vintage Burberry Prorsum Kensington Trench Coat Women’s Size SMALL no belt -A07
Vintage Burberry Prorsum Kensington Trench Coat Women’s Size SMALL no belt -A07

Day 3: Cinema of old

The revival houses that screened her films are mostly closed, but Anthology Film Archives and Film Forum keep the spirit alive. Finish with a black coffee and a book, just as she would have wanted.

BURBERRY Trench Coat Authentic Vintage Balmacaan Check Stone Beige XS/UK4/US2
BURBERRY Trench Coat Authentic Vintage Balmacaan Check Stone Beige XS/UK4/US2

Along the way

  1. 01

    Garbo's apartment

  2. 02

    The Frick Collection

  3. 03

    The Metropolitan Museum

  4. 04

    Film Forum

  5. 05

    Anthology Film Archives

  6. 06

    Sant Ambroeus