After viewing Do the Right Thing yesterday, I was curious about the location where the movie was set. The setting of the movie played such an integral role in the film’s narrative, and even the brownstone buildings and pizzerias had a lot of personality and color to them. The entirety of the film was shot in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) area of Brooklyn — more specifically on the block of Stuyvesant Avenue between Lexington Avenue and Quincy Street. A companion book to the film containing excerpts from Spike Lee’s journal detailed the locations of the various characters’ homes and where certain scenes would be set.

According to Lee:

“The block had everything that we needed: brownstones which weren’t too upscale or too dilapidated. And, most importantly, it had two empty lots that faced each other, where we could build sets for the Korean market and Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. Once we decided on the block, [production designer] Wynn [Thomas] went to work designing the sets and supervising construction.”

Although most of the preexisting buildings and institutions were used in the movie, both Sal’s Famous Pizzeria and the Korean grocery store were built from scratch on empty lots on the street’s corners, and apparently, the pizzeria was fully functional! The Yes Jesus Baptist Church also does not exist on the street in real life; instead, it was a false facade in front of the lower half of an apartment building. Some of the buildings were also altered by being painted shades of red and orange to add to the sense of heat, like the vibrant red wall behind the Corner Men.

After its release, both the film and filmmaker were quickly lauded for the depiction of racial relations in America, and for its cultural significance, the section of Stuyvesant Avenue where the film was shot was renamed Do the Right Thing Way in 2015. The renaming was part of a bill to rename streets in New York in honor of important figures in city history, but the renaming of Do the Right Thing Way didn’t come without obstacles. One opposing argument was about how the new name wouldn’t honor a specific historical figure, but instead a work of fiction. However, councilman Robert Cornegy Jr., who represents Bed-Stuy, pushed for the renaming to go through. When the renaming was finalized, Lee threw a block party to announce the new name and even started selling Do the Right Thing Way street signs on his website (which you can still buy here!).