The show Gossip Girl made the most of Manhattan, taking the Blair-Serena contingency all over the city to hot spots and NYC icons alike. One mainstay (as well as one of the city's most popular tourist attractions) with a presence felt from the pilot in 2007, is the Metropolitan Museum of Art which towers over Fifth Avenue and stretches from East 79th Street to East 84th Street.
Because it was the lunchtime hangout of those who attended St. Judes/Constance Billard, viewers could have gotten the impression that the MMA and its steps were across the street from the co-ed high school, but the reality is that the museum is a good 20 blocks from The Museum of New York City, whose facade was used to represent the place the GG gang called home from 8:30 am to 3 pm.
Party Girls
Season 1: Episode 1--They wore their headbands as though they were tiaras, had designer bags in 10th grade, and kicked their private school uniforms up a notch with shoes, jackets, and jewelry from Bergdorfs. And oh yes, Blair Waldorf was their Queen.
The prep school teens of Manhattan's Upper East Side were holding court on the steps of the MMA, admiring the party invites that junior court member Jenny Humphrey had just delivered when Serena van der Woodsen, who'd recently returned to NYC, joined the girls and in true "You can't sit with us" fashion is told by frenemy Blair that there is no need for her to RSVP.
Oh, Baby
Season 1: Episode 13--Oh how easy it is to fall out of favor, especially with Blair who has decided that Jenny's hazing "will end when I say it ends." After Blair orders her to sit a few more steps below her at the MMA, the Brooklyn girl with more self-esteem than anyone realized, got up, and left just in time for Serena's arrival.
"I'm not pregnant," is the bohemian blonde's opener to a group who could seem to not care less. She then asks to speak to Blair alone and we realize that it is actually Blair who needs the EPT box to make sure she and Chuck are not going to have a little Bass.
The Queen Bee Gets Stung
"Do you realize who you're talking to?" asked Blair after her posse gives her the boot off the MMA steps. Seems word spread like wildfire around St. Judes and Constance Billard after the pregnancy scare which resulted in Nate and Chuck throwing down in the school's entry garden.
Not only that, but the girls embrace Jenny, reminding Blair she's no longer in a position to tell anyone where they can eat lunch or with whom. The now-dethroned Queen Bee tosses one last empty threat Jenny's way, but the Brooklyn blonde defies her and joins the new in-crowd on the steps.
Blair Bitch Project
Season 1: Episode 14--"These are my steps and I'm not going to relinquish them without a fight." Yes, Blair returns to school after losing her status and is horrified to learn that Jenny Humphrey is now A-list.
Over coffee, Serena convinces Blair that she'll catch more flies with honey so she accepts an invite to dinner with the group that doesn't show up just to humiliate her. For some inexplicable reason, they thought they'd get over on the headbanded one. They thought wrong.
Who's Boyfriend Is It Anyway?
Season 1: Episode 16--The battle between the Queen Bee and Little J moves from the streets (aka MMA steps) to the blogs spreading rumors about each other through Gossip Girl.
Jenny is now dating a Park Avenue scion, Asher, and makes a spectacle of a party they're throwing to which Blair is blatantly not invited. But Dan suspects that his sister's boyfriend has a boyfriend of his own and seeks advice about how to break it to her. "All that matters to someone like Jenny right now is guys, girlfriends, and Gossip Girl," says Blair. "If it's not coming from one of them," adds Serena, "she's not gonna hear it."
Moving On
Season 3: Episode 2--No longer uniformed prep school girls, this is a first: sitting on the steps of the MMA in regular clothes--well, regular for a duo who owns only designer duds.
It's a wistful reunion as they say goodbye to the place they used to rule because Blair is now a downtown girl attending NYU and Serena is not going to Brown (she hasn't broken that news to Lily yet and for good reason) and is running around NYC with Carter Baizen and working as a publicist. They're young adults now, and The Met is just a bittersweet reminder of days gone by.
It's Reigning Again
Season 3: Episode 7--Jenny picks up where Blair left off as Queen Bee and, hard to believe, she's even more of a malevolent dictator.
Not even BFF Eric can accept that this is the same girl who took the train in from Brooklyn, made her own clothes, and brought her lunch made by her rocker dad. To teach Jenny a lesson, the boys dare to sit above her on the MMA steps--breaking the cardinal rule of seating--and Jenny has to lay into Eric as not to show weakness in front of her crew. Status over friendship? So it goes on the Upper East Side.
The Princess Bride
Season 5: Episode 19--She married a prince but never got to be a princess since the marriage was so shortlived. Dan to the rescue.
He has Blair dress in a pretty-in-pink tulle gown with a beige beaded jacket, brings her to the last place she felt really royal, and presents her with a cubic zirconia tiara that on her will look like real diamonds. We're never really sure if Dan orchestrated the gaggle of adoring fans or whether they just happened to be on the MMA steps, but either way, their fangirl screams and demands for a picture with their idol to make Blair feel good about herself again.
Revenge Of The Nerds
Season 6: Episode 6--"The Met steps. Where else would you go to make yourself feel better?" says Nelly in response to Blair asking how she knew where to find her.
Blair's nemesis from high school Nelly is now a fashion journalist to whom her mother wants Blair to make amends for her previous rudeness. It seems just too much to ask as the two young women fall back into their high school nobless-oblige relationship. After being chastised by her mother once again for being a mean girl and Blair quits as president of Waldorf Designs, much to Nelly's satisfaction. Their antagonistic face-off on the MMA steps inspires Blair to start her own fashion line.
I Do
Season 6: Episode 10--The gang races up the MMA steps not quite sure why they've been summoned to the museum. When they're all assembled Blair announces it's her surprise wedding to Chuck.
But the police are after the groom because they believe he killed his father and a Gossip Girl tip has NYPD on route to arrest him. The happy couple and their wedding guests do a quick location change to Central Park's Bethesda Fountain and say their vows right before the men in blue catch up with them.