Apparently the writers of the new Fox TV show New Amsterdam are not only having fun writing for a central character that is immortal but they have decided to relocate the Hell Gate section of the East River to Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island.
This week's episode and season finale opens with a scene of a woman drowning but quickly moves onto a grassy area where the body, now recovered, has been set down. John Amsterdam's fellow detectives are standing over the victim in what is known to Roosevelt Island residents as the tip of Southpoint Park facing South into the river and across from the United Nations. When Amsterdam shows up he labels the spot Hell Gate and proceeds to have a flash back to 1927 at the same location.
What's amusing about this is that Hell Gate is not even visible from these locations but is just North of Roosevelt Island and actually refers to a larger area encompassing the confluence of the East River and the Harlem River. The Bridge in the above picture is the Queensboro Bridge (aka the 59th Street Bridge). When built it was known as the Blackwell's Island Bridge.
What's more amusing looking back at last week's episode where John takes his former partner Andy from the Detective's Squad Room onto a balcony was that that scene was filmed at Goldwater Hospital (see green arrow in above map) a ten minute walk from this location. So this body essentially washed up just down the block from their precinct house.
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