When “How I Met Your Mother” first aired in 2005, Ted (Josh Radnor) was looking for the One, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) was looking for just about anyone, Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) had just gotten engaged and Robin (Cobie Smulders) was just a girl in a bar.
Monday’s series finale ends their adventures in NYC. But the show wasn’t filmed here. Its real home was an LA studio, but co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas drew inspiration from their days sharing an Upper West Side flat when they wrote gags for David Letterman.
Here are 11 local spots to create a legen…wait for it…dary “How I Met Your Mother” New York moment of your own.
MacLaren’s
Every episode
TV scene: The heart and soul of the show is MacLaren’s Bar, where the quirky quintet share fond memories. They’ve fought for a favorite booth, tended bar for the Arizona Tech marching band and were even banned from it.
In the first season’s “Zip, Zip, Zip,” Ted asks a cabbie to drop him home at 75th and Amsterdam, placing both MacLaren’s and Ted and Marshall’s apartment on the Upper West Side.
NYC reality: MacLaren’s is based on NYC pub McGee’s (240 W. 55th St.; 212-957-3536). Bays and Thomas spent time there during their “Letterman” days, and made McGee’s padded booths and muraled walls the show’s focal point. The pretend pub is named for Bays’ production assistant Carl MacLaren.
McGee’s hosts “How I Met Your Mother” trivia nights Tuesdays at 8, and offers “HIMYM”-inspired fare such as the TedMosbyIsAJerk.com wrap ($12), and cocktails, including the Slutty Pumpkin ($8) and the Pineapple Incident ($8).
Empire State Building
“First Time in New York” Season 2, Episode 12
TV scene: When Robin’s younger sister, Katie (Lucy Hale), arrives for a weekend visit, the gang takes her to the Empire State Building (350 Fifth Ave.; 212-736-3100). While waiting in the lobby for the elevator to take them up, Ted, Robin, Marshall and Lily each share the stories of how they lost their virginity.
NYC reality: The average wait to get to the 86th floor observation deck is 15 to 30 minutes, but you’re more likely to find patrons playing on their iPhones than regaling comrades of days past. Can’t wait to see the spectacular view? Skip the usual admission of $27 for adults and $21 for children for a $50 express pass.
Gray’s Papaya
“The Limo” Season 1, Episode 11
TV scene: Upset that New Year’s Eve “looks great on TV, but in reality is always just a big letdown,” Ted plans the perfect night for the gang to ring in the New Year: five parties in three hours. Between parties, they make a pit stop on the Upper West Side at Gray’s Papaya (2090 Broadway, at 72nd Street; 212-799- 0243) for hot dogs.
NYC reality: The 24-hour hot dog spot has been a NYC fixture since 1973, featured in movies and TV shows such as “You’ve Got Mail,” “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” “Sex and the City,” “Glee” and “The Michael J. Fox Show.” Gray’s Papaya is best known for its “Recession Special”: two hot dogs and a 14-ounce drink for $4.45. At its height the chain had three locations throughout Manhattan. Today, only one remains on the Upper West Side.
Corner Bistro
“The Best Burger in New York” Season 4, Episode 2
TV scene: Eight years ago, during Marshall’s first night in the city, he eats the best burger in New York at an unnamed hole in the wall, but hasn’t been able to find it since. Wanting to feel 22 and invincible again, Marshall embarks on a quest to track it down. He tries several eateries that claim to have “the best burger in New York” before finally tracking down the right one.
NYC reality: Marshall samples bites at a number of NYC restaurants during his search, including the Corner Bistro (331 W. Fourth St.; 212- 242-9502), Paul’s Da Burger Joint (131 Second Ave.; 212-529-3033) and even the venerable ‘21’ Club (21 W. 52nd St.; 212-582-7200).
When the episode aired in 2008, Corner Bistro had the highest-rated burger in the Zagat guide. Today, the title belongs to the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien (119 W. 56th St.; 212-708- 7414).
LIRR
“The Drunk Train” Season 7, Episode 16
TV scene: The last train of the night back to Long Island, known fondly as the “drunk train,” is full of, as Lily puts it, “a bunch of drunk, sloppy idiots fresh off a night of partying in the city just desperate to hook up with anything that moves.” Barney and Ted hop aboard hoping to pick up intoxicated women.
NYC reality: The LIRR drunk train is real, often the 2:39 a.m. to Wantagh — the last train departing Penn Station. Seasoned Long Islanders insist a night at Joshua Tree (513 Third Ave.; 212-689-0058), followed by a vomit-inducing ride on the drunk train is a rite of passage.
Hoser Hut
“Little Minnesota” Season 4, Episode 11; “Duel Citizenship” Season 5, Episode 5; “Glitter” Season 6, Episode 9
TV scene: What former Canadian pop star wouldn’t miss the Great White North, eh? Hoser Hut, Robin’s home away from home, oozes Canuck pride — there’s even a framed photo of (fellow Canadian) Paul Shaffer on the wall. After one especially drunken night with the Canadian women’s curling team, Robin wakes up in Toronto and eases her hangover with Tim Hortons.
NYC reality: Celebrate our friendly neighbors to the north at Ontario (559 Grand St., Brooklyn; 718-384-2835), a Canada- themed bar in Williamsburg complete with Molson, Moosehead and Labatt Blue, 10 varieties of Canadian whiskey, an air-hockey table and a jukebox stocked with Canadian artists from Arcade Fire to Neil Young.
You can also find 11 of Tim Hortons’ 4,304 locations scattered throughout the five boroughs — even if the American version just doesn’t live up to the sweet nectar that is Tim Hortons Canadian coffee brew.
Subway Station at 86th & Lex (4, 5, 6 trains)
“Lucky Penny” Season 2, Episode 15
TV scene: After running the NYC Marathon to win a bet with Marshall, Barney’s legs give out while he’s riding the 6 train, and he calls Ted for help. When the train pulls into this station before Ted gets his MetroCard, he jumps the turnstile and is nabbed by a cop. His subsequent court hearing causes him to miss a job interview in Chicago, keeping him in NYC.
NYC reality: According to MTA rules, Ted could have avoided a court hearing by simply paying the fine within 15 days of the incident. In 2006, when the episode aired, the fine was $60; today, it’s $100.
Shinjitsu
“Ducky Tie,” Season 7, Episode 3
TV scene: After Barney mocks the chef at Shinjitsu, Marshall bets that Barney can’t cook the food himself. Unbeknownst to Marshall, Barney had previously taken a sixmonth course on Teppanyaki in Hoboken, waiting for such a bet to take place. The terms? If Barney wins, he gets to touch Lily’s pregnancy boobs. If he loses, he has to wear a duck-clad tie for a year. Just as he’s about to win the bet, Lily flashes Barney to distract him, and the tie remains for the rest of the season.
NYC reality: NYC’s most well-known Teppanyaki-style restaurant is Benihana (47 W. 56th St.; 212-581-0930) in Midtown. Teppanyaki is a type of Japanese cuisine in which food is cooked on an iron griddle at each individual table. Entrees include filet mignon ($27.50), colossal shrimp ($27.50) and the Benihana special, hibachi steak paired with a cold-water lobster tail ($39.75).
American Museum of Natural History
“Natural History” Season 6, Episode 8
TV scene: The gang attends a black-tie fund-raiser at the Museum of Natural History (Central Park West at 79th St.; 212-769-5100) on behalf of Goliath National Bank. At the gala, Barney brags about having knocked down the blue whale when he was 6 years old.
Ted has fun at the others’ expense with the museum’s acoustics, in which a whisper at one end of the room rings clear at the other.
NYC reality: The 94-foot-long, 21,000-pound Atlantic blue whale model made its museum debut in 1969, and has remained a fixture ever since. No kid has ever knocked it down, although it was removed in 2003 for a $21.5 million renovation.
And the writers must have gotten their landmark whispering galleries mixed up — NYC’s famous acoustic mystery is in Grand Central Terminal (89 E. 42nd St.; 212-340-2583) in front of the Oyster Bar. (The Museum of Natural History doesn’t have one.) Grand Central’s whispering gallery is one of 12 located in the United States.
Columbia University
“Definitions” Season 5, Episode 1
TV scene: Ted takes a job as an architecture professor at Columbia University (116th Street and Broadway; 212-854- 1754) and is seven minutes into his Architecture 101 lecture when he finds out he’s actually in Econ 305, located in building 14, room 7. Four seasons later, we find out that the mysterious mother in the sitcom’s title was in that classroom.
NYC reality: Though there is no building 14 on the Columbia campus, undergrads can take Architecture 101, “Design Futures: New York City,” in the Diana Center on the neighboring Barnard College campus. As for Ted’s accidental economics course, budding business moguls are out of luck — Columbia offers no such class.
Of course, first you’ll have to get into the prestigious Ivy League school. In 2012, the acceptance rate for incoming freshmen was a mere 7.4 percent — the eighth lowest in the country.
Laser Tag
“Zip, Zip, Zip” Season 1, Episode 14; and a number of other episodes over the years
TV scene: Barney’s affinity for laser tag is a series-long plotline, beginning in the pilot episode. He uses it primarily as a bonding mechanism, having brought both then-fiancé Robin and onetime girlfriend Nora (Nazanin Boniadi) there on separate occasions. Barney and even used it as an opportunity to get closer to Robin’s dad (Ray Wise) before their wedding.
NYC reality: Long Island City’s Indoor Extreme Sports (47-11 Van Dam St.; 718-361- 9152) is the only laser tag option in NYC, and offers three different varieties (Black Ops, Zombie and Arena laser tag), starting at $20 per player. Ready for a real challenge? The indoor venues also offers paintball and archery tag for real adrenaline seekers.