Smoke (1995) revolves around the Cigar store of a Brooklyn native, Auggie (Left). I decided the store location (Right), which is located on 16th St and Prospect Park West, in Brooklyn, was worth a visit. As it turns out, the store today is a newly-established bakery, with a newly-painted white exterior. According to a friendly dog-walker, it used to be a New Zealand pie store with a grey exterior, which closed during COVID. As you can see, much of the building itself has stayed the same. The cast-iron decorations and the store sign have been removed, as have the metal shutters over the large windows, but the windows themselves and the entrance has remained the same. The rest of the block remains very similar- the Pharmacy at the other end of 15th St and Prospect Park West is exactly as it appears in the movie, and there is a tobacco store on the block- right next door, in fact. The “One Way” sign and light post haven’t been changed, excluding a paint job, and neither has the fire escape to the right of the store. I was surprised at the similarities between the movie and the real location today. Twenty-five years later, and the real-life neighborhood Auggie’s store is set in has barely changed.
