History Main / FultonStreetFolly

* Lower Manhattan doubles for Metropolis in many of the street scenes in ''{{Film/Superman}}''.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', Big Shell and Arsenal Gear crash into Lower Manhattan, resulting in Raiden and Solidus dueling at the top of Federal Hall. [[GainaxEnding Maybe.]]

Even though there are 4.85 other boroughs in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity ([[FanonDisContinuity if you count Staten Island]]), Lower Manhattan is used disproportionately often in many films and shows because it's easier to film in; the Financial District empties out like a GhostCity on the weekends. Many of the streets are already blocked off, and there are few residents to complain if an entire neighborhood is overrun by camera crews and catering trucks.

* Interestingly, since 2001, the Financial District has begun developing into a residential area. The [[TheWarOnTerror 9/11 attack]] scared off a number of banks and financial institutions, and the credit crunch of 2008 didn't help either, all leading to a number of buildings standing empty. Residential developers bought and renovated them into luxury apartments, and "[=FiDi=]" (following the [[FunWithAcronyms naming traditions]] of New York neighborhoods that coined [=TriBeCa=] and [=SoHo=]) is now considered an up-and-coming neighborhood, especially for the new generation of yuppies (young lawyers, investment bankers, and the like).

* The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that spread to the general "Occupy" phenomenon in late 2011 started, [[CaptainObvious obviously]], in the Financial District. However, Occupy Wall Street soon took root not on Wall Street proper (which was quickly barricaded by [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops the NYPD]], causing no end of havoc to local residents), but the nearby Zuccotti Park.

The trope name comes from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fulton Robert Fulton]], whose 1807 steamboat the ''Clermont'' was [[ItWillNeverCatchOn contemporaneously ridiculed]] as "Fulton's folly"[[note]]Previous steamboats had been woefully underpowered, leading the Unwashed Masses™ to believe the technology was completely infeasible[[/note]], and who has a prominent local street named for him and is buried at nearby Trinity Church.

A subtrope of BigApplesauce, where things happen in New York even though they could be reasonably set in any other city, state or country.

* The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that spread to the general "Occupy" phenomenon in late 2011 started, [[CaptainObvious obviously]], in the Financial District. However, Occupy Wall Street soon took root not on Wall Street proper (which was quickly barricaded by [[NewYorkCityCops the NYPD]], causing no end of havoc to local residents), but the nearby Zuccotti Park.

* RageAgainstTheMachine played "Sleep Now in the Fire" on the steps of Federal Hall (across from the NYSE) on a weekday, without a permit, for their video.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]
* The filming of the ''{{Series/Fringe}}'' episode where skin grows over every orifice of the victim's bodies had this: the first guy getting attacked at the magazine stand was filmed on Fulton Street.
* Averted in the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' franchise, which roams up and down Manhattan. Although the Federal building does feature in most episodes, that's because it's the ''courthouse''.
** Ironically, the "courthouse" used on Law & Order is the civil courthouse. The criminal courthouse is a block away, but doesn't look as cool.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:{{Video Games}}]]

[[AC:RealLife]]
* High level politicians and candidates often deliver speeches at Federal Hall because the side streets are already sealed off and it's easier to shut down a museum rather than film at a working government building.

The corner of Wall and Broad Streets is a popular spot because it's been closed to traffic for years. It's also the location of Federal Hall, which easily doubles for any other columned government building. Hardly a weekend goes by without something being filmed there.

The trope name comes from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fulton Robert Fulton]], whose 1807 steamboat the ''Clermont'' was contemporaneously ridiculed as "Fulton's folly"[[note]]Previous steamboats had been woefully underpowered, leading the Unwashed Masses™ to believe the technology was completely infeasible[[/note]], and who has a prominent local street named for him and is buried at nearby Trinity Church.

* ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'' features a Wall Street subway bombing. ([[spoiler:And subverts it by using the explosion to break into the Federal Reserve.]])

* ''[[InAndOut In & Out]]'' includes a Federal Hall scene in the award-winning movie-within-a-movie.

* ''NationalTreasure'' features scenes at Trinity Church. Justified in that the treasure was hidden there around the time of the Revolutionary War, when a majority of Manhattan Island was undeveloped.

* The very first mission of ''ModernWarfare 3'', "Black Tuesday", revolves around a Russian jamming array atop the New York Stock Exchange. Broad Street and Federal Hall can be prominently seen along the way.

* The filming of the ''{{Fringe}}'' episode where skin grows over every orifice of the victim's bodies had this: the first guy getting attacked at the magazine stand was filmed on Fulton Street.

** Ironically, the "courthouse" used on Law & Order is the civil courthouse. The criminal courthouse is a block away, but dosen't look as cool.

* Although ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' was mostly filmed in Chicago, the Gotham City Stock Exchange is in the Financial District in New York.