STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – You got a little taste of television magic if you happened to be on Garretson Avenue in Dongan Hills on Thursday.
That’s because the iconic TV cop drama “Blue Bloods” was filming on the street. And a couple of the CBS show’s top stars were on site.
Garretson was closed off at Jefferson Street for the shoot for part of the day.
This on the same day that the famous Lee’s Tavern was also shuttered for the day for filming of “Blue Bloods,” the show about the Reagan cop family which is ending its run this year after 14 seasons.
Spotted on Garretson were Will Estes, who plays Sgt. Jamie Reagan on the show, and Vanessa Ray, who plays Officer Eddie Janko-Reagan, Jamie’s wife and fellow NYPD cop.
“Blue Bloods” actors Vanessa Ray and Will Estes are spotted during filming of a scene from the NYPD drama on Garretson Avenue in Dongan Hills. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance
Ray was seen on the block driving a police car a short distance, stopping in front of a home on Garretson and then getting out. The NYPD vehicle had a camera mounted to the passenger side, apparently to film Ray behind the wheel.
Actress Vanessa Ray, who plays NYPD Officer Eddie Janko-Reagan on “Blue Bloods”, exits police vehicle while filming a scene from the show on Garretson Avenue in Dongan Hills. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance
Estes was spotted on the block a short time later, with he and Ray, both in their NYPD TV show attire, appearing to study script pages in front of the home on Garretson.
The two were then seen circling the block twice in NYPD vehicles, bracketed by production vehicles.
The street was full of spectators as the TV shoot went on in the late afternoon, with the driveways of some homes on Garretson being used by the production crew to temporarily store equipment.
Lee’s Tavern, the venerable, 83-year-old watering hole on nearby Hancock Street, was also closed for the day for “Blue Bloods” filming.
There were no sightings of of two of the show’s biggest stars, Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg, on Garretson.
Hollywood vet Selleck plays Commissioner Frank Reagan, patriarch of the Reagan NYPD clan, on “Blue Bloods.” Wahlberg, who shot to fame as a member of New Kids on the Block, plays Detective Danny Reagan on the show.