The “Law and Order” New York

This weekend’s New York Times Travel section has an article about where to go to satisfy your voyeuristic interest in New York’s criminal justice system. Conceding the near-24 hour broadcast of episodes of “Law and Order” on TV might make the set of the courthouse steps mere wallpaper in your living room, tredding the real steps and bars transforms the experience from virtual to real.

Each version of “Law and Order” has been in my neighborhood to film from time to time – usually as the place where a corpse is found in some brush. But descending the courthouse steps – the holy grail – is a cinematic moment. The way standing at the rail of a stately building’s balcony begs for you to throw out your arms a la Evita. The article recommends the bars and Chinese restaurants court officers visit and how any one of us could watch arraignments 7-days a week.