Williamsburg Bridge - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • The 1928 Edward Hopper painting "From Williamsburg Bridge" depicts a long-gone building as seen from the bridge's since remodeled walkway.
  • In reference to the area’s large Yiddish-speaking population, a sign on the Western approach to the bridge reads, "Leaving Brooklyn: Oy Vey!"
  • The Williamsburg Bridge appears in the movies Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Naked City (1948), Johnny Suede (1991), Scent of a Woman (1992), American Gangster (2007), Serpico (1973), the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die, The French Connection (1971), The Siege (1998), Léon (1994), and The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie.
  • The bridge is mentioned several times in the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) by Betty Smith. It is also referenced in the novels The Alienist (1994) by Caleb Carr and City of Bones, the first book of The Mortal Instruments. A scene in the book The Last Olympian takes place on the bridge.
  • During a sabbatical from performing, American jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins would go to the Williamsburg Bridge for practice sessions, in order to spare a neighboring expectant mother the noise. His 1962 album The Bridge, produced on his return from retirement, was titled after the bridge.
  • East Bay rockers Black Cat Music, have a song titled "Williamsburg Bridge Song". The song "True Dreams of Wichitah", by Soul Coughing, includes the lyric "And you can stand on the arms of the Williamsburg Bridge crying 'Hey man, well this is Babylon'"
  • The area by the bridge was the location for Depeche Mode's 1990 single "Policy Of Truth". It was also used as cover art for their following song "World In My Eyes".
  • Aerialist Seanna Sharpe used the top of the bridge to stage an acrobatic performance on July 12, 2011.
  • The Korean group BIGBANG filmed their "Bad Boy" music video on and around the bridge in 2012.
  • The bridge, placed in a fictional Gotham City, is destroyed along with neighboring Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises.
  • In the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man, The Lizard tossed cars over the bridge only for Spider-Man to catch them with his web-lines.

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