5. 191st Street Subway Tunnel
Another well-known spot in Washington Heights is the street art covered tunnel at 191st Street (one of the deepest stations in the subway system), and In the Heights uses this tunnel to film the song “Paciencia y Fe” featuring Olga Merediz as Abuela Claudia. The opening song “In the Heights” references how deep the subway goes under Washington Heights and Inwood, when Usnavi tells tourists to take the subway to 181st Street and “take the escalator.”
The scenes shot on the subway platforms are actually filmed in Brooklyn in an abandoned level of the D train, as there are only a few locations in the subway system where the MTA usually allows for large film shoots.
