Pop-up experience lets you live like the Friends cast
If you’ve ever wanted to have a cup of joe at Central Perk, worship Baywatch with a best bud in side-by-side Lay-Z-Boy recliners, or try to belt out “Smelly Cat,” you’ll soon be in luck.
To celebrate the milestone 25th anniversary of Friends, a pop-up exhibit called Friends25 will open September 7 in Manhattan’s SoHo district. The pop-up experience will let you hang out in super-accurate replications of some of the show’s most recognizable locations.
The experiential exhibition company Superfly, which was behind the very similar Seinfeld Experience, has created the interactive experience. It lets you stroll around Central Perk and hang out in Joey and Chandler’s bachelor pad, as well as in Ross’ living room and the bedrooms of Rachel, Phoebe, and Monica.
You can also pose by a replica of the famous Friends fountain. While camera phones and social media didn’t exist back in the ’90s, the Friends pop-up experience is definitely made for Instagram and selfies.
And speaking of things that didn’t exist in the dumb-phone era, Warner Bros TV will be giving you access to scads of Friends gifs with the launch of an official Friends Giphy channel to celebrate the International Day of FRIENDShip on July 30.
Tickets for the experience are priced at $29.50, but you need to make reservations, which you can do starting Friday, August 2, exclusively at Friends25popup.com.
The experience, located at 76 Mercer St., between Spring and Broome Streets, will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. If you’re an AT&T wireless customer, you get first dibs at the location for its opening day, September 7. The pop-up closes October 6.