A cinematic city by the sea that was never actually filmed there

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The 2002 crime drama City by the Sea is set in the Long Island town of Long Beach, New York. Yet, the film's iconic, decaying boardwalk and abandoned casino scenes were actually captured in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The production even included a final credit disclaimer to clarify the deception.

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones and released in 2002, the film stars Robert De Niro as Vincent LaMarca, a veteran NYPD detective haunted by his own father’s execution for a kidnapping gone wrong. The narrative explores the generational trauma of a family defined by crime, as Vincent struggles to reconcile his professional duty with his desire to save his estranged, drug-addicted son, Joey, who becomes a suspect in a cop-killing.

The film’s setting is central to its atmosphere of urban decay. Long Beach, New York, known by its Latin motto Civitas ad Mare, serves as the story's backdrop. However, the production team opted to film in Asbury Park, New Jersey, during early 2001 to capture the specific aesthetic of a partially ruined seaside town. This choice was so significant that the film includes a formal disclaimer in its closing credits, explicitly stating that the production did not take place in the actual Long Beach.

Critical reception of the film was largely lukewarm. Aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic recorded mixed scores, with critics often citing an over-reliance on melodrama and predictable tropes, despite praise for the performances. Interestingly, the film features shots of New York City, including the World Trade Center, which remained unedited following the September 11 attacks. While audiences polled by CinemaScore offered a respectable B grade, the film remains a curious case of geographical substitution in modern cinema.

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