42
•
LMGI COMPASS
|
Summer 2025
1923
Godfather of Harlem
1923
Season 2
This Yellowstone prequel delivers a gripping conclusion to the
Dutton family's saga as they confront escalating threats to
their Montana ranch. As a cross-continent adventure with three
storylines, a wide range of locations in both Montana and Texas
accurately portray the period. Montana locations anchor the
series in its Western roots, while Texas provides versatile period
settings. Galveston serves both as an historically accurate
port of entry and a stand-in for other cities. Montana's Butte
Train Station plays for Livingston, while the old main building at
the state hospital in Austin, Texas, and historic downtown San
Antonio double as Ellis Island's Immigration Processing Center
and Manhattan. Chicago was found at the historic Galveston
Train Station. Featured in a sweeping shot from the Gulf,
Galveston Island's Grand Galvez stands in as a glamorous 1920s
hotel. Its historic façade and interiors help transport us to the era.
OUTSTANDING LOCATIONS IN A PERIOD TELEVISION SERIES
DARK WINDS
Season 3
Tribal police investigate the mysterious disappearance of two
boys in this noir 1970's police drama that takes place on Navajo
Reservation lands around the Four Corners of the American
Southwest. The isolation and beauty of the desert amplifies the
show's sense of mystery, spiritual depth, and cultural grounding
and often mirrors the internal journeys of its characters. A
troubled tribal officer's mental hallucinations are triggered by
gnarled twisted trees at a derelict farm, provoking a descent into
his fractured psyche. The arrival—and looming departure—of
a vintage train creates a natural ticking clock for the season
finale as a chaotic chase brings the investigation of a complex
conspiracy involving human trafficking and drug smuggling to its
climatic conclusion.
GODFATHER OF HARLEM
Season 3
In this early '60s period piece, a former convict-turned-
neighborhood benefactor catches the attention of the
Italian mob bosses when he tries to clean up his business by
building "the Vegas of Harlem." The Black Panthers' Harlem
headquarters is imagined in an area of Brooklyn where
storefronts with period awnings and whole blocks of residential
buildings stand unobstructed by modern skyscrapers. A
visiting character is dropped off at Cortlandt Alley. Raw,
mysterious and dangerous, it has an organic, energetic and
unglamourous New York vibe that lured production downtown
for the first time. A final "high noon" Western showdown
between the Harlem crew and the Italian mob plays out in
broad daylight at the expansive, yet secluded, Willets Point
Asphalt. Period locations that are truly authentic to New York
City provide depth and character to a story that is as layered
and complex as the era it recreates.
Dark Winds
