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| One Night Only: Is Claremont Real? The New York Pizza Shop Behind Owen’s Workplace. |
Is Claremont a real pizza place in New York? In One Night Only, the fictional shop is one of the most recognisable locations in Owen and Allie’s increasingly chaotic night, but viewers looking for Claremont on a New York map will have a frustratingly cheesy problem: the name exists for the story, not as the actual pizzeria seen on screen.
Directed by Will Gluck, One Night Only is set in an alternate version of the US where premarital intimacy is prohibited, except for one very unusual 12-hour period each year when the rule is temporarily lifted. Owen and Allie set out to make the most of that window, only for their plans to become considerably more complicated as they keep crossing paths and discovering that their supposedly straightforward night might have other ideas.
Their journey takes them around New York, with Claremont serving as one of the film’s central locations. Owen works at the pizza shop and has built much of his life around it, making the place more than just another backdrop. It becomes part workplace, part refuge and, naturally, part romantic territory once Allie enters the picture. Because apparently nothing says complicated romance quite like trying to make pizza while your personal life is falling apart around you.
The catch is that Claremont is fictional. The production used The Original Ray’s Pizza at 462 Columbus Avenue in New York to bring Owen’s workplace to life. The real pizzeria is on the Upper West Side, while Claremont’s fictional location is presented as being further north in Manhattan. So if you were planning a pilgrimage to Claremont, you may need to adjust the address on your imaginary itinerary.
There is also a personal reason behind the fictional name. Gluck grew up around Claremont Avenue near Columbia University, and the name appears to be a small nod to that part of his childhood. Rather than inventing a completely random name for Owen’s shop, the director gave the fictional business a connection to a place that meant something to him. It is a subtle detail, but one that makes the location feel less like a generic movie pizza shop and more like a piece of New York woven into the story.
The production spent several days filming inside The Original Ray’s Pizza, but Callum Turner, who plays Owen, had already put in some work before cameras rolled. Since Owen is supposed to know his way around the kitchen, Turner took pizza-making classes and spent a week learning at Ray’s. That preparation apparently went beyond simply learning enough to look convincing for a few close-ups.
Turner reportedly became comfortable enough with the process to make pizzas for the cast and crew across three nights of filming. That is either impressive dedication to the role or a very clever way of ensuring everyone on set stayed well fed. Either way, it gave Turner a better feel for Owen, whose relationship with pizza is central to how the character sees his future.
Owen explains that he has always loved pizza and eventually decided to turn that affection into a career. He saved money, bought the shop and built a business around something he genuinely cares about. It gives him a grounded ambition that contrasts nicely with the increasingly absurd circumstances unfolding elsewhere in his life.
Claremont also becomes important to Owen and Allie’s relationship. When Allie visits the shop, Owen makes her a pizza and receives the ultimate compliment when she tells him it is the best pizza she has ever tasted.
The shop later becomes a familiar meeting point for the pair, giving them somewhere to regroup when their night becomes increasingly unpredictable. Amid all the running around, misunderstandings and romantic uncertainty, Claremont becomes one of the few places where they can simply stop for a moment.
The choice of a real New York pizzeria also works particularly well because the setting feels lived-in rather than manufactured. A pizza shop is hardly an exotic cinematic location, but that is precisely why it fits Owen. He is not chasing some glamorous fantasy career; he has built something ordinary that genuinely matters to him. The real-world location helps sell that idea without making the film spend half its runtime explaining why the shop looks authentic.
Fans’ reactions to Claremont can vary, particularly when it comes to how much attention they pay to the real-world location. Some viewers enjoy spotting the New York setting and discovering the actual businesses used during filming, while others are more interested in what Claremont represents for Owen and Allie.
For those invested in filming locations, however, finding out that the fictional shop has a real counterpart adds another layer to the movie. It is also a reminder that sometimes the most convincing fictional places are simply real places wearing a slightly different name.
My take is that Claremont works because it never feels like a location included just for the sake of having a recognisable New York backdrop. It tells us something about Owen before the romance gets complicated: this is a guy who found something he loves, worked towards owning it and takes pride in doing it properly. The fact that the production used a genuine pizzeria makes the whole thing even more convincing, especially with Turner actually learning how to make pizza rather than merely waving flour around for the camera.
And honestly, the name Claremont is a nice touch too. It gives the shop a personal connection to Gluck while still sounding completely plausible as a neighbourhood pizza place. The real surprise is probably that a film built around one wildly unusual night manages to make pizza feel like one of its most grounded ideas. Romance may be complicated, but at least the pizza has a clear job description.
So, no, Claremont is not a real pizza shop in New York. It is a fictional business created for One Night Only, while the scenes were filmed at The Original Ray’s Pizza on Columbus Avenue. Its name carries a personal connection to Gluck, its kitchen helped shape Owen’s character, and its role in the story gives the film a surprisingly warm home base amid all the chaos. Now that you know where Claremont really came from, did the location make Owen’s story feel more authentic to you, or were you mainly wondering whether that pizza actually deserved Allie’s enormous compliment?