Philadelphians really know their filming locations! During our visit to the City of Brotherly Love, the Grim Cheaper and I stalked Reading Terminal Market, an enclosed public emporium and city icon that was featured in a memorable scene in National Treasure. While there, I was determined to figure out the exact area of the bustling 78,000-square-foot space that appeared in the 2004 adventure flick and asked a woman at the Pennsylvania General Store (the cookies there are amazing, FYI!) if she happened to know. Now typically when I ask such questions, the response I receive is along the lines of, “National Treasure was filmed here? I had no idea!” But in this case, the woman told me that she was fairly certain filming had taken place at the Martin’s Quality Meats and Sausages counter. So we headed over there and were delighted to discover that she was correct!
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During Philadelphia’s early days, open-air markets were commonplace in the downtown area, namely on what was then known as High Street. The region was so inundated with the outdoor grocers that the road was soon renamed “Market Street.” By the mid-1800s, though, the markets had come to be seen an unhygienic and the crowds they drew as nuisances, and in 1859 they were outlawed. Shortly thereafter, two indoor bazaars, Franklin Market and Farmers’ Market, opened inside of a large space at 12th and Market Streets. The sites flourished until 1890, when the property was purchased by the Reading Company for the purpose of constructing a new train terminal. The merchants did not take the news of their impending ousting lightly and demanded that an area underneath the terminal be built for them to continue to operate. As a result, Reading Terminal Market was established in 1892. The thriving site boasted 800 stalls, a state of the art refrigeration system, and offered such innovative services as grocery delivery via train.
Though the Reading Company filed for bankruptcy in 1971 and ceased train operations altogether in 1976, the market continued to function. Reading pondered closing the site for a time, but eventually set its sights on a revitalization. The Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority took over ownership of the emporium in 1990 and today, it is a thriving location and one of Philadelphia’s city treasures.
The sprawling space houses over 80 merchants and vendors selling such items as cheese, produce, flowers, ice cream, meat, baked goods, coffee, books, and other specialty merchandise.
In National Treasure, Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) head to Reading Terminal Market while on the run from Ian Howe’s (Sean Bean) goons. In the scene, they enter the market from the Filbert Street side (which I did not get any photos of, so the Google Street View image below will have to do).
During the chase, Riley and Abigail get split up . . .
. . . and Abigail takes refuge behind the Martin’s counter.
I was thrilled to see that, despite the passage of more than a decade, Martin’s Specialty Meats and Sausages still looks much the same in person as it did in National Treasure.
Martin’s has been located at Reading Terminal Market since 1986. Philadelphia magazine describes the shop’s specialty sausages – including such varieties as garlic, apple and pork, and lamb merguez – as “meat porn,” stating “Butchery wasn’t invented here, but it may have been perfected.”
The Martin’s employee I spoke with could not have been nicer when I asked if the kiosk was indeed the spot where National Treasure was filmed. He immediately pointed towards the counter’s half door and said, “Yep! That’s the door Diane Kruger jumped over in the scene!”
Said door has since been painted over and a large red M applied to its front, but otherwise it looks as it did onscreen.
Reading Terminal Market was also featured briefly in the 1981 thriller Blow Out as the spot where Burke (John Lithgow) stalked one of his victims.
Though several sites state that the market appeared in Trading Places, I scanned through the 1983 comedy and did not see it anywhere.
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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Reading Terminal Market, from National Treasure, is located at 51 North 12th Street in Philadelphia’s Center City. You can visit the market’s official website here and you can see a layout of the vendors here. In the movie, Abigail hides behind the counter at Martin’s Quality Meats and Sausages, which is located in the center of the emporium.
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