The novella is set in 1940s New York, specifically the Upper East Side, in a brownstone apartment. An area that experienced many changes following the Civil War, it went through its most major shift at the turn of the century. Broadly speaking, brownstones (the type of building that Holly lives in) were rebranded as more "stylish" places to live, rather than being thought of as decrepit and outdated buildings.[2] By the 1940s, it had become a fairly affluent area. The novella's setting plays a great role in the plot; various wealthy characters from the Upper East Side come in and out of Holly Golightly's life.
Though the novella does not take place in the American South, there are mentions of it later in the novella: We follow Golightly's life in Manhattan for the entirety of the novella, but she was actually born in Texas, a place that she was desperate to escape.
