Is/was anything like Days of Our Lives ever really shot in New York? And wasn't Friends itself shot in LA?

At the time Friends was filmed, several soaps did actually film in New York. Joey was from New York, and he didn't have much money and was close with his family, so it would make sense that he couldn't/wouldn't want to move to L.A. Most of his work was in commercials and onstage, for which there are plenty of opportunities in New York. And yes, Friends was actually filmed in L.A., as was Days of Our Lives, which is how some of the Days actors were able to appear in cameos as their characters in the Drake Ramoray scenes.