She may have been born and raised in Southern California, but Blake Lively, 22, the gorgeous blonde vixen of Gossip Girl—the CW Television Network’s steamy drama series that chronicles the lives of overprivileged Upper East Side private-school kids—has certainly made herself at home in Manhattan, where she and castmates are currently filming Season 3. She shares a Downtown apartment with Penny, her teacup Maltepoo, and is often spotted with her co-star/boyfriend Penn Badgley in stores, restaurants and trendy bakeries in her adopted hometown.

“Shooting in the city is wonderful,” exclaims the bubbly actress. “I sometimes think ‘What am I doing? What job gets me up at 3:40 in the morning?’ But New York City is a magical place, like a character in our show ... it just makes me warm and fuzzy.”

Late this month, fans will get to see Lively in a whole new light when she plays the self-destructive teenage incarnation of Robin Wright Penn’s title character in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009). “It’s a very, very difficult part and she was absolutely up to it,” recalls Rebecca Miller, the movie’s writer-director. “She was charming, emotional and sexual.”

Born Aug. 25, 1987, Blake Christina Lively, the daughter of actor-director Ernie Lively and talent manager Elaine Lively, first attracted attention when, as a high-school senior, she co-starred in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), then reprised her role in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008). In between, of course, came Gossip Girl, in which Lively’s portrayal of glamorous wild child Serena van der Woodsen not only made her a TV star, but also uprooted her from her West Coast roots. “I think it’s a really important growing experience to live in New York City,” she says. “I’ve always felt, since I was little, that I wanted to live here. It seems like it makes you a stronger, better person.”

Gossip Girl fans are equally enthralled by the city. Thousands make pilgrimages to its signature locations, such as Constance Billard School for Girls (the exterior of the Museum of the City of New York), where Serena and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) are best “frenemies,” and the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the girls eat lunch every day. Serena’s family lives in a suite at the New York Palace Hotel, and she indulges in grilled-cheese-and-truffles sandwiches in the hotel’s GILT Restaurant & Bar. Fabulous clothing, as much as plot, drives Gossip Girl, which could easily have been called Sex and the City: The Early Years. Fashion is “a huge part of my life,” acknowledges the 5-foot-10-inch beauty, who has recently been spotted off-camera shopping at OTTE, Christian Louboutin and Saks Fifth Avenue. The Girl’s wardrobes are “unbelievable,” she continues. “You can watch our show on mute and be entertained. Every day on the set, it’s total fashion heaven! I definitely have similar taste to Serena. I love that Kate Moss jeans-and-boots look. I end up buying half the stuff Serena wears.”

Lively is on the short list of celebrity models for many designers, attended several shows during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in September and delighted the paparazzi when she wore a low-cut, low-back Versace dress with a thigh-high slit to the 2009 Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Just being here in New York City, walking around, you pick it up really quickly,” she says of her glamorous style. “You put on skinny jeans, riding boots and a leather coat, and you take on that posture … This whole New York winter thing is completely new for me. I’ve already justified buying seven coats and I probably have, like, 60 gorgeous bags. I have a closet for my really sharp, fancy, nice ones—the ones that go with my Valentino pumps, for example. Then I have a closet for the ones that are a little more rugged feeling, the kind that go with my Belstaff motorcycle boots.”

Still, the starlet considers herself remarkably down-to-earth. “I was raised in a very grounded family and I was never much of a party girl,” she insists. “I’m a very low-key person. I like to stay at home and bake, or just walk around the city, so I haven’t felt tempted [to hit the party scene]. I want to be more ladylike and classic.”