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Pershing Square Restaurant from “Friends with Benefits”

Though most of my stalking adventures consist of copious amounts of time spent tracking down locations from movies and television shows and then heading out to see those sites in person, it does happen on occasion that a locale I have previously visited pops up unexpectedly in a production. When this occurs, it thrills me to no end. Such was the case with Pershing Square, a brasserie situated just outside of Grand Central Station in New York. My family and I had dined at the glass-fronted eatery numerous times throughout the years during our many trips to the Big Apple. In fact, we grabbed coffee there upon first meeting our friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, in person back in 2009. So when the restaurant was featured in a scene in 2011’s Friends with Benefits, I was floored. While I had failed to take many photos of the place during our past meals there, I amended that during my recent trip to New York with the Grim Cheaper.

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Pershing Square restaurant is situated on 42nd Street underneath the Park Avenue Viaduct, an elevated roadway which was constructed from 1917 to 1919 in order to provide an express thoroughfare for automobiles traveling on Park Avenue. The Beaux Arts-style span stretches from 40th to 46th Streets and the area beneath where it crosses over 42nd is known as Pershing Square. The name came about due to a failed city plan to build a public plaza in honor of World War I General John J. Pershing on an adjacent plot of land located at the southwest corner of 42nd and Park. The project went awry, though, and in 1920 the property was sold to a developer who constructed an office building on the site. Despite the change in plans, the area continued to be known as Pershing Square.

The space that now houses Pershing Square restaurant, which is tucked into one of the viaduct’s three French-inspired archways, was originally an open air expanse utilized as a barn for trolleys. In 1939, as part of that year’s World’s Fair, the area was enclosed with a wall of bronze and glass and transformed into a tourist information center, which would remain in place for many years.

By 1989, when the Grand Central Partnership started making plans for an $8-million renovation of the viaduct, the tourist center site was vacant. As part of the revamp, the GCP set out to demolish the space and turn it into a restaurant. The project took several years to come to fruition, but Pershing Square finally opened to the public in the fall of 1999.

The eatery, which evokes hints of both London and Paris with its stylized crimson décor, was established by restaurateur Michael “Buzzy” O’Keefe, of The Water Club and The River Café fame.

Pershing Square won The Municipal Art Society of New York’s Preservation Award the same year it opened.

The brasserie, which has the feel of a glamorous train car from yesteryear and also boasts a fabulous bakery/espresso bar, quickly became one of my family’s favorite NYC dining spots. Though a bit pricey, the food is fabulous and the ambiance charming, and we find ourselves returning there time and time again.

In Friends with Benefits, Pershing Square is where (spoiler alert!) Dylan (Justin Timberlake) takes Jamie (Mila Kunis) for their first official date after professing his love to her via a massive flash mob in Grand Central Station set to Semisonic’s (not Third Eye Blind’s) 1998 hit “Closing Time.”

In the scene, Dylan and Jamie sit in the very front of the eatery.

In reality, though, there is no seating in that area of Pershing Square.

As you can see above and below, that section of the restaurant serves as a sort of waiting area.

During New York’s warmer months, Pershing Square operates an outdoor café situated on its west side. That café was featured in a battle scene in the 2012 film The Avengers.

The front of Pershing Square was also shown briefly in the scene.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Pershing Square, from Friends with Benefits, is located at 90 East 42nd Street in New York’s Midtown East neighborhood. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

September 9, 2016
Bow Bridge from “Glee”

I have a thing for Central Park bridges. One of my favorite places in all of New York City – in all of the world, actually – is Gapstow Bridge. I’ve stalked it countless times, blogged about it, and honestly just cannot get enough of its bucolic beauty. Though I have walked pretty much every square inch of the park and seen the vast majority of its bridges, one span that I had never properly stalked until my recent NYC visit this past April was Bow Bridge, which I knew of from its two appearances on the television series Glee.

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Designed by Calvert Vaux, Bow Bridge was constructed between 1859 and 1862 and has the distinction of being the first cast-iron bridge built in Central Park.

The 87-foot-long site gets its name from its arched shape, which is said to resemble the bows of both archers and musicians.

Bow Bridge sits atop the Central Park Lake and, with its 60-foot span, connects Cherry Hill to The Ramble.

The structure’s walkway is made of the highly durable South American ipe (pronounced ee-pay) wood, also known as Brazilian walnut.

Not only is the bridge itself extremely picturesque . . .

. . . but its setting is absolutely magical.

Bow Bridge also boasts some pretty amazing views.

As such, it should come as no surprise that the location has been featured countless times onscreen – far too many times for me to properly document here. But read on for a list of the highlights.

In the Season 2 episode of Glee titled “New York,” Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) surprises Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) with a spontaneous date in the Big Apple, telling her via text to “Meet me in Central Park at Bow Bridge. Dress up. Finn.”

The two meet on the bridge, where Finn gives Rachel flowers, and they then venture off to various landmark Manhattan locales. During their date, Rachel says, “Being in New York is like falling in love over and over again every minute.” I know what you mean, Rachel. I know what you mean.

Rachel returned to Bow Bridge – wearing a fabulous fuchsia trench coat – while singing “Yesterday” in the Season 5 episode titled “Love, Love, Love.”

Bow Bridge was the site of another romantic scene involving another Finn. In 1998’s Great Expectations, Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke) met up with Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow) at the picturesque site.

Molly (Brittany Murphy) jumps from Bow Bridge into The Lake in the 2003 comedy Uptown Girls.

Bow Bridge is where Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) breaks up with Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) in 2007’s Spider-Man 3.

That same year, Giselle (Amy Adams) danced across the bridge, while Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) followed behind, during Enchanted’s big “That’s How You Know” number.

Patrick Dempsey returned to Bow Bridge for the filming of Made of Honor. It is there that Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) tells Dempsey’s character, Tom, that she is going to Scotland for six weeks in the 2008 romcom.

Beth (Kristen Bell) jogged across the bridge in 2010’s When in Rome.

Bow Bridge was also featured a couple of times in the Season 7 episode of Doctor Who titled “The Angels Take Manhattan,” which aired in 2012.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Bow Bridge, from the “New York” and “Love, Love, Love” episodes of Glee, is located in Central Park at 74th Street, just west of Bethesda Terrace.

September 7, 2016
Happy Labor Day!

I would like to wish a very happy Labor Day to all of my fellow stalkers. I am taking today off, but will be back on Wednesday with a whole new post. Sorry to have been a bit MIA lately, but the Grim Cheaper and I have been traveling a lot and I have also been working on a huge Halloween-themed post for Discover L.A. that I am super excited about. The GC and I have two more upcoming trips planned for the near future, as well, so my blog will, unfortunately, be a bit light on posts over the next couple of months. I apologize in advance. I hope all of my fellow stalkers are having a great three-day weekend. (What’s the image above, you ask? It is a photograph of the Hammering Man sculpture in Seattle, which, according to the City of Seattle’s official website, “celebrates the worker’s contribution to society.” I thought it would be a fitting image to post today. You can read more about the statue here.)

September 5, 2016
The Ansonia from “Single White Female”

There is no shortage of strikingly beautiful, ornately embellished buildings on New York’s Upper West Side. I blogged about one of them, The Apthorp, and the circuitous route some friends and I took to stalk it on Friday. That route included a stop at another gorgeous UWS structure, The Ansonia, easily one of the most breathtaking properties I have ever laid eyes on. Since the site has appeared in countless productions over the years, including the 1992 thriller Single White Female, I figured it was definitely blog-worthy.

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Commissioned in 1899 by millionaire property developer William Earl Dodge Stokes, the building took five years to complete at a cost of $3 million, finally opening to the public on April 19th, 1904. The 17-story Beau Arts-style structure originally served as a luxury residential hotel.

Encompassing 550,000 square feet of space, the ornate limestone building was designed by French architect Paul E. M. Duboy, though Stokes was said to have had a large hand in the conception.

Upon completion, The Ansonia boasted a roof garden with two pools, a basement swimming pool, an art collection, a towering rooftop skylight, a two-story mansard roof, turreted corner towers, balconies, and balustrades.

Stokes also harbored a virtual circus of animals onsite. Several geese, goats, ducks, a bear, a pig, and 500 chickens made their home in the roof garden, while seals were stationed in a fountain in the lobby.

Each of The Ansonia’s 340 suites featured countless then cutting-edge amenities such as an early form of air conditioning, electric stoves, a tubing system to deliver messages, and hot and cold running water.

According to a 2005 New York magazine article, Stokes was not a fan of insurance companies and hoped to avoid using them in any of the dealings with his new building. As such, he went so far as to establish a company that manufactured a strong terra-cotta that would help fireproof The Ansonia. The interior walls were also built incredibly thick for the same purpose, making the hotel units largely soundproof, which made the site attractive to musicians such as conductor Arturo Toscanini, pianist Igor Stravinsky, and opera singers Lauritz Melchior, Ezio Pinza, Enrico Caruso, and Lily Pons, who all stayed on the premises at one time or another. Other luminaries who checked in included Billie Burke, Florenz Ziegfeld, Babe Ruth, and Jack Dempsey. The Ansonia was also where Arnold “Chick” Gandil and some of his fellow Chicago White Sox players cooked up the scheme to throw 1919 World Series.

The 1930s and ‘40s were not kind to The Ansonia. Due to the Great Depression, the site began to lose revenue causing all of the hotel facilities, including restaurants, to be shut down and the building was eventually transformed into an apartment house. During World War II, the property was stripped of all of its metal detailing, which was then sent to be used for war supplies, and its large skylight covered over with tar to satisfy the blackout ordinances.

The structure fell into such disrepair that it even faced demolition by its then owner in 1970. Thankfully, Ansonia residents and concerned local citizens stepped in and had the building landmarked, protecting it from being razed. In 1978, the property was purchased by investor Jesse Krasnow who began a lengthy restoration process. His idea of restoration was vastly different from most of the residents, though, and in 1980 they banded together, filed a lawsuit against Krasnow, and began a rent strike. There was dissention among the ranks, though, and a smaller group wound up breaking off and filing a different lawsuit. Of the tenuous situation, journalist Steven Gaines said in the same New York magazine article, “The Ansonia Hotel became the single most litigated residence in the history of New York City. A housing-court judge was assigned full-time to the case, and over the next ten years, Krasnow found himself cast in the role of one of the city’s most villainous landlords.” Jesse eventually converted the Ansonia to a condominium building, bought out the most troubled tenants, and set the property on a more copasetic path. He still owns the building today.

One look at The Ansonia’s uniquely arresting architecture and it is easy to see how it has wound up onscreen so many times over the years – far too many times for me to fully chronicle here, but I’ll try.

In Single White Female, The Ansonia served as the apartment building of Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda), where she first lived with her philandering boyfriend, Sam Rawson (Steven Weber), and then with her psychotic roommate, Hedra Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh).

Many great shots of the property were shown in the movie.

Though the interior of Allison’s apartment was a set and not one of The Ansonia’s actual units . . .

. . . the building’s grand interior staircase, which spans 17 floors, was utilized in the filming.

Curmudgeon actor Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) lived at The Ansonia in the 1975 comedy The Sunshine Boys.

That same year, the alley that runs behind The Ansonia appeared in Three Days of the Condor as the spot where Joseph Turner (Robert Redford) engaged in a shootout.

Two Brittany Murphy productions have been shot at The Ansonia. In the 2001 thriller Don’t Say a Word, the building served as the home of Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas).

And at the beginning of the 2003 comedy Uptown Girls, Brittany’s character, Molly, called a top floor residence home.

In the 2006 comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend, G-Girl (Uma Thurman) puts out a massive fire at The Ansonia.

The Ansonia served as the home of Rowena Price (Halle Berry) in the 2007 thriller Perfect Stranger.

The building masked as the fictional Upper East Side Drake residential hotel, supposedly located at 999 Park Avenue, on the 2012 television series 666 Park Avenue.

The real life interior of The Ansonia was featured in the pilot episode of the series. Those interiors were later re-built on a soundstage at Cine Magic Riverfront Studios in Brooklyn for all subsequent filming once the show was picked up.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Ansonia, from Single White Female, is located at 2109 Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side.

August 29, 2016
The Apthorp from “Funny Farm”

I am the first to admit that, though I am not a natural towhead, I am a dumb blonde through and through. The Grim Cheaper often kids that all of the hair dye I’ve used over the years has obviously gone to my brain. Case in point – during a 2008 trip to New York, the two of us came across a massive and beautiful building on the Upper West Side. We were both struck by the structure’s size and elegance and stopped to peer through its front gates at the gorgeous and also massive central courtyard. I made a mental note of the property’s name, The Apthorp, but did not take many photographs of it because, at the time, I did not realize it was a filming location. Later that same year, I read the novel Black & White by Dani Shapiro, in which the main character, Clara Dunne, grew up in The Apthorp. The building served as an almost character in the story and I became even more fascinated by it. Flash forward to our recent trip to the Big Apple. While planning our visit, I came across a blurb about the building in a movie locations book – or at least I thought I did. The book actually referenced another striking and similarly-named Upper West Side structure, The Ansonia, with a mention that Single White Female had been shot on the premises. So I added The Ansonia’s address (2109 Broadway) to my To-Stalk List and dragged the GC and our friends Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, Lavonna, Kim, and Katie out to see it our second day in the city.

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As soon as we walked up to the building, though, I realized I had gotten my wires crossed somewhere, as it wasn’t the place I had remembered. While gorgeous and grand in size, The Ansonia (pictured below) lacked that stunning central courtyard that the GC and I had been so enamored with. Thoroughly confused, I apologized to the group and pulled out my trusty iPhone to figure out where I had gone wrong. A woman happened to overhear my musings over the mistake and mentioned that there was another spectacular structure located nearby named The Dorilton. She figured it might be the place I was looking for. So our group walked a few blocks south to 171 West 71st Street to see if it was the spot the GC and I had visited all those years ago. (And don’t worry, I will be doing a blog post on The Ansonia and its many onscreen appearances soon.)

The Dorilton (pictured below) proved to be a bust, too. Though the building is undoubtedly stunning and huge, and even boasts a courtyard, I knew right away it was not the correct place.

Feeling like a complete and total dolt, I was ready to throw in the towel when Owen mentioned another stately Upper West Side building, The Apthorp, that boasts a large central courtyard. He knew of the locale thanks to its appearance in the 1988 film Funny Farm. So our poor group once again turned around and headed eight blocks north to take a look. Sure enough, Owen had hit the nail on the head! The building I had remembered was The Apthorp! I later mentioned to Owen that I felt like we were playing “musical buildings” that day. Huge thanks to him for finally leading us to the right spot!

Commissioned by the Astor family, The Apthorp was designed by the Clinton and Russell architecture firm in 1908. The 12-story Italian Renaissance Revival-style structure, which occupies an entire city block, originally consisted of 103 uniquely-designed units, each with eleven-foot ceilings and eight-foot windows. The building, which for a time was New York’s largest apartment complex and even today remains one of its most luxurious, is best known for its grand entrance featuring a spectacular curved limestone ceiling and an intricate wrought iron gate, as well as the 12,000-square-foot courtyard that serves as its centerpiece.

Sadly, the courtyard is closed off to the general public. The glimpses that can be gleaned, though, show that it is strikingly beautiful and sprawling.

Considering its lavish appointments, it is no surprise that The Apthorp has been home to many celebrities and notables throughout its history including Al Pacino, Lena Horne, Joseph Heller, Rosie O’Donnell, Conan O’Brien, Nora Ephron, and Cyndi Lauper, who in an absolutely ridiculous move in 2005 sued the building’s owners to have the rate on her rent-stabilized unit lowered from $3,750 to $989 a month. Even more ridiculous – she won the case. As an article in The New York Sun about the verdict stated, “So New Yorkers can sleep easy in their (excessively expensive) bedrooms tonight, knowing that the truly needy are getting affordable housing.”

In 2006, The Apthorp was purchased by a developer, who set about turning the units into condos. Cindy’s wasn’t the only apartment to be rent-stabilized, so as you can imagine, the transition did not go smoothly. What followed was several years worth of fighting with the many tenants opposing the change, the Attorney General who not only shut down the sales office for a time, but fined the developers $190,000, and the brokers who at one point all resigned. The conversion was so fraught with drama that Curbed New York dubbed their series of reports on the story “As the Apthorp Turns.”

The condo conversion did eventually go through and the husband-and-wife architecture team of Ingrid Birkhofer and Fernando Papale were commissioned to bring each unit back to its original glory. The result of their efforts is nothing short of spectacular. You can check out some images of the re-vamped building here and here. As Jason Sheftell wrote in a 2009 Daily News article, “Determined not to turn the Apthorp into the next Plaza Hotel, where New York history was massacred by poor layouts and claustrophobic rooms, owners and architects executed a long-term project, with skilled artisans restoring apartments as they become vacant.” I am so thankful that such care was taken to conserve the building’s past. As I noted in this 2009 blog post, I was not at all impressed with the conversion of the Plaza and wholeheartedly agree with Sheftell’s assessment that the hotel and its history were “massacred.” Today, The Apthorp boasts four lobbies, 161 units, a private spa, a gym, a yoga studio, a steam room, a sauna, an entertainment suite, and a kids’ playroom. What I wouldn’t give to live there!

The Apthorp has been featured in countless productions. According to a 1986 The New York Times article, at that time around 30 films were shot on the premise each year! Though I could never properly chronicle all of the movies and television shows shot at the building, read on for a list of a few of the highlights.

The building was featured in the opening scenes of Funny Farm as the New York home of Andy (Chevy Chase) and Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith Osborne). The front exterior of The Apthorp . . .

. . . as well as the courtyard were featured in the flick.

In the 1976 movie Network, The Apthorp served as the home of Max Schumacher (William Holden).

According to the book Mad as Hell, Apartment 9F was utilized in the filming.

The exterior of the building was also shown briefly in the film.

I was floored to learn while researching for this post that The Apthorp was featured briefly as the home of John Russell (George C. Scott) in my favorite scary movie of all time, 1980’s The Changeling. For those who have never seen the film, I cannot recommend it more. It’s absolutely terrifying!

Interestingly, it appears that 9F, the very same unit that was featured in Network, was also utilized as John’s apartment in The Changeling. As you can see below, the living room areas from both films are an exact match.

As are the kitchens.

Vera Cicero (Diane Lane) lived at The Apthorp in 1984’s The Cotton Club.

Nora Ephron not only lived in the building for a time, but she also filmed a movie there. In the 1986 dramedy Heartburn, Rachel Samstat (Meryl Streep) heads to the home of her father at The Apthorp after finding out that her husband is cheating on her.

Supposedly, the interior of an Apthorp unit was used in the filming of the 1986 comedy The Money Pit, but because all of the apartments in the building were individually designed and bear very different looks, it was impossible for me to verify that information.

The Apthorp was used regularly on the 2009 NBC series Kings.

Though its roofline was digitally altered on the show.

Horvath (Alfred Molina) and Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) are released from their ten-year imprisonment in an urn while at The Apthorp in the 2010 adventure film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

In the Season 1 episode of Person of Interest titled “Super,” which aired in 2012, John Reese (Jim Caviezel) moves into The Apthorp to investigate the building’s longtime superintendent, Ernie Trask (David Zayas).

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for not only figuring out which building I was looking for, but for letting me know of its appearance in Funny Farm and for providing the screen captures from the movie that appear in this post.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Apthorp, from Funny Farm, is located at 2211 Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side.

August 26, 2016
The Rum House from “Birdman”

The Grim Cheaper typically could care less about filming locations, but he is absolutely obsessed with the movie The Godfather. So I included a couple of locales from the 1972 Best Picture winner on the itinerary for our recent trip to the Big Apple. One of those spots was Hotel Edison, a historic Theater District lodging that made a brief appearance in the flick. While we were stalking the place, we happened to strike up a conversation with the super-friendly doorman who informed us that the property’s first-floor bar, The Rum House, had been featured in another Best Picture winner, 2014’s Birdman. So we headed right on in to snap some photos of it. As I’ve said many times before, stalking begets stalking.

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Commissioned by Milton J. Kramer, the 26-story Hotel Edison was originally designed by Herbert J. Knapp in 1931. Thomas Edison was enlisted to turn on the property’s lights (albeit via a remote control from his home in New Jersey) during the grand opening ceremony.

Despite a few renovations that have taken place over the years, the hotel still appears to boast much of its original Art Deco detailing. You can check out a postcard with vintage images of the property here.

At the time of its founding, Hotel Edison featured three onsite restaurants. Today, there is only one eatery/bar in operation on the premises – The Rum House.

The Rum House was originally established in 1973. By the time its owners lost their lease in 2009, the place was in desperate need of a facelift.

Thankfully, a group of restaurateurs including Kenneth McCoy, Michael Neff, and Abdul Tabini took over the space in 2011 and began a renovation. The threesome kept much of the watering hole’s original charm intact, while adding some updates, including a new bar, lighting, and tile flooring. Of the redesign, McCoy stated in a 2015 New York Post article, “We wanted to bring back the feeling of a Times Square piano bar in the 1940s or ’50s.” You can see what it formerly looked like here.

The renovated lounge quickly became a hit with New Yorkers, tourists, and celebrities alike. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Tony Danza, George Wendt, Jake Gyllenhaal, Molly Ringwald, and Jon Hamm. Emma Stone and Bill Murray even tickled the ivories there together one night in 2014.

The Rum House appeared twice in Birdman. It first popped up in the scene in which Mike (Edward Norton) and Riggan (Michael Keaton) discussed their bad preview.

The exterior of The Rum House was also featured in that scene. Through a bit of camera trickery, the bar was made to appear as if it is situated next door to the St. James Theatre, where much of the film took place. In reality, though, it is located three blocks to the north.

Riggan returns to The Rum House to grab a drink in a later scene and winds up confronting theatre critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan).

According to the Post article, location manager Joaquin Prange chose The Rum House, which shut down for a week to accommodate the shoot, because of its old school aesthetic. He says, “The place needed to fit with Michael Keaton’s character. He’s a recovering alcoholic. Just the fact that he’s taking a drink is a big deal, and the look of the place needed to reflect that. Rum House is dark and woody, with a bit of a patina, like the kind of place where Riggan Thomson would go for a drink by himself. This is not about drinking during the good times, but we also wanted a bar that looked classy, a place that could make you a good cocktail. It was not about finding a dive.” The cast and crew wound up liking The Rum House so much that an impromptu wrap party was held there the last night of filming shortly after the final scene was lensed.

As I mentioned earlier, Hotel Edison appeared briefly in The Godfather. It popped up at the beginning of the scene in which Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana) headed to meet with Sollozzo (Al Lettieri). In the segment, Brasi is shown walking through the Edison’s rear hallway, which can be reached via 46th Street. (Sadly, that area of the hotel was closed for renovations when we were there so I could not photograph it.) When Brasi turned the corner to head into the restaurant where he ultimately met his end, though, he was at a different location entirely – a much disputed location. While it has been reported in several books and online that Sollozzo killed Brasi in Hotel Edison’s now shuttered Sofia Ristorante Italiano, according to Scouting NY the scene was actually shot at the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn.

The same Hotel Edison hallway appeared in 1994’s Bullets over Broadway as the spot where David Shayne (John Cusack) argued with Julian Marx (Jack Warden) about hiring Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly) for a role in his play.

I was floored to discover while researching Hotel Edison for this post that the site’s now shuttered Café Edison was used in an episode of Sex and the City! In Season 5’s “Anchors Away,” Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) seeks shelter from the rain – and a bowl of matzo ball soup – at the eatery and winds up being seated next to a woman who has a penchant for lithium-laced ice cream. Café Edison was a longtime Theater District staple that served meals onsite from 1980 through 2014 when its owners, unfortunately, lost their lease. The space currently remains shuttered. You can see some photos of what it used to look like here.

The hotel’s Edison Ballroom also made an appearance in “Anchors Away” as the spot where Carrie and her friends party with the plethora of sailors in town for Fleet Week. At the time, the space was known as Supper Club and, though it looks a bit different today, it is still recognizable from its SATC cameo. You can check out some photos of what it currently looks like here.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Rum House, from Birdman, is located at 228 West 47th Street, inside of Hotel Edison, in New York’s Theater District. You can visit the watering hole’s official website here.

August 19, 2016
The TKTS Booth from “Glee”

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I bailed on the television series Glee shortly after the second part of the first season began airing. In my opinion, after starting out so strong, the show totally jumped the shark at that point. But because I love the Big Apple, I did make sure to tune in to the Season 2 episode titled “New York,” which was partially shot in Manhattan. One of the locations featured was the TKTS booth, or TKTS staircase, in Times Square. While I had seen the booth shortly after it was constructed in 2008, I had never properly stalked it. So, since the site is so picturesque and so quintessentially New York, I made sure to amend that while visiting the city this past April.

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The TKTS (pronounced “Tee-Kay-Tee-Ess”) booth was initially established in 1973 to provide theatregoers with same-day discount tickets to Broadway shows. The pavilion was constructed at Duffy Square, a traffic island situated between West 46th Street, 7th Avenue, Broadway, and West 47th Street that was named in honor of World War I military chaplain Father Francis P. Duffy. (A statue honoring Duffy is pictured in the images below.) The original design, which was completed by the Mayers & Schiff Associates architecture firm and stood at the site from 1973 through 2006, consisted of a trailer surrounded by a red truss frame strung through with white canvas panels bearing the TKTS logo. You can see what it looked like here and here.

Though Mayers & Schiff’s design proved iconic, the structure was only meant to be a temporary installation and it eventually began to show signs of wear and tear. In 1999, the Theatre Development Fund, along with the NYC 2000 Millennium Committee and the Van Alen Institute, hosted a competition to re-design the booth. Over 683 submissions were received, but there was one clear winner. Australian architects John Choi and Tai Ropiha’s concept of a red staircase topping a transparent pavilion won the vote. Of their creation, juror Tucker Viemeister said, “The winner is really the winner. Seldom in a design competition with so many excellent entries is the winner so obviously the best choice. It goes beyond meeting the criteria and is even poetic (which is really hard considering the Times Square environment!) It will become a landmark.” The Perkins Eastman architecture firm was brought in to finalize the design, which consists of a glass ticket booth with twelve sales windows . . .

. . . capped by a large set of red bleacher-style steps.

Construction of the new booth began in May 2006 and was completed in October 2008.

The TKTS stairs have gone on to win 18 design awards and today are a favorite gathering place for New Yorkers and tourists alike. The site is also turning into a popular filming location.

In the “New York” episode of Glee, the New Directions members gather at the TKTS booth upon first arriving in the Big Apple for Nationals. While there, they spontaneously break out into an a cappella version of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”

The TKTS booth also popped up later in the episode during the “I Love New York”/”New York, New York” mash-up number.

Alicia Keys and Jay Z made prominent use of the TKTS stairs in their 2009 music video for “Empire State of Mind.”

You can watch that video by clicking below.

Get More: Jay Z, Empire State of Mind feat. Alicia Keys, Music, More Music Videos

A dilapidated version of the TKTS booth was featured in 2007’s I Am Legend, though no actual filming took place at the site.

Instead, the steps were re-created as part of an elaborate set inside of the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx for the shoot. You can see photos of that re-creation and the entire Times Square set here.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The TKTS Booth, from the “New York” episode of Glee, is located at 1564 Broadway in Times Square.

August 15, 2016
The Blind Donkey from “Revenge”

I stalk so many places, typically in quick succession, that oftentimes a few get lost in the shuffle. Such was the case with The Blind Donkey, an Old Town Pasadena whiskey bar that I visited back in April, shortly before the Grim Cheaper and I headed off to New York, and then promptly forgot about until this morning when I was going through my many stalking photographs. The site made an appearance during Season 4 of fave show Revenge. I still have yet to watch the fourth and final season of the ABC series (I really need to get on that), but had scanned through the episode titled “Repercussions” to make screen captures for my January post about The L.A. Hotel Downtown. While doing so, I spotted The Blind Donkey in a scene and, though I had never actually set foot in the watering hole at the time, recognized it immediately.

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The spot that now houses The Blind Donkey has been the site of countless eateries over the years. I never dined at any of them when I lived in Pasadena, but I did walk and drive by the space on a fairly regular basis when shopping in Old Town. I even caught a movie being filmed on the premises once, so the place is quite memorable to me. More on that later, though.

The Blind Donkey opened its doors on November 7th, 2012 (my mom’s birthday!). Prior to that time, the space housed Café Atlantic, then Brenart Café Restaurant Gallery, then Brenart Restaurant & Wine Bar (similar name to its predecessor, but a different owner), then Dish Bistro & Bar. Like I said, it has been through a large succession of tenants in a short period of time. It looks like The Blind Donkey is here to stay, though.

Though the establishment boasts several backers, including Ryan Sweeney (the restaurateur behind The Surly Goat, Der Wolfskopf, and Verdugo Bar), The Blind Donkey was actually the brainchild of Pasadena native/whiskey aficionado John Bower.

The watering hole is known for its large stock of whiskey (over 65 varieties), French fry offerings (The Blind Donkey takes its fries very seriously – there are ten variations on the menu), and hearty fare. I opted for the Veggie Burger, which came with cheddar cheese, jalapeno ranch (I was a little skeptical about the dressing as I am not a fan of spicy foods, but it turned out to be uh-ma-zing!), sautéed mushrooms and onions, and a homemade pickle. The bartender who served me could not have been nicer and everything I sampled was fabulous, so it should not have come as a surprise when the space loaded up almost to capacity shortly after I arrived. Lucky for me, I showed up to grab lunch right when the restaurant opened at 1 p.m. on a Sunday and had the place completely to myself (empty eateries make for better photographs), but within twenty minutes all of the bar seats and most of the tables had been filled.

In the “Repercussions” episode of Revenge, Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann) and Jack Porter (Nick Wechsler) discuss the return of David Clarke (James Tupper) over beers at The Blind Donkey. Though I had never actually been inside the space at the time, I recognized enough of what was shown outside of the windows to know where filming had taken place.

I fell in love with the bar’s exposed brick walls and industrial décor on sight and immediately added the place to my To-Stalk list. I am happy to report that The Blind Donkey is just as striking in person.

Back when the space housed Brenart Café Restaurant Gallery, it made an appearance in the 2007 action film Live Free or Die Hard.

It is through the restaurant’s side window that John McClane (Bruce Willis) and Matthew Farrell (Justin Long) watch fake news footage of the United States Capital Building being destroyed. In the scene, John and Matthew are standing in Kendall Alley, which runs along the west side of the eatery.

The window that John and Matthew looked through is still intact and is denoted with pink arrows in the images below.

I actually saw the Live Free or Die Hard scene being filmed very briefly. In late November 2006, I was driving out of the One Colorado parking garage, located just across the street from Brenart Café Restaurant Gallery, and while paying at the ticket booth, looked up and was shocked to see a battered and bloodied Bruce Willis standing in the alley right across from me! Because there were cars behind me and I was heading back to work (I was a personal assistant at the time), I could not stop to watch, unfortunately. But the image of Bruce standing mere feet away always stuck with me and brought a smile to my face every time I ventured past the Brenart space.

While scanning through Live Free or Die Hard to make screen captures for this post, I was floored to spot The Novel Café, from Little Black Book, make an appearance. I was less than floored when I discovered shortly thereafter that the coffee shop had since closed. I loved that place! A Groundwork Coffee Co. now inhabits the spot. I will definitely be checking it out the next time I am in town.

The exterior of The Blind Donkey is also seen briefly in the Season 11 episode of Criminal Minds titled “Target Rich.”

On a random side-note – while scanning through “Target Rich,” I was floored to see that a scene took place outside of my favorite store, Lula Mae, which is located at 100 North Fair Oaks Avenue!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Blind Donkey, from the “Repercussions” episode of Revenge, is located at 53 East Union Street in Pasadena. You can visit the watering hole’s official website here.

August 12, 2016
New Discover L.A. Post – About Michael Jackson Locations in Los Angeles

Be sure to check out my latest Discover Los Angeles post about Michael Jackson’s L.A. – just in time for the pop star’s birthday. Special THANK YOU to my friend David from Spain who provided the image of MJ’s Walk of Fame star that appears in the article.

August 8, 2016
Latest Discover L.A. Article – About Famous Sports Venues

Be sure to check out my latest Discover L.A. article about area sports venues that have appeared onscreen. You can read it here.

August 5, 2016