Movie Locations – Page 35

January 9, 2009February 13, 2009

Park Avenue Princess

Today I thought I’d write yet another post about yet another Sex and the City: The Movie filming location – Charlotte York’s Upper East Side apartment. 🙂 From the beginning Charlotte York was Sex and the City’s reigning Park Avenue Princess – a role I’d like to see myself in someday 🙂 – and, in real life, her apartment really was located on New York’s prestigious Park Avenue. Well, the exterior of it anyway. All of the interiors of Charlotte’s apartment existed only on a soundstage at New York City’s Silvercup Studios. I found the location of Charlotte’s pad, once again, thanks to my go-to SATC locations guide.

This apartment originally belonged to Charlotte’s first husband, Trey. The two moved into it after they got married in the third season of Sex and the City. After their divorce in Season Four, a fight for the apartment ensued and Charlotte ended up winning it thanks to her divorce lawyer – and future husband – Harry Goldenblatt. Charlotte’s building was built in 1916 by New York City architecture firm Schwartz & Gross. The 13-story building is situated in the elusive Carnegie Hill area of New York and houses only 24 apartments.

The scene from Sex And The City: The Movie that took place at this location was quite memorable as it was the first time in the film that we saw Carrie in her wedding attire – complete with a blue bird on her head. LOL On the morning of her would-be nuptials, Carrie and the girls head out of this building and into a waiting limousine. Carrie’s huge Cinderella dress has to be carefully pushed into the limo, causing her wedding planner Anthony to lament, “It’s like pushing a cream puff through a key hole.” LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Charlotte and Harry’s apartment is located at 930 Park Avenue on New York’s stylish Upper East Side.

January 8, 2009February 13, 2009

Kansas City Barbeque – Back and Better Than Ever!

I thought I’d take a little break today from my NYC blogging – and yes, I do have many more Manhattan filming locations to write about 🙂 – to do a little post about an old favorite of mine – Kansas City Barbeque in San Diego, or as it is more commonly known, the Top Gun Bar. The restaurant, which suffered from a devastating fire on June 26th of last year, recently reopened this past November – just in time to serve up it’s annual free Thanksgiving dinner for active duty military. And I had yet to stalk the place since it’s grand reopening. So a few weeks ago, while in San Diego celebrating my best friend’s college graduation, I dragged my boyfriend out for a little post-fire stalking.

I am happy to report that despite the interior of the restaurant needing to be almost entirely redone due to smoke and fire damage, Kansas City Barbeque still looks pretty much the same as it did in Top Gun. Some of the changes that were made – the bar area was remodeled and altered slightly, skylights were added to the dining room, the kitchen was entirely rebuilt, and new exterior awnings were installed. But other than looking a bit shinier and newer, it’s still the same old Kansas City Barbeque we all knew and loved. 🙂 And I am very, very happy to report that much of the Top Gun memorabilia actually survived the fire, including Goose’s piano, which was actually owner Martin Blair’s childhood piano.

Some items that were sadly ruined in June’s fire? The many autographed headshots of celebs who had frequented KCBBQ in the past. A few stars were kind enough to send in replacement pics, though, after being contacted by Martin after the fire. How cool is that?? Brooke Shields, Andre Agassi, Richard Dean Anderson, a few Padres players, and Jerry Lewis all sent in new headshots to be placed on KCBBQ’s new walls. Ostensibly missing from the headshot wall, though, is Tom Cruise, who was apparently contacted for a new pic, but has yet to send one in. Personally I think that’s pretty darn crappy, especially since Maverick was the role that made him a star. But, hey, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because, despite his couch-jumping antics and Pro-Scientology rants, I still believe that deep down Tommy is a really nice guy. I just can’t help it. 🙂 I am guessing that Tom C. Ruz is a pretty hard guy to get ahold of and maybe his publicist just isn’t giving him KCBBQ’s message. So Tommy, if you’re out there, do the right thing and send your headshot to Kansas City Barbeque. While you’re at it, thrown in one of Katie and Suri, as well. 🙂 Other stars who have frequented the legendary restaurant include Lorenzo Llamas, Dennis Rodman, and Dallas’ Charlene Tilton.

I highly recommend stalking KCBBQ, even if you are not a Top Gun fan. The bar has a great atmosphere and serves us some fabulous food – especially the French fries. I ate an entire plate of them! Not kidding. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:Kansas City Barbeque is located at 610 W. Market Street in Downtown San Diego.

January 7, 2009February 13, 2009

The Astor Place Starbucks

Two of my favorite things in the world (besides Jennifer Aniston, of course) are Starbucks coffee and Sex and the City. So it was only natural that I stalk the Starbucks featured in Sex and the City: The Movie while I was in New York a few weeks ago. 🙂 The Starbucks used in SATC is located on Astor Place and is actually one of the busiest Starbucks in New York. It also just happens to be Matt Damon’s Starbucks of choice. 🙂 I found this location thanks to the Sex and The City: The Movie book, which features an entire chapter dedicated to filming locations. LOVE IT!

The Astor Place Starbucks was featured twice in SATC: The Movie. It first shows up in one of the funniest scenes in the movie, as the location where Carrie holds her personal assistant interviews and meets “Louise from Saint Louis” (Jennifer Hudson) for the first time. That scene was actually the first scene Jennifer Hudson filmed for the movie and, according to the Sex and the City: The Movie book, at the end of the day she sang “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” to the cast and crew. In fact, all of the actors who played Carrie’s interviewees in the scene are well-known Broadway singers.

Later on in the movie, Carrie and Louise once again visit this same Starbucks. But this time, Carrie has a new head of hair – long, dark brown locks. A little bit of SATC trivia – Carrie’s brown mane in the movie was actually a wig!

While walking to the Astor Place Starbucks, I couldn’t help but wonder why, out of the 178 Starbucks locations in New York City, producers choose this one for filming? But once I entered the front doors, it all became clear. The Astor Place Starbucks is the BIGGEST Starbucks I have ever seen in my life. It has to be at least 2,000 square feet. It’s massive size must have made it the easy choice for filming a movie with a large crew and large cameras.

While researching the Astor Place Starbucks this morning, I came across this AMAZING website and pretty much spent my whole morning absolutely engrossed by it! Apparently, there is a man named Winter whose goal in life is to visit every single Starbucks location on the planet. A man after my own heart, I’m telling you. 🙂 I told my boyfriend about Winter and his unique mission this morning and he replied “That sounds like something you would do!” LOL I better never meet this Winter guy, I have a feeling we’d be trouble together. 🙂 On a side note, if you are at all a Starbucks fan like myself and find yourself in New York, you will be very excited to know that the Herald Square Macy’s houses not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Starbucks – one on the first floor balcony, and one each on levels 3, 5, and 6! I was in heaven while shopping there. 🙂 LOL The above picture is of a Macy’s sign showing all of its Starbucks locations that I took while riding the escalator, which explains why it turned out a bit blurry. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Sex and the City Starbucks is located at the corner of Astor Place and Layfayette Street in Manhattan.

January 6, 2009November 6, 2020

The Ransom Apartment

This past December while in New York I dragged my boyfriend out to stalk Mel Gibson and Rene Russo’s Upper East Side apartment building from the 1996 movie Ransom. I found this location in fave stalking book New York: The Movie Lover’s Guide. The apartment building is very beautiful in person, with ornate stone balconies, large windows overlooking Central Park, and a green slate roof. The building just screams “wealthy”, so it is easy to see why producers chose to use it as the residence of Mel’s mega-millionaire character in the movie. I actually haven’t seen Ransom in quite a few years and I can’t remember exactly what his building looked like in the film, so I can’t say if it looks the same now as it did twelve years ago when filming took place.

The Ransom building was built in 1917 by C.P.H. Gilbert, an extremely popular New York architect during the early 1900’s. The boutique apartment building, designed in the Francois I style, was only the second upscale apartment building to ever be constructed on Fifth Avenue . The building, although huge, consists of only 12 different apartments, one on each of the building’s twelve floors. One is currently for sale at the bargain price of $12,950,000. 🙂 You can sneak a peek inside of the building at the apartment’s real estate website. I’ve never considered myself at all voyeuristic, but I seriously can’t get enough of stuff like this. Open houses, real estate websites, vacation rental sites, etc. LOVE THEM! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Ransom apartment is located at 1067 Fifth Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. It is situated almost directly next door to the Frank Lloyd Wright architectural masterpiece the Guggenheim Museum, which is located at 1071 Fifth Avenue.

January 5, 2009February 13, 2009

Samantha’s Meatpacking Digs!

Yet another New York location that Mike, God of Stalking, found for me is the new apartment Samantha moves into early in the third season of Sex and the City. This same apartment was featured throughout the end of the series’ six season run. And I absolutely could not figure out its exact location. According to IMDB, the apartment was located on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, but after extensive searching on Google street maps, I soon realized that that information was not correct. So, as usual, I enlisted Mike’s help in finding the apartment and, sure enough, he located it in a snap! 🙂

I sent Mike the above screen captures from the Season 3 episode of SATC entitled “Cock-A-Doodle-Do”, which featured Samantha’s apartment quite prominently. He immediately recognized the overhang located at the end of Samantha’s street (pictured in the second screen capture above). It seems Mike had stalked that very overhang earlier this year, after it was featured in the Will Smith movie I Am Legend. Eureka!

So, while in New York a few weeks ago, I dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk Samantha’s Meatpacking digs. Sadly, though, her apartment building looks very different today than it appeared back in 2000 when SATC filmed there. In the early 1900’s, the Meatpacking District was solely an industrial neighborhood, housing over 250 of New York’s slaughterhouses and warehouses. In the 80s, prostitutes and drug dealers moved in, turning MePa, as it is sometimes called, into a seedy and run down part of town. But during the past ten years or so, the entire Meatpacking District has undergone a huge transformation, turning it into one of the most trendy neighborhoods in New York. During this transformation, many of the old slaughterhouses and buildings, including Samantha’s, were given complete face lifts and no longer look as they did a decade ago.

You can see in the above photographs how very different the loading dock area in front of Samantha’s apartment now looks. While it is still, for the most part, recognizable as Samantha’s apartment, the entire bottom floor of the building was recently given a complete makeover and is now home to a trendy restaurant named Spice Market.

And when I saw the building in person, I realized that Samantha’s apartment building on SATC was actually made up of two different exteriors that are located right next door to each other. The front door Samantha is shown exiting and entering on the series (pictured above) actually belongs to the building located directly next door to the building used as hers on the series.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Samantha’s front door is located just to the right of the entrance to Fusion Physical Therapy & Sports, located at 407 W. 13th Street. Her apartment building is actually the building next door, located at 403 West 13th Street in New York’s Meatpacking District.

December 31, 2008November 8, 2010

The Exterior of the Bar from “13 Going On 30”

Another filming location I have been absolutely obsessed with finding for YEARS is the New York restaurant where Jenna hit on the 13 year old boy in fave romantic comedy 13 Going On 30. Ever since the movie was released four years ago I have been searching New York City streets hoping to find the restaurant featured in the movie, but having absolutely no luck. And then, just before I left on my recent New York vacation, a light bulb went off in my head and I honestly don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner! I enlisted master stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to help me find the location. And sure enough he did!

Literally less than ten minutes after challenging Mike to find the restaurant’s location, he sent me an email with the above photo! And I just about fell off my chair. Here I had been searching for this location for FOUR YEARS, even resorting to walking up and down New York streets, screen captures in hand, trying to find it, and he locates it in the space of ten minutes! The man has a gift!

It turns out that the 13 Going On 30 restaurant isn’t actually a restaurant at all, but a clothing store named Phi Boutique located on a cobblestone street in SoHo’s Cast Iron Historic District. My initial thought was that maybe a restaurant occupied Phi’s space back in 2003 when the filming of 13 Going On 30 took place, but after speaking to a Phi saleswoman earlier today I learned that that wasn’t actually the case. Before Phi took over the space at 71 Greene Street in 2004, it was occupied by clothing boutique Vivienne Westwood. Since no restaurant was ever located on the premises, my best guess is that 13 Going On 30 used the vacant storefront for filming in late 2003 during the interim after Vivienne Westwood moved out and before Phi moved in, and that the restaurant’s interiors were shot somewhere else entirely (possibly even in Los Angeles). Finding the restaurant’s interior is my next mission for Mike! 🙂

The Cast Iron Historic District is an architecturally and historically significant area of New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The Cast Iron District boasts over 250 buildings erected out of cast iron, making it the largest concentration of cast iron buildings in the entire world. All of the historic buildings were constructed between the years 1869 and 1895, when cast iron was considered the cheapest and easiest-to-use building material. At the time, different architectural designs were cast in iron inside of a warehouse and later secured into place on building facades creating an architecturally beautiful and diverse area of New York. The building that Jenna’s hockey player boyfriend stands in front of while signing autographs in 13 Going On 30 is considered by some to be the most brilliant example of cast iron architecture in the city. The building is known as the “King of Greene Street” and was built in 1872 by cast iron craftsman Isaac F. Duckworth. It was originally designed as a dry goods warehouse for successful merchant Gardner Colby and now is home to an antique store and art gallery.

Even though there is no 13 Going On 30 restaurant to stalk on Greene Street, I highly recommend visiting the area anyway. With its cobblestone streets and historical buildings, it really is an adorable area of New York.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The exterior of the restaurant from 13 Going On 30 is really the storefront of Phi Boutique located at 71 Greene Street in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. Jenna meets Matt’s fiance just next door to Phi, outside of the building located at 69 Greene Street. And Jenna’s hockey player boyfriend, Alex Carlson, signs autographs across the street in front of 70 Greene Street.

December 29, 2008August 31, 2010

Miracle on 34th Street

I wanted to publish this post on Christmas day, but unfortunately ran out of time. 🙁 Better late than never! Anyway, one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies is the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street. So, of course, every December while in New York, I drag my boyfriend out to stalk the main filming location used in the movie – the famous Macy’s department store located at the intersection of 34th Street and Broadway.

The Miracle on 34th Street Macy’s, which is also known as the Herald Square Macy’s, is the company’s flagship store. With nine floors and 2,150,000 square feet of shopping space, it has the distinction of being known as “The World’s Largest Store”. In fact, Macy’s takes up almost an entire New York City block! It’s humongous! R.H. Macy first opened the New York branch of his department store on the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue in 1858. The store moved to its current location, a nine story building designed by the architecture firm De Lemos & Cordes in 1902. The Palladian style building which houses Macy’s became a National Historic Landmark in 1978 and has one of the only wooden escalators currently still in use.

Both the interior and the exterior of the Herald Square Macy’s were used in the filming of Miracle on 34th Street. In fact, the filming of the movie required more power than Macy’s had on hand, creating the need for additional power sources to be set up in the basement of the department store. Even though filming took place over sixty years ago, I am happy to report that much of both the interior and the exterior of Macy’s are still recognizable from the movie. Besides Miracle on 34th Street, Macy’s was also featured in the 1956 film Lovers and Lollipops, the Beat This: A Hip Hop History television special, and Kanye West’s “Heard ‘Em Say” video. Popular essayist David Sedaris also wrote a short story entitled “SantaLand Diaries” based on his real life experiences working as one of Santa’s elves at the 34th Street Macy’s.

But Macy’s most significant claim to fame would have to be its incredible SantaLand department, which takes up almost all of Macy’s eighth floor during the Christmas season. During the month of December, all of Macy’s nine floors are completely decked out with wreaths, ribbons, and twinkle lights. Walking into Macy’s at Christmastime is like entering a winter wonderland. But nothing quite compares to Santa’s New York home – the place where children of all ages can sit on the real Santa Claus’ lap.

SantaLand has seen quite a few changes since Natalie Wood first visited it and sat on Santa’s lap in Miracle on 34th Street. The modern day SantaLand is a magical holiday wonderland, complete with numerous miniature railroad displays, dancing bears, and talking trees that look like they came straight out of Disneyland. My personal favorite SantaLand character is an animatronic elf who cleans a miniature railroad display case (pictured above). His hand actually goes back and forth wiping the case clean with a red cloth. 🙂 So cute!!!

I highly recommend stalking the Miracle on 34th Street Macy’s, especially the real Santa Claus and the SantaLand department. There’s nothing else quite like it to get you in the Christmas spirit! 🙂

Oh, please Santa, bring me anything from Louis Vuitton! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Miracle on 34th Street Macy’s is located at 151 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

December 22, 2008February 17, 2009

“I’ll Have What She’s Having!”

While in New York two weeks ago, I just had to drag my boyfriend to the deli where the famous “I’ll have what she’s having” scene took place in fave romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally. I found this location a few years back in my favorite New York stalking book, New York: The Movie Lovers Guide , but had yet to stalk it. So I was super excited to make the trek during this trip. And while we didn’t get a chance to actually eat there on this vacation, I, of course, popped my head in and asked the cashier if it would be OK to snap a few pics of Harry and Sally’s table. He promptly pointed out where filming took place and told me “Sweetie, take all the pictures you want.” 🙂 I so love New Yorkers!

The deli, which is named Katz’s, is absolutely HUGE in person, much, much larger than it appeared onscreen. But other than the difference in size, the deli looks pretty much exactly as it did back in 1989 when the movie was filmed. And if there is any question as to where the famous WHMS scene took place, you need look no further than the large sign with the arrow hanging down from the ceiling of the restaurant which reads “Where Harry met Sally . . . hope you have what she had. Enjoy.” 🙂 Love it!!!! While I was stalking the famous deli, Harry and Sally’s table happened to be empty, so I was able to sit down and snap a quick pic. 🙂 A bit of WHMS trivia – it was director Rob Reiner’s mother, Estelle, who passed away this past October at the age of 94, who uttered the now famous line “I’ll have what she’s having”.

While Katz’s is best known for its appearance in WHMS, the deli has actually shown up in quite a few productions over the years. It was featured in the movie Donnie Brasco, in the scene where undercover agent Johnny Depp grabs a bite to eat with some of his FBI agent buddies. It was also featured in Across the Universe, Off Beat, and a Law and Order episode. Besides being a filming location, the deli is also a big time celebrity mecca and the walls are covered with thousands upon thousands of autographed head shots. Just a few of the stars who have visited the famous deli are John Voight, Mike Meyers, Elijah Wood, Ben Stiller and his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Liev Shriber, Keanu Reeves, and Henry Winkler aka “The Fonz”.

I highly recommend stalking Katz’s as it looks like a very cool place to grab a bite to eat. Who knows, you might even spot a celeb while dining. And the place was jam packed while I was there, so you know it’s gotta be good! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Katz’s Delicatessen is located at 205 East Houston Street in New York. If you’re in the neighborhood be sure to check out the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s Gift Shop located at 108 Orchard Street. It’s the BEST New York themed gift shop I’ve ever been to!!! My boyfriend could hardly drag me out of the place!! LOL

December 11, 2008February 13, 2009

"Welcome Home, Baby"

Got home from New York on Tuesday afternoon and was already so homesick for my favorite city in the world that I had to immediately sit down and watch the Sex and the City movie in its two and a half hour entirety to make myself feel better. So today I thought I’d blog about one of the SATC locations I visited while in the Big Apple.

While in New York I just had to make a pilgrimage to the Fifth Avenue building where Carrie and Big purchase their dream apartment in the SATC movie. The building shows up at the very beginning of the movie, in the scene when Carrie and Big go apartment hunting and discover “real estate heaven” in the building’s stunning penthouse apartment. While Carrie walks around the space, musing about what it would be like to live in such an incredible apartment, Big says “Welcome home, baby.” Oh how I wish I was being welcomed home at New York apartment, too! 🙂

The apartment building looks exactly the same as it did in the movie and while I was standing there I could almost picture Carrie running across the street to meet Big under the front awning. 🙂 I found the location of this building in the Sex and the City: The Movie book, which features an entire chapter devoted to locations featured in the movie. LOVE IT! 🙂 According to the book only the exterior of the Fifth Avenue building was used in the filming of Sex and the City. The interiors were shot at a Spanish Style four story walk-up located on 62nd street. You can actually tell in the above screenshots that the front doors of the interior shots do not match up with the real apartment’s front doors. (The Fifth avenue building has a single exterior door, while the building used for the interior shots has a double door. The iron work on both sets of doors does not match up, either. LOL!) Looks like I am going to have to stalk the building used for the interiors the next time I am in New York. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Carrie and Big’s dream apartment is located at 1010 Fifth Avenue, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street.

August 28, 2008July 21, 2009

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

I have been an SJP fan since looooooooong before Sex and the City premiered. Back in grade school, my friend Nat introduced me to a little 80s flick starring Sarah Jessica Parker called Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and from that moment on I have been absolutely obsessed. Along with my other fave 80s movie, License to Drive, I literally think I watched Girls Just Wanna Have Fun at least once a week throughout my childhood. For those who have never seen it, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is a little bit Dirty Dancing, a little bit So You Think You Can Dance, with a little bit of The Cutting Edge mixed in – what more could you ask for? 🙂 The movie is also CHOCK full of stars. Besides SJP, GJWHF co-starred Jonathan Silverman, Helen Hunt and my all time fave, Brenda Walsh herself, Shannen Doherty! So can’t wait for 90210 2.0 to premiere, but I digress. Anyway, I grew up believing that all of GJWHF was filmed in and around the Chicago area. So last week when I discovered that some filming took place at John Marshall High School, I decided to dig a little further to see if I could find some other LA locations from the movie. And I am happy to report that I was successful! 🙂

In the very beginning of the movie, Helen Hunt takes SJP with her on a babysitting job so that the two of them can watch “DanceTV” together. While watching the scene where the girls walk to the house where they are to babysit, I noticed a street sign in the background which said “200 S. Plymouth Blvd”. So I did a little Zillow stalking and it turns out that there IS a South Plymouth Boulevard in Los Angeles. In that scene, the girls walk past a HUGE brick house on a large corner lot before making their way to their babysitting job at the house next door. When I zoomed in on Zillow to see a larger view of the homes on Plymouth Boulevard, I spotted the large brick house the girls walk past! So I immediately hopped in my car and set out to stalk the place in person. 🙂

Pulling up to the house, I could not have been more excited. It’s pretty silly actually, as only one very brief scene took place at this location, but I was floored just the same! I felt like I was one step closer to finding the brick apartment building SJP’s character lived at in the movie – a location I have always wanted to stalk!

I am happy to report that the large brick house looked exactly the same as it did 23 years ago when filming took place. The home is very beautiful in person and it’s easy to see why filmmakers chose to use it in GJWHF as it definitely looks like it would be located in a midwest suburb.

The Plymouth Boulevard street sign that gave me my big stalking clue as to the home’s location is also still in the same exact spot it was during filming. 🙂

After stalking the brick home, I made my way next door to stalk the house where HH and SJP babysat. Although only the front porch area of the home was shown during filming, it was easy to see that it was the same house used in GJWHF. You will notice the house number “217” in the background of the above screen capture. Those same gold house numbers are still there in real life. 🙂

My next stalking mission is to find SJP’s apartment from the movie (pictured in above screen capture). Does it look familiar to anyone?? I have a feeling that this location is going to keep me up at night for the next few weeks. 🙂

For those who have not seen Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, I highly recommend renting it. It is a GREAT 80s movie and just as much fun to watch today as it was in 1985. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The house SJP and HH walk by in the movie is located at 201 S. Plymouth Blvd. in Los Angeles. The house where the girls babysit is located next door at 217 S. Plymouth Blvd.