Wollman Ice Skating Rink

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I’m sticking with my Christmas stalking theme for one more day – even though it’s already December 28th – as I had originally intended to publish this post on Christmas Eve, but, unfortunately, ran out of time.  As I’ve said many times before, though, it’s better to be late than never!   So, here goes!  One New York location that definitely belongs in any collection of Christmas movie locales is Wollman Ice Skating Rink, a spot which appeared in one of my very favorite holiday flicks of all time, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York.  I had the pleasure of skating at Wollman Rink with my fiancé back in 2004 and absolutely fell in love with the place.   With the Plaza Hotel and other New York skyscrapers towering in the background, the rink actually looks more like a picture postcard than a real life location.  If you haven’t been there yourself, take my word for it, Wollman Rink is absolutely magical.  🙂 

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Wollman Rink was originally constructed in 1949 thanks to a $600,000 donation from New York philanthropist Kate Wollman.  Kate had the ice skating rink built in honor of her parents, Jonas and Bettie, and her four brothers, William, Morton, Henry, and Benjamin.  From the beginning, Wollman Rink was an immediate success, welcoming over 300,000 skaters in its first year alone.   Today, it is visited by an average of 4,000 skaters per day.

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Like practically everything else in New York, Wollman Rink is currently owned and operated by real estate mogul Donald Trump, who purchased and completely rebuilt the property back in the ‘90s.   His name is displayed on almost every square inch of the rink, lest anyone ever forget who it belongs to.  😉  In the summer months, the rink is transformed into a small amusement park named Victorian Gardens.  Wollman Rink is not to be confused with the similarly named Kate Wollman Memorial Rink, which was constructed in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park by the William J. Wollman Foundation upon Kate’s death in 1955.

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Thanks to its picturesque appearance, Wollman Rink has long been a favorite of location scouts, appearing in countless movies and television shows over the years.  In Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Harry and Marv, aka “The Sticky Bandits”, plan their robbery of Duncan’s Toy Chest while skating at Wollman Rink.  Ironically enough, though, before my first visit to New York, this stalker was under the mistaken assumption that the Home Alone scene had been filmed at the famous Rockefeller Center ice staking rink.  It wasn’t until I started making a stalking itinerary for my first Big Apple vacation that I realized my mistake.  As it turns out, New York has not one, but TWO cinematically historic ice skating rinks.   But I’ll save the Rockefeller Center rink for a future post.  😉

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Wollman Rink also appeared in the Season One episode of Gossip Girl  entitled “Roman Holiday”, in the scene in which Blair Waldorf (aka Leighton Meester), along with her mother, her father, and her father’s new boyfriend go ice skating just a few days before Christmas.

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On a side note – I am absolutely IN LOVE with the skates with the hanging pink pompoms that Blair wore in that scene!!!!  I have GOT to get me a pair of those!   🙂

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In Serendipity – one of my fave romcoms of all time! – Jonathan (aka John Cusack) and Sara (aka Kate Beckinsale) go for a late night skate at Wollman Rink after sharing a Frrrozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3 Restaurant.

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After their skate, Jonathan draws the constellation of Cassiopeia on Sara’s arm while sitting on the rink’s benches.

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And at the end of the movie, the two star-crossed lovers finally reunite at the rink.  Wollman Rink has also been featured in Stepmom, Autumn in New York, Love Story, The January Man, The Devil’s Own, Odds Against Tomorrow, Carnal Knowledge, August Rush, A Journey That Wasn’t, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and the 2005 version of King Kong

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Celebrities also often visit Wollman Rink.  In December of 2005, Tom Cruise took his then-pregnant girlfriend Katie Holmes there to celebrate her 27th birthday. 

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Wollman Rink is located inside Central Park, near the corner of Central Park South and 5th Avenue, in New York.  Follow the footpath from the Park’s 59th Street entrance over Gapstow Bridge and the rink will be visible on the west.  Wollman Rink is open from November through March.  You can visit its official website here.

Bethesda Fountain and Terrace

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Just around the corner from the Central Park Boathouse Cafe, which I blogged about on Friday, is another New York landmark known as Bethesda Fountain and Terrace.  Because the area is one of my favorite places in all of New York, I’ve actually stalked it numerous times during my many trips to the Big Apple, but, for some reason, never thought to blog about it.  Which is actually quite ironic being that the fountain has been immortalized in countless movie and television productions over the years.  So, with the mindset of ‘it’s better late than never’, today I thought I’d give it a go.  🙂  The first time I visited Bethesda Fountain and Terrace was back in 2004 during my very first trip to Manhattan.  My fiancé and I happened upon the fountain while walking through Central Park and I immediately recognized it from an episode of fave show Sex and the City and just about flipped out.  Since that time, I’ve made it a point to visit the area at least once whenever I’m in New York.  On a side note – Due to the below freezing temperatures, fountains in Manhattan are turned off during the winter months, which is why Bethesda Fountain is not running in the above photograph which was taken in December of 2004.

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Bethesda Fountain, which measures 26 feet tall and 96 feet in diameter and is one of the largest fountains in New York, was the only sculpture that was included in “The Greensward Plan”, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s original design blueprint for Central Park.  In the plan, the fountain and terrace area were  intended as a gathering place for park-dwellers, a picturesque spot for Manhattanites to congregate and socialize.

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The statue that flanks the top of the fountain is named “Angel of the Waters” and was designed by Emma Stebbins, sister of Central Park Commissioner Henry G. Stebbins.  The statue, which was built in Germany, took over seven years to construct and wasn’t unveiled until 1873, an additional five years after its completion.  The idea behind the neoclassical statue was based on “The Pool of Bethesda”, a man-made bath in Jerusalem, which, as legend had it, was often frequented by angels who could cure the ailing.  The fountain was built in commemoration of the Croton Aqueduct, Manhattan’s very first fresh water system, which had been completed thirty years prior.  The statue’s largest angel measures eight feet tall and holds a lily in one hand symbolizing the purity of New York’s water, while blessing the waters of the fountain with her other hand. 

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The four cherubs which stand beneath the main angel represent Peace, Purity, Temperance, and Health. 

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British architect Jacob Wrey Mould designed the two large staircases which flank the terrace, as well as all of the area’s ornamental details, which include wildlife carvings and over 16,000 intricate Minton tiles.

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The Terrace and Fountain area quickly became the focal point of Central Park and even boasted an outdoor restaurant at one time.  But during the 1970s, Central Park fell into a terrible state of disarray and, sadly, remained that way for over a decade.  When my parents checked into the Plaza Hotel during their very first trip to New York back in 1980, the concierge told them in no uncertain terms NOT to enter the Park under any circumstances.  Today, Central Park is so incredibly beautiful and picturesque, that it is EXTREMELY hard for me to imagine it ever being a scary place.  During that time, Bethesda Fountain became a haven for the homeless and drug addicted of New York and was even given the nickname “Freak Fountain”.  It wasn’t until 1980, when the Central Park Conservancy stepped in with their plan to restore the Park to its original grandeur, that things began to change.  The Conservancy’s first step was to renovate the fountain, which had actually been left dry for over a decade.  A few months after the fountain was restored, the Terrace area was also renovated.   Today, Bethesda Terrace is so grand and so tranquil that it’s hard to believe at one time it was one of the most dangerous areas of the park. 

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Because it is so incredibly picturesque, Bethesda Terrace is one of the most photographed areas of Central Park and has long been a favorite of movie producers.  As mentioned above, I first recognized the area from a Season 2 episode of Sex and the City.  In that episode, which was entitled “The Freak Show”, Carrie meets a “normal” guy while sitting by the fountain one spring day and, in an unprecedented move, gives him her unlisted phone number.

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   In Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Kevin is chased onto Bethesda Terrace by Harry and Marv, aka the “Sticky Bandits”.  He just narrowly escapes them by hiding in the trunk of a horse drawn carriage.

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Not only does Nate run near the fountain in the Season 1 episode of Gossip Girl entitled “Poison Ivy”,

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but in that very same episode the fountain shows up as the spot where Serena and Blair have a much needed heart-to-heart.

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The Terrace is also the site of the grand finale of the “That’s How You Know” song and dance number from the movie Enchanted.

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In Elf, while Will Ferrell is trying to save Christmas, Santa’s sleigh knocks off the tip of the “Angel of the Waters” statue and almost crash-lands on the Terrace’s top level.

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The fountain is also the location of the New York City Junior Science Fair from which Mel Gibson and Rene Russo’s son is kidnapped in the 1996 movie Ransom.

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It’s also the spot where George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer, and their two children frolic in some puddles while on their way to a soccer game in the movie One Fine Day.

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The music video for the They Might Be Giants song “They’ll Need a Crane” was also shot in its entirety at Bethesda Fountain.

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The fountain has also been featured in the movies The Producers, The Way We Were, Deconstructing Harry, Sunday in New York, Eyewitness, Stuart Little 2, Hair, Godspell, Everyone Says I Love You, Angels in America, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Tommy Boy, Bullets Over Broadway, It Should Happen to You, It  Could Happen to You, Madigan, Green Card, and The Manchurian Candidate, and in episodes of TV’s The Amazing Race, Law and Order, and Lipstick Jungle.

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Bethesda Fountain and Terrace is an absolutely beautiful spot and I honestly can’t recommend stalking it enough!  It has long been considered “the heart of Central Park” and is definitely a New York must-see!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Bethesda Fountain and Terrace are located just off of 72nd Cross Street Drive in Central Park.

The Central Park Boathouse Cafe

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One of the locations that I was most excited about stalking while in New York last month was a little restaurant named the Central Park Boathouse Cafe, also known as the Loeb Boathouse.  And although I’ve stalked this location once before – and even blogged about it – because the restaurant is not open for business during the winter months when we usually visit New York, I’d never been able to actually eat there.  Until my most recent trip to the Big Apple, that is.  This year, because my parents had only ever seen Manhattan during the cold winter months, we decided to change things up a bit and schedule our annual NYC vacation in early October.  And I couldn’t have been more excited, as that meant that I’d FINALLY be able to grab a bite to eat at the famous Boathouse Cafe!  🙂

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The first Central Park Boathouse was originally built in 1873 by park designer Calvert Vaux and cost $2,360 to construct.  Vaux’s design consisted of a two-story Gothic inspired structure with open terraces lining the second level.    For over eighty years, the Boathouse provided park-dwellers with a place to dock and store their vessels, grab a bite to eat, or just simply people-watch.  But, in the 1950s it became clear that the eighty year old structure was in desperate need of a renovation.  Thanks to a $305,000 donation from American Metal Company founder Carl M. Loeb and a $100,000 supplement from the Parks foundation, the original Boathouse was torn down and a new building was assembled in its place.  The new structure, which was dubbed the Loeb Boathouse and was constructed in the neo-classical style by designer Stuart Constable, opened in March of 1954 and remains standing to this day.  Although a bit more upscale than its predecessor, the Loeb Boathouse still provides visitors with a place to grab a bite to eat or an evening cocktail, rent a rowboat, or just simply take in the beautiful park scenery. 

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Because the Loeb Boathouse is so incredibly picturesque, it has, of course, been featured countless times over the years in various movie and television productions.  With its lakeside setting, frequent rowboat passersby, and view of of the park and Manhattan skyscrapers in the distance, it’s really no wonder why producers have returned to film there time and time again. 

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Just inside the Boathouse’s main entrance is a large display of photographs from the many filmings that have taken place there over the years.  So love it!

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And, let me tell you, I just about died when I noticed an old picture of my girl Marilyn Monroe on the wall!  As it turns out, though, according to the hostess that I talked to, the picture was not actually from a movie that was filmed on the premises, but was a candid that was taken while Marilyn rowed a boat one evening on the nearby Central Park Lake.  You can just make out the outline of the Boathouse above her left shoulder in the photograph.  So cute! 

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Ostensibly missing from the Boathouse’s picture wall, though, was a photograph of fave show Sex and the City, which filmed a VERY memorable scene from the Season 3 episode entitled “Cock A Doodle Do” at the restaurant.  When I asked the hostess about it she said, “Sex and the City was filmed here?  Really?”  LOL LOL LOL  In the episode, Carrie reluctantly agrees to a lunch date with Mr. Big at the waterside cafe, but, as often happens with those two characters, trouble, of course, ensues.  Just before Carries enters the restaurant, she stops outside to make a quick call to Miranda on a nearby payphone.  During the course of their conversation, Miranda makes Carrie promise that no matter what happens during the lunch she will NOT let Big kiss her.  (On a side note – I tried to stalk Carrie’s payphone, but, unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found, which leads me to believe that it was either a prop that was brought in solely for the filming or it was a real payphone that was removed sometime after the filming took place.   Such a bummer!) 

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Carrie then proceeds to enter the restaurant and spots Big waiting for her in the Bar & Grill area, which is pretty much the exact spot where my family and I sat while dining there.  🙂

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Upon Carrie’s arrival, Big immediately goes to kiss her and, in backing away to avoid him, Carrie winds up falling into the water, pulling Big down with her.  The two immediately collapse into fits of laughter until Carrie realizes that her Christian Dior purse has gone missing, at which point Big screams out “I’ll get it!” and then proceeds to heroically dive under the water to save the purse . . .  

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. . . with the whole rest of the restaurant looking on.   LOL LOL LOL  So love that episode! 🙂 

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So, of course, when I first visited the Cafe back in 2005, I just had to take a picture reenacting that scene.  Too bad I couldn’t also reenact Carrie’s Richard Tyler dress from that scene, too!  LOL  🙂  

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  The Boathouse is also the spot where Sally lunched with her friends, one of whom was Carrie Fisher, at the beginning of the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.  

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In the more recent 27 Dresses, the Boathouse figures prominently as the place where Katherine Heigl’s character’s parents were married and where she also intends to someday hold her own wedding.  As fate would have it, though, her younger sister gets engaged first and books the restaurant for her wedding instead.  Towards the end of the movie, a scene takes place at the Boathouse in which Katherine attends a food tasting for the upcoming nuptials with her secret crush, who also just so happens to be her sister’s fiancé, Edward Burns.

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The Boathouse also appeared in the 2005 movie Little Manhattan and in an episode of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie.  The upcoming Drew Barrymore/Justin Long movie entitled Going the Distance also apparently did some recent filming at the Boathouse and a fake Boathouse set was even built in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park this past summer for the Tina Fey/Steve Carell comedy Date Night.

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Besides being a filming location, the boathouse has also long been a favorite dining spot for celebrities.  In recent years, stars like Lindsay Lohan, Becky Newton, Orlando Bloom, and Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr have all been spotted eating at the Cafe.  The Boathouse has also played host to numerous celebrity events, including the premiere after-parties for the movies Pride and Prejudice, Mamma Mia, and My Sister’s Keeper

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And while the Boathouse was at the very top of my list of locales to stalk during this year’s trip, as fate would have it, we actually got “stuck” there after being caught in a brief rainstorm while walking through Central Park.  Because the Cafe was the nearest shelter we came to and because it was on my stalking list, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and ducked inside.  🙂  Thankfully the rainstorm didn’t last more than a few minutes and once it was over we immediately grabbed seats on the patio in the Boathouse’s Bar & Grill area (pictured above) and ordered up a few cocktails.  And, I have to say, the place was A-MA-ZING!  It is worth a visit just for the setting alone!  I honestly can’t recommend stalking the Boathouse Cafe enough!  It has to be one of my favorite places in all of New York.  It is the absolute PERFECT place to spend a sunny – or even a not so sunny, as was the case for me – Manhattan afternoon. 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Central Park Boathouse Cafe is located at East 72nd Street and Park Drive North in Central Park.  The restaurant is seasonal and is only open from April through November.  You can visit their website here.

Pete’s Tavern

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Yet another Sex and the City location that I stalked while in New York last month was a spot that touts itself as New York’s oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant.  And while there are actually quite a few watering holes claiming to be New York’s most long-established, Pete’s distinguishes itself thanks to the fact that it first opened up in 1864 – when Abraham Lincoln was in office! – and has never closed since.  Like not ever!  Not in the 30’s during Prohibition – when it was disguised as a flower shop – nor more recently during the city-wide blackout of 2003.  No, the small tavern on the corner of East 18th Street and Irving Place has been in existence as a drinking establishment of some sort or another for over 145 years!  And because it’s also a frequent filming location, I just had to stalk the place! 

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Beginning in 1852, the space which Pete’s now occupies contained a small grocery store, so while it’s entirely possible that liquor was sold on the premises as far back as that year, the place didn’t officially become a tavern until 1864.  The original bar was named the Portman Hotel and it enjoyed a 35 year run, until 1899 when brothers Tom and John Healy purchased the establishment and re-named it Healy’s Cafe.  In 1932, a man named Pete Belles came on the scene and changed the bar’s name to Pete’s Tavern, as it has remained to this day.  And, thankfully, despite a high rate of ownership turnover, aside from the name, little else at the establishment has been altered since 1864.  Even the decor and the original rosewood bar have been left largely untouched since the drinkery’s opening almost a century and a half ago!   And I’d say chances are pretty good that a hundred and fifty years from now, Pete’s will still look very much the same as it does today.  Love it!

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Pete’s Tavern has long been something of a celebrity hotspot.  In fact, the watering hole’s walls are absolutely covered in photographs of its many rich and famous clients. I so love it, by the way, when restaurants display pictures of their celebrity patrons on the walls!  🙂   Just a few of the celebs who have dined at the tavern include Ben Stiller, Mike Meyers, Bruce Willis, Natalie Portman, James Gandolfini, Zack Braff, Ed Burns, Harvey Keitel, Jeremy Sisto, Julia Stiles, Johnny Depp, and Tom Cruise (pictured above).  The Kennedy family has also long had ties to the tavern. Joe Kennedy was the one who provided the place liquor during Prohibition, JFK dined there with Jackie on more than one occasion during his presidency, and their son, JFK, Jr., also became a regular patron years later. 

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Pete’s has also appeared in countless film and television productions over the years.  Robert Mitchum grabbed a drink there in the 1962 movie Two for the Seesaw and it was also at Pete’s that Kramer set up a sting operation involving Jerry’s nasally accountant in the Season 5 episode of Seinfeld entitled “The Sniffing Accountant” (pictured above).  

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And while the real Pete’s was used for the establishing shots shown in that episode, the bar’s interior (pictured above) was actually a set that was built on the CBS Radford lot in Los Angeles where Seinfeld was filmed.  You can watch Seinfeld’s Pete’s Tavern scene here.  Pete’s also popped up in the movies Ragtime, Endless Love, Across the Sea of Time, The Guru, and in an episode of Law and Order

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Pete’s Tavern is probably most famous for its significance in literary history, though. Not only did legendary author O. Henry set his short story “The Lost Blend” at the bar, which he called “Kenealy’s” in the tale, but in 1904 he wrote the “The Gift of the Magi” while sitting in one of the eatery’s booths.  That very booth is still in existence to this day and even boasts a plaque commemorating the occasion.  Children’s author Ludwig Bemelmans also penned the first Madeline book at Pete’s – on the back of one of their menus, no less!  🙂

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Aside from the celebrity patrons and historical significance of the place, I actually wanted to stalk Pete’s Tavern for one reason and one reason alone – because it was there, on the restaurant’s front patio and over $3 beers, that Miranda Hobbs proposed to longtime boyfriend Steve Brady in one of my very favorite Sex and the City  episodes of all time – the one entitled “The Ick Factor”.  I honestly cannot say enough about that particular episode!  It’s just simply one of the series’ best!  In fact, I just got sucked into watching the entire thing AGAIN while making screen captures for this post.  LOL  Sadly, though, because Pete’s front patio was absolutely jam packed while we were stalking the place, we weren’t able to sit in the exact spot where Sex and the City  was filmed.  But even though I had to settle for indoor seating, I still could NOT have been more excited to finally be dining at Pete’s! 

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I honestly cannot recommend stalking Pete’s Tavern enough!  The food was excellent, the staff was super-friendly and also quite knowledgeable about the bar’s filming history, and the ambience was one hundred percent old New York!  I absolutely loved the place!  My only beef with the establishment is the fact that their chicken fingers meal is only made available to those patrons sitting at the bar, which I, unfortunately, wasn’t.  🙁  Being that chicken strips are my favorite food, I was pretty bummed out that I couldn’t order them from where I was seated.  So much so, in fact, that I almost made our entire group of seven move over to the bar.  LOL  Memo to Pete’s staff –chicken fingers are not just a bar food.  I mean heck, I’m even serving them at my wedding, for Pete’s sake (and yes that pun was intended LOL)!   So, do us all a favor and please, please, please put the chicken fingers on your regular menu for all of us lowbrow foodies to enjoy.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Pete’s Tavern is located at 129 East 18th Street, near Gramercy Park, in Manhattan.  You can visit their website here.

The “Big” Paddleball Court

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Another day, another Big location.  And, sadly, this is actually the last Big location that I have to blog about.  🙁  Well, from this year’s New York trip, anyway.  Being that fellow stalker Owen recently tracked down both the MacMillan Toys headquarters and Tom Hank’s loft from the movie, it looks like I’ll have a few more Big locations to stalk during next year’s New York vacation.  🙂  But for now, the last and final Big  locale that Owen, my fiancé, and I visited during our stalking day in Manhattan last month was the court where Josh (aka Tom Hanks) played a little game of paddleball against his MacMillan Toys co-worker Paul (aka John Heard) in the movie.  In real life, that paddleball court, which Owen found thanks to fave stalking book The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations, is named Vesuvio Playground and it encompasses not only a paddleball court, but basketball courts, bocce ball courts, a sandbox, a mini pool, and a shower area, as well.  When the park originally opened in 1929 it was called Thompson Playground and it consisted solely of a wading pool and a swing set and existed on a much smaller parcel of land than today’s .64 acres. In 1957, the City purchased an additional piece of land in order to expand the playground into what it is today.  The park was then renamed Vesuvio Playground in honor of the nearby Vesuvio Bakery, which is owned and operated by longtime SoHo community leader Anthony Dapolito and his family.

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  In Big, Vesuvio Playground is the site of a very brief, but very memorable, scene in which the newly-adult Josh gets challenged to a paddleball duel by his douchebag of a co-worker, Paul.  Because Paul is extremely jealous of his girlfriend Susan’s growing affection for Josh, he brings him to the paddleball court thinking he’ll teach him a lesson. 

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But Josh, who is a paddleball novice, ends up calling Paul out for cheating during the game which leads to a very juvenile – and absolutely hilarious – playground fist fight between the two.  LOL LOL LOL 

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Unfortunately, even though it was mid-day, the paddleball court was absolutely JAM PACKED with children while we were stalking it, so we weren’t able to venture inside to take photographs.  I mean, hello, shouldn’t kids be attending school during the middle of the day??? 😉  LOL  I am happy to report, though, that the same pizza place which was visible in the background of the Big paddleball scene is still in business to this day, as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs.  🙂  So cool!! 

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According to fave stalking book Manhattan on Film: Walking Tours of Hollywood’s Fabled Front Lot, Frankie (aka Nick Scotti) and Joey (aka Domenick Lombardozzi) play handball on the very same paddleball court in the 1997 movie Kiss Me Guido.   And the playground was also featured in an episode of the NBC series Third Watch.

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On a very sad side – During our stalking day, Owen, my fiancé, and I also tried to stalk Asti, the Italian eatery where Billy takes Josh for his birthday in Big.  Unfortunately, though, that restaurant closed its doors on New Year’s Eve 1999, after 75 long years in operation.  🙁  Such a bummer!  Asti, which was named after a town in Italy famous for its sparkling wine (LOVE IT!), was a New York institution ever since it first opened in 1925.  Apparently, not only did such luminaries as Babe Ruth, Luciano Pavarotti, and Noel Coward frequent the restaurant during its heyday, but there was even an autographed photograph of Tom Hanks from the filming of Big  displayed in the front window.   Also LOVE IT!  🙂  Even the building which once housed Asti is famous – former President Chester A. Arthur once lived there!  I can’t even begin to tell you how sad I am that this landmark restaurant is now gone.  🙁  Currently, in its place is another eatery – a steak restaurant named Strip House (pictured above).  You can read more about Asti and its history here.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for loaning me his Big paddleball court pics to post here, as, for some reason, I did not take that many photographs of it.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Vesuvio Playground, aka the Big paddleball court, is located at 95 Thompson Street in New York’s SoHo area.  The former Asti restaurant (now Strip House) was located at 13 East 12th Street in Greenwich Village.

The Plaza Hotel – New York’s Most Exciting Hotel Experience?

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One New York building that I have long been wanting to stalk is the famed Plaza Hotel – a location that was referred to in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York as “New York’s most exciting hotel experience”. During my first trip to the Big Apple, in December of 2005, the Plaza was one of the very first locations I dragged my boyfriend to. And I was absolutely dismayed to discover that the famed hotel had been closed. How could a New York institution like the Plaza be closed?? I mean, it’s the Plaza for Pete’s sake! But in April of 2005 the Plaza did indeed close its gilded gold doors as it underwent a $400 million, three year restoration. And, every December since then, while on my annual winter pilgrimage to New York, I would sadly walk by the boarded up hotel wondering when I would get the chance to take a peek inside. Well, that chance came just a few weeks ago. And, sadly, it was not the Plaza experience I had been hoping for all these years.

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The Plaza was built in 1907 by famed New York architect Harry J. Hardenbergh, who also built the Dakota apartment building and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The Plaza’s name has long been synonymous with the utmost in luxury, elegance, and wealth, and to me it symbolized the City of New York. The magnificent French Chateau style building once housed 805 hotel rooms and has been owned by a slew of wealthy tycoons, including Donald Trump who paid $407.5 million for it in 1988. Of the pricey purchase he said, “I haven’t purchased a building, I have purchased a masterpiece – the Mona Lisa.” Sadly, though, today that masterpiece looks more like a cheap imitation. 🙁 In 2004 the Plaza was purchased by real estate development company El Ad Properties. It was closed down shortly thereafter for the massive rennovation project. The Plaza had actually been long overdue for a face-lift – much of the furniture was worn and outdated and most rooms lacked central air conditioning. El Ad masterminded the renovation project and decided to convert the famous hotel into a luxury condominium building. Due to public uproar and conservationists’ protests, El Al ended up keeping 130 of the Plaza’s rooms to be used as hotel rooms and consolidated the rest into 152 condominium rental units and 181 privately owned spaces. Much of the hotel’s public areas were also completely remodeled and renovated, as well.

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Sadly, the interior of the hotel is almost unrecognizable from before the renovation. While I had never seen the interior of the Plaza before this past New York trip, I have watched Home Alone 2 about a hundred times. And I am sad to say that nothing from the movie looked familiar in person. 🙁 And, amazingly, neither the concierges nor our cocktail server could tell us much about the hotel’s history or what movies had been filmed there. When I asked about the filming of Home Alone 2, one of the concierges actually said to me “Home Alone 2 was filmed here?” I mean, COME ON! REALLY??? Kevin’s mom couldn’t have been more on point when in Home Alone 2she asked Tim Curry, “What kind of idiots do you have working here?” LOL

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My parents stayed at the Plaza for a few nights on their way to Europe over 25 years ago and had an absolutely magical time. My mom, who was able to tell me more about the changes in the hotel layout than the Plaza staff, said that the lobby had been moved to another area of the hotel entirely. The former lobby and check in area (the one that was featured in Home Alone 2) is now the residence entrance and is closed off to hotel guests. It also looks quite different from how it appeared in the movie, as you can see from the above pics that I managed to snap through the closed off residence entrance doors.

In Home Alone Kevin stayed in Room 411, one of the Plaza’s Central Park Suites, and, yes, filming did take place in an actual Plaza hotel room. But the massive suite that Kevin and his family stayed in at the end of the movie can’t actually be found at the Plaza. As a a matter of fact, it can’t be found in New York at all. According to The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations , that suite is the $5,000 per night Conrad Hilton Suite at the Hilton Chicago. Duncan’s Toy Chest, the supposed New York toy store that Kevin visits in the movie that causes him to say “This is the greatest mistake of my life!” is also located in Chicago. Go figure!

But Home Alone 2 is hardly the only production to have filmed at the Plaza. In fact, the Plaza is one of New York’s most oft filmed locations. Just a brief list of productions that have filmed there – Crocodile Dundee, It Could Happen to You, Plaza Suite, Barefoot in the Park, North By Northwest, Almost Famous, Brewster’s Millions, The Cotton Club, Hollywood Ending, Network, The Great Gatsby, Annie Hall, Scent of a Woman, and Arthur. It will also be featured in the upcoming Bride Wars, in which best friends Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson both book their wedding at the Plaza on the same day. The Plaza is no stranger to television, either. The hotel made an appearance in the Season 5 episode of The Sopranos entitled “The Test Dream”.

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And it also showed up quite a few times during Sex and the City’s second season. The Plaza’s Terrace Room was the location of Miranda’s interior decorator’s whirlwind wedding in “The Chicken Dance”,

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The Presidential Suite stood in for Samantha’s 72-year old boyfriend’s home in “The Man, The Myth, The Viagra”,

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and Carrie, emulating the final scene from The Way We Were, said (what she thought was) a final good-bye to Big outside of the Plaza in “Ex and the City”. (Both scenes are pictured above.)

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The Plaza is no stranger to the literary world either. In Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic Ties the Knot , main character Becky Bloomwood’s nuptials take place at the Plaza – well, sort of. You’ll have to read the book to hear the story behind that one. 🙂 Eloise, the main character in Kay Thompson’s series of children’s books, lives at the Plaza hotel – and this was long before the rooms were turned into condominiums. In real life, the weddings for both Katherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas, and President Nixon’s daughter were held at the famed hotel. And Leo and Kate were just spotted lunching in the hotel’s famous Oak Room.

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While we were stalking the Plaza, we decided to grab a few drinks in the lobby’s Champagne Bar (pictured above), hoping to relive some of the magic my parents had experienced during their stay there in 1980. Unfortunately, a magical time was not had by any of us. For one thing, the prices are outrageous. Which I actually don’t mind, as long as the service and ambiance match up to those prices. Sadly, neither did. Our waiter brought us our check and came back several times hoping to collect it before the cheese plate appetizer we ordered had even arrived. To make matters worse, part of the champagne bar had been closed off for a private party, which would not have mattered had techno music from the party not been blaring throughout the entire lobby during our cocktail hour. The “quiet elegance” of the Plaza wasn’t so quiet after all. And to top it all off, the part of the bar that was closed for the party also happened to be the only part of the lobby with a bathroom. So, to use the only restroom available to bar patrons, I had to take a good five minute walk, down a very long and dark hallway, down two very dark and empty stairswells to what seemed to be the basement of the hotel. Not the Plaza experience I had hoped for, to say the least. Even with all of the problems, though, it was still very cool to be sitting in the Plaza sipping champagne. I just don’t think it is something we’d ever do again. 🙁 I, of course, still recommend stalking the Plaza, as I think everyone should see it at least once in their lives. It truly is a spectacular building. But be prepared to be disappointed – it’s not the hotel it once was. And apparently, I’m not the only one who feels that way.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Plaza is located at 750 Fifth Avenue in New York. Rooms start (yes, START) at $600 per night! You can visit their website here. The Hilton Chicago Hotel is located at 720 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. You can visit their website here. Duncan’s Toy Chest from Home Alone 2 is located at 209 South La Salle Street in Chicago.

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

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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!

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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!

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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! 🙂

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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.

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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.