January 2009 – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 19, 2009February 14, 2009

The Campbell Apartment

One of my favorite bars in all of New York is called the Campbell Apartment and it is located right inside the most famous train depot of them all, Grand Central Station. I discovered the bar thanks to a guide book I was reading during my first trip to New York, back in December of 2005.

The Campbell Apartment was never actually an apartment at all, but rather the business office of millionaire railroad tycoon John William Campbell. In 1920, after retiring from his position as chairman of Credit Clearing House, Campbell became a member of the board of the New York Public Railroad and decided to find a suitable office for himself close to Grand Central Station. In 1923, Campbell found his perfect office – a 3,500 square foot single room located right inside Grand Central Station. The room measured 35 feet wide, 60 feet long, and had 25 foot high ceilings. Campbell hired New York architect Augustus N. Allen to renovate the large room into his dream Florentine-style office – and no expense was spared in doing so. The office became a sort of museum, housing a million dollar art collection which consisted of vases, statues, rare books, and antique rugs. One of those rugs covered the entire floor of the large room and was worth a reported $300,000. The office featured gorgeous leaded windows, dark wood-paneled walls, a large marble fireplace, 13th Century Italian furnishings, a huge steel safe, a grand piano and a pipe organ. Besides conducting his business affairs there, Campbell and his wife would often entertain in his office, as well, hosting large groups of friends for dinner, dancing, and cocktails.

Those parties perhaps served as the inspiration for Mark Grossich, current owner of the Campbell Apartment. Mark purchased the space in 1999, 42 years after John Campbell’s death. In the interim between Campbell’s death and Grossich’s purchase, the once grand space fell into serious disarray, at different times serving as a warehouse, a storage room, and even a jail! Mark had the foresite to restore the beautiful space to its former glory, hoping that Grand Central commuters of today would step into the grand office of yesterday to sip “cocktails from another era”. And indeed they did. Ten years later they are still coming – in droves. As I learned on my first visit to the Campbell Apartment, most nights it’s standing room only.

On that first visit back in 2005, I pulled what my boyfriend likes to call my “Sex and the City coup”. In the Season One episode of SATC entitled “The Power of Female Sex”, Carrie and the girls are repeatedly denied entrance to hot new New York eatery Balzac. After their final failed attempt to dine at the eatery, Carrie makes a pit stop at Balzac’s restroom. While there she runs into the hostess who denied them entry only moments before and who is currently in need of a tampon. Carrie provides it, and after her good deed, never again has trouble getting a table at Balzac. 🙂 Well, on our first trip to the Campbell Apartment, we put our names in with the hostess and were told it was going to be at least an hour wait. It was at that point that I noticed the hostess’ sparkling, two carat, princess cut, diamond engagement ring and proceeded to drool all over it. Ever since I was old enough to know what an engagement ring was, I have known that I want a princess cut one. I don’t care how big it is, or what “clarity” or “color”, but my boyfriend knows that if he wants me to say yes, he had better be proposing with a princess cut. 🙂 Well, the hostess LOVED that I loved her ring and even let me try the huge rock on. I was dying, it was so beautiful . . . and big! Well, not five minutes later we were seated at one of the best spots in the bar. 🙂 As my mom always says, the quickest way to a girl’s heart is to compliment her engagement ring. 🙂

I am actually very surprised that Campbell Apartment was not featured in an episode of Sex and the City – it seems like just the place Carrie and the girls would kick back a few cosmos. But the Campbell Apartment was featured in the pilot episode of the ever-popular teen soap Gossip Girl as the location of Serena and Nate’s illicit affair (pictured above). The bartender told us that the bar was also used in one of this season’s GG episodes, but he was unsure of which one. I guess he’s not a big Gossip Girl fan. 🙂 The bar has also been host to many movie wrap parties and industry get-togethers.

I can’t recommend stalking the Campbell Apartment enough! It is an absolutely fabulous place to grab a drink. Stepping through the doors is like stepping back in time to a more glamorous and fabulous era – the era of Old New York.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Campbell Apartment is located at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue, inside Grand Central Station, in New York. Baseball caps and tennis shoes are not permitted, so dress appropriately. You can visit the Campbell Apartment website here.

January 16, 2009April 3, 2018

Gray’s Papaya

I know I have blogged about this location briefly once before in my You’ve Got Filming Locations page, but I think this is one location that is worthy of its very own blog post. So here goes. 🙂 I have long been a fan of Gray’s Papaya, a small hot dog stand/restaurant chain that was started in 1973 on New York’s Upper West Side. Today, 36 years later, it is practically a New York institution. Gray’s serves up the BEST darn hot dogs I have ever eaten in my life. I honestly don’t know what they put in there that makes ’em taste so darn good, but I sure want them to keep doing it! Every year, during my December New York vacation, I gain a few pounds in my stomach region thanks to Gray’s and its fabulous hot dogs. So I was super excited, while watching Sex and the City reruns this past week, to see Gray’s pop up in a Season 5 episode entitled “Plus One is the Loneliest Number”.

That episode centers around the launch party for Carrie’s newly published book – a party for which she has no date. When she leaves the celebration all alone, her limo driver happens to ask her what the party was for. When Carrie tells her that she has just published a book, the driver says that they have to celebrate the occasion and the two stop off at Gray’s Papaya for a midnight snack. And, after hearing about Carrie’s new book, the Gray’s worker gives them the hot dogs for free. This scene was actually based on the real life experience of SATC write Cindy Chupack. According to fave book Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell , after winning her first Emmy, dateless Cindy left the post-Emmy party alone and was headed home when the limo driver asked her about her night. When the driver found out Cindy had just won an Emmy, she immediately headed to a McDonald’s drive-through to commemorate the occasion. After the driver announced that Cindy had just won the award, the McDonald’s worker gave her a free chocolate shake. 🙂 For the SATC episode, producers decided to use Gray’s Papaya instead of McDonald’s because SJP has always been a big fan of the hot dog chain. 🙂

Gray’s was also featured quite notably near the end of You’ve Got Mail, as the location where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks eat lunch just before Meg heads off to meet NY152 for the first time (pictured above).

Besides You’ve Got Mail and Sex and the City, Grey’s also showed up in one of my very favorite movies, For Love or Money (pictured above). It was also featured in Down to Earth, Crossing Delancy, and (very briefly) Die Hard With A Vengeance.

Nicholas A.B. Gray opened up the first Gray’s Papaya in 1973 with the belief that a good hot dog didn’t have to be costly. Thirty-six years later Gray’s is still serving up excellent dogs at low prices, even if they’ve had to raise those prices a few times over the years. In October of 2008, due to increased business expenses, Gray’s raised the cost of its ever-popular Recession Special (two hot dogs and a drink) from $3.50 to $4.45. Still not bad for what is easily the best hot dog in New York. I highly recommend stalking Gray’s – your pocketbook won’t mind at all. Your pants’ size might, but not your pocketbook. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: There are several Gray’s Papaya outposts dotted across Manhattan. The one from Sex and the City is located at 402 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village. The one from You’ve Got Mail can be found at 2090 Broadway on the Upper West Side. Yet another is located at 539 8th Avenue in Midtown. All Gray’s restaurants are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

January 15, 2009February 11, 2009

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

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.

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.

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

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”.

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”,

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

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.)

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.

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.

January 14, 2009February 13, 2009

Location Scout-ing!

While in New York, I just had to take a jaunt over to the real life bar which stood in for Scout, the watering hole owned by Carrie and Miranda’s exes, Steve and Aiden, on Sex and the City. The bar first showed up in the Season Four episode entitled “Ghost Town”, in which Miranda and Carrie are forced to face the ghosts of their relationships past at the grand opening of their exes’ new bar. Scout (real name Onieal’s Grand Street) showed up quite a few times during Sex and the City’s run, most notably during Season Four.

Although I didn’t have a chance to step inside and grab a cocktail at Onieal’s on this trip – as I have said before there was just so much to stalk and so little time – from looking at the interior photographs of the restaurant online, I am guessing that producers chose to use the bar because of its rich mahogany interior. In SATC, Carrie’s furniture-maker ex-boyfriend Aidan was supposed to have built the entire interior of the bar by hand, and Onieal’s hand carved ceiling (which was flown in from Venice many years ago) and wood-paneled walls fit in perfectly with that idea.

I found this location thanks to fave stalking book New York: The Movie Lover’s Guide, but Onieal’s is also featured in a fabulous book that I purchased for my boyfriend this past Christmas called The Histories and Stories of the Best Bars of New York . The chapter on Onieal’s chronicles its sordid history as a speakeasy, a brothel, and a gambling establishment. Owner Chris Onieal opened up the bar in 1995 on the corner of Grand Street and Centre Market Place, in a space that has housed a bar of one type or another since 1875. The most notorious bar that stood on that spot was named the Press Room and it was located directly across the street from NYPD headquarters. During prohibition a tunnel was dug connecting the bar to the police department so that New York’s finest had easy (and secret) access to a watering hole.

Interestingly enough, in the SATC episode entitled “Ghost Town”, Carrie brings Aidan a mulberry bush as a bar-warming gift. She says “Because your new bar is located on Mulberry Street.” Well, that’s not exactly true. Onieal’s Grand Street is located on Grand Street, as the name suggests, in between Mulberry Street and Centre Market Place, but on the Centre Market Place side. Mulberry Street is actually a full block down from Onieal’s entrance. In the above screen capture, you can see that they even went so far as to put up a street sign saying “Mulberry” outside of the bar. LOL

Even though I didn’t have a chance to grab a cocktail at Onieal’s, it is definitely high up on my list of things to do next year. It looks like a very cool place to spend an evening and I highly recommend stalking it. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Scout aka Onieal’s Grand Street Bar is located at 174 Grand Street in SoHo. You can visit their website here.

January 12, 2009February 14, 2009

Billy’s Bakery

At the risk of looking like a total and complete dork (not to mention a fool!), I thought I’d post some pretty idiotic photographs that I took on my very first trip to New York. At the time I was completely obsessed with Katie Holmes. This was in December of 2005, in the pre-Suri days, before her Jackie O. transformation, back when she was known as Katie, not Kate. A few months before my trip to New York, Katie was featured in a cover story for InStyle Magazine which chronicled her new single gal status, her life in Manhattan, and her favorite NYC hangouts. Most of the photo shoot for the article took place in Chelsea at Katie’s favorite bakery and cupcakery, Billy’s – a place she frequented almost daily at the time. As Tom once said about his wife, “She loves cupcakes, okay? I mean the girl loves cupcakes.” 🙂 Well, I absolutely LOVED that InStyle article. So much so that my copy of that issue is still sitting on my bookshelf all these years later. So, on my first trip to the big apple, I just HAD to drag my boyfriend out to Chelsea to stalk Katie’s fave cupcake maker. And, while there, I also just had to recreate her photo shoot. Yes, I am that big of a dork. 🙂 LOL

The story behind Billy’s is actually quite an unusual one. Billy Reece, a cupcake aficionado who idolized Martha Stewart, founded Billy’s Bakery with two partners in December of 2003. Billy started his baking career working at the ever-popular Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich for two years before quitting to begin his own baked goods venture. Billy’s Bakery became an overnight success. Not long afterwards Billy Reece changed his name to Lauren Reece and, thanks to some hormone treatments and a surgery, Billy ceased to be. Shortly after that, Lauren sold her stake in Billy’s to her two co-founders, Marc and Wayne, and is now enjoying her new life as a woman. So, in a city where change seems to be the only constant, it’s only fitting that not even a popular cupcake bakery’s namesake could remain the same.

But even without the original Billy at the helm, the small bakery has remained a success. The owners are currently planning to expand their business with another location in the same neighborhood. I can’t help but think that Katie may have had something to do with the shop’s blitz of success. Even after she met Tom and moved back to L.A., Katie remained faithful to the bakery. Billy’s not only supplied the cupcakes for Katie’s 27th birthday party at F.A.O. Schwartz in December of 2005, but they also reportedly made the cake for her 2006 wedding. But Katie is certainly not Billy’s only celebrity fan. Ethan Hawke, Mandy Moore, and Bungalow 8 club founder Amy Sacco are also fans of the neighborhood bakery. Billy’s has also been featured on Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, MTV Diary Katie Holmes, The Today Show, MTV’s Boiling Point, the CBS Early Show, the Food Network’s Roker On The Road, and Martha Stewart’s television show Martha.

Billy’s Bakery is an adorable little cupcake shop and with its yellow painted brick walls and cute and homey decor, it looks like it came straight out of a kitchen advertisement from the 1940s. I wanted to spend all day there. 🙂 But while the cupcakes were tasty, I have to say that they are just not as good as my, and SJP’s, New York fave Magnolia Bakery. But I still highly recommend stalking Billy’s, as much for the homey ambiance as for the desserts. Besides cupcakes, they also serve pies and cakes, which are supposed to be out of this world, as well.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Billy’s Bakery is located at 184 9th Avenue in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. You can visit their website here.

January 10, 2009February 13, 2009

Whitney’s NYC Pad

I don’t know about you all, but I have been glued to my television set the past two Monday nights watching Whitney Port’s new Hills spinoff entitled The City. I must admit that the show has been quite lackluster and nowhere near as enthralling as The Hills, but I just can’t help myself. I have to tune in! 🙂 I am hoping that like wine, the show will get better with age. And it looks like I am not the only one holding out hope – apparently Page Six Magazine is calling Whitney the new Carrie Bradshaw. I don’t know about that one. I mean don’t they know that I want to be the new Carrie Bradshaw? 🙂 LOL

Anyway, reader Virginie just posted a comment on my site with a link to this Curbed article about Whitney Port’s new New York digs. LOVE IT! Thanks Virginie! 🙂 While I was in New York this past December I kept saying to my boyfriend that I wished The City had premiered before our trip so that I could stalk where Whitney was living. Turns out, I needn’t have worried. Someone stalked it for me! 🙂 And they did a very good job of it, too! Apparently the building shown on The City as Whitney’s pad, is not really where she lives at all. Nice try, MTV, but you can’t fool us stalkers! 🙂 Whitney’s real apartment building is called The Elektra and is located in Gramercy Park. The Elektra boasts an upscale lobby, state of the art gym, and a sky deck complete with chaise lounges, sweeping views of NYC, and a misting shower. 🙂 Can’t wait to go to New York again so I can stalk this building for myself!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Whitney is currently living in the Elektra located at 290 Third Avenue in NYC. The building used for the exterior shots on The City is located at 325 Fifth Avenue.

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.