The “30 Rock” Building

Rockefeller-Plaza-30-Rock-1 

One of the locales at the very top of this year’s New York vacation’s must-stalk list was the main building featured on my new favorite television show 30 Rock.  For some reason, until we rented the series earlier this past summer, neither my fiancé nor I had ever seen even a single episode of the NBC comedy.   For years we had both heard how great the show was, but, for some odd reason, had never tuned in.  So, when we finally sat down to watch Seasons 1, 2, and 3 in early June, I must say I had some pretty high hopes.  And, to be honest, I really didn’t get what all the hoopla was about . . . until we watched the fifth episode of the series which was entitled “Jack-Tor”.!  In the episode, GE Microwave Division executive Jack Donaghy (aka Alec Baldwin) tries to film an informational video about product placement for his staff to watch and, I swear, I don’t think I stopped laughing once during the show’s entire 22 minute duration!  It was ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS.   From that moment on not only did I completely love the show, but also one of its main actors – Alec Baldwin – which is something I NEVER before would have thought possible.  Who knew Alec Baldwin was so funny??  Anyway, for those of you out there who have yet to see an episode of the series, I offer this piece of advice – you simply must tune in!!!!  🙂  Every episode is laugh-out-loud HILARIOUS – and, let me tell you, there is nothing I like to do more than laugh out loud!  🙂  So, while in New York last month, I, of course, just HAD to stalk the GE Building where Jack Donaghy, Liz Lemon, and the rest of the 30 Rock  gang work on the series.

ScreenShot2313

IMG_3480

Because the GE Building (pictured above) is located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza it has been dubbed “30 Rock”, which is, of course, how the show got its name.  And while the GE Building is, of course, famous in and of itself and has appeared in countless movie and television productions over the years, for today’s post I thought I would focus solely on its role in 30 Rock.  The series, which was conceived and created by comedienne Tina Fey, centers around a group of writers and actors and their weekly struggles in putting together the fictional television show TGS with Tracy JordanTGS is based on the real life sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, on which Tina Fey worked as an actor and head writer for over seven years.  Because SNL  is filmed each week on a soundstage inside of the GE Building, Tina decided to set her fictional series in the exact same location.  In reality, though, while the GE Building is used for all exterior set-up shots on the show, 30 Rock is actually filmed inside of a soundstage on the Silvercup Studios lot in Queens. 

ScreenShot2312

Rockefeller-Plaza-30-Rock-4

Several different areas of the GE Building are featured prominently in the opening credits of 30 Rock (which you can watch here) each week and it was those areas that I set out to stalk while in New York last month.  Ironically enough, though, because Rockefeller Center is so darn huge, I actually had a hard time finding the particular locations I wanted to stalk and had to ask a nearby policeman for help!  LOL  Thankfully, though, he was also a big fan of the show and was able to point me in the right direction.   The first locale I wanted to stalk was the ornate gold-plated 30 Rockefeller Plaza sign that is shown towards the beginning of the opening credits.  I wasn’t even sure where to begin looking for that particular placard, though, and had incorrectly assumed it would be located somewhere on one of the building’s exterior walls.  In actuality, the sign is located on the ground just outside of the GE Building’s main entrance – and it’s absolutely HUGE in person!!!  I had no idea it would that big!  LOL  It was so large, in fact, that we couldn’t take a very good picture of it as we couldn’t get the whole thing to fit in our camera lens.  LOL 

 ScreenShot2310

ScreenShot2311

Rockefeller-Plaza-30-Rock-7

The next spot I wanted to stalk was the gold lettered “30 Rockefeller Plaza” sign with the grey marble background that quickly runs from right to left across the screen at the very end of the 30 Rock opening credits.  It turns out that the sign is located just to the left of the GE Building’s main entrance and is extremely hard to see in person.  The policemen actually pointed out the sign to me no less than four times before I could actually see it!   LOL He actually had to walk up and physically touch it before I realized what he was talking about.   LOL  The sign is actually much smaller than I expected it to be and is very hard to see from far away, thanks to the reflection of the sun off its marble background.

Rockefeller-Plaza-30-Rock-11

And because we didn’t get very good photographs of it the first time around, we had to actually head back there the very next day to take some additional pictures, which is why I am wearing a different outfit in the above pic.  🙂  But you can tell how hard it is to see the sign from far away in the above photograph.

[ad]

ScreenShot2315

IMG_4228

And where is the GE Building’s side entrance which is also sometimes featured on the series?  It’s actually just around the corner from the building’s main entrance and the two “30 Rockefeller Plaza” signs I talked about above.  The side entrance is actually the main entrance of New York’s NBC Studios and is featured quite frequently on 30 Rock.  Besides being shown regularly in establishing shots, the side entrance has also been used in the actual filming of certain episodes, as was the case in the Season Four opener entitled “Season Four” – LOL- in which Kenneth the Page leads his fellow pages along with a group of mall santas, horse whisperers, bucket drummers, and TGS’  two lead actors – again LOL – in a mass picket outside of NBC studios (pictured above).  The demands of that picket, you ask?  That GE exec Jack Donaghy sign a piece of paper stating “I am a big, old liar.”  LOL LOL LOL 

[ad]

I cannot tell you how cool it was to finally be able to stalk the various locations featured each week in the opening credits of 30 Rock!    I could NOT have been more excited!  🙂  And for those of you out there who have never seen the show, you really need to start tuning in!  However, I’d really recommend renting Season 1 and watching the series from the very beginning. 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: As its name implies, the 30 Rock building, aka the GE building, is located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.  Both of the gold-lettered “30 Rockefeller Plaza” signs can be found at the front entrance of the building.  The first one is located on the ground directly outside of the building’s front doors and the second is located on the wall just to the right of the main entrance.  The NBC Studios entrance can be found on 50th Street between Rockefeller Plaza and 6th Avenue.  Liz Lemon’s apartment building – which I unfortunately did not stalk while in New York – is located at 160 Riverside Drive in New York’s Upper West Side.

The “Big” Paddleball Court

Vesuvio-Playground-Squash-Ball-Courts-From-Big-3

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.

ScreenShot2299

IMG_2970

ScreenShot2303

IMG_2971

  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. 

ScreenShot2304

ScreenShot2305

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 

ScreenShot2301

IMG_2966

ScreenShot2302

IMG_2968  

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!! 

[ad]

Vesuvio-Playground-Squash-Ball-Courts-From-Big-2

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.

Asti-Pizza-From-Big-2

Asti-Pizza-From-Big-4

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 Hotel St. James

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-6

The one location that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, told me I could absolutely NOT come home from New York without stalking was the seedy hotel where Josh Baskin (aka Tom Hanks) stayed after first becoming “big” in the 1988 movie of the same name.   Mike had found the location of the Hotel St. James thanks to fave website The 80s Movies Rewind shortly before I left on my Big Apple vacation.  So, since Owen, my fiancé, and I had already stalked several other Big  filming locations during our NYC stalking day, we decided to keep the theme going by also making a stop at the Hotel St. James.   The twelve story St. James, which first opened up in 1972  and is no longer the mangy place it was when Big was filmed, is considered to be one of the city’s most affordable hotels.  Located just a block away from Times Square, a room at the St. James will run you anywhere from $159 to $269 per night depending on the time of year.  Let me tell you, rates that low in Manhattan are almost unheard of!  And thankfully, in real life, the hotel looks NOTHING like it did in the movie – otherwise I might never have ventured inside!  LOL 

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-4

The Hotel St. James first shows up in the very beginning of Big, as the seedy little place that Josh and Billy stumble upon while wandering the streets of Manhattan looking for an affordable hotel.  Thanks to the shady characters hanging around out front, Josh refuses to even walk inside the place, prompting Billy to say “St. James, Josh!  It’s religious!”  LOL LOL LOL  Josh and Billy end up booking a room at the hotel, which costs them $17.50 a night, plus a ten dollar deposit for the sheets.  LOL LOL LOL  Apparently, at the time Big was filmed during the late 80s, the St. James really was a decrepit little spot in a very shady part of town. But thanks to Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to clean up Times Square, Disney’s restoration of the New Amsterdam Theatre, and a renovation of the actual St. James itself, the hotel is really quite beautiful – and quite safe – now.  🙂

Bigscreencap

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-5

Several areas of the St. James were featured in Big, including the exterior (On a side note, the sign in the entrance door pictured in the screen capture above reads, “Firearms Kept On Premises”.  LOL LOL LOL  Really shows what a classy joint the hotel used to be!) ;

ScreenShot2271

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-13

ScreenShot2272

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-14

the lobby entrance;

ScreenShot2273

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-14 

ScreenShot2274 

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-10

and the check-in desk, which as you can see in the above photographs and screen captures is still positioned in the exact same place as it was in Big.  The plastic partition and the toothless concierge are long since gone, though.  🙂   

 ScreenShot2278 

ScreenShot2279

ScreenShot2283

ScreenShot2282 

According to the EXTREMELY friendly concierge that I talked to, while the filming of Big  did take place in the lobby area of the St. James, the hallway and hotel room scenes were actually all filmed on a studio soundstage.  However, I’m not entirely convinced that information is correct.  After recently re-watching the movie, it seems to me that a real St. James’ hotel room and the real St. James hallways were used in the filming.  Thankfully, though, as you can see in these photographs, both the rooms and the hallways have undergone significant remodeling since that time!  LOL 

 ScreenShot2276

ScreenShot2277

It is in Josh’s St. James hotel room that the very famous Big  silly string scene took place.  🙂

[ad]

Hotel-St-James-Tom-Hanks-Big-3

I highly recommend stalking the Hotel St. James!  Even though it has undergone some drastic changes in the years since the filming of Big took place, the hotel is still set up very similarly to how it was portrayed in the movie and is therefore still very recognizable.  🙂  The Hotel St. James also looks like a very nice, very affordable place to spend a few nights when visiting the Big Apple!  And while the newly renovated St. James is not luxurious or upscale by any means, it prides itself on having roomy, comfortable, clean accommodations.  If the lobby is any indication of what the rooms look like, they must be be pretty darn nice!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Hotel St. James is located at 109 West 45th Street in Midtown Manhattan.  You can visit their website here.

The “Big” School

Tom-Hanks-Big-Cliffside-Park-New-Jersey-24

Located just around the corner from the two main houses used in the movie Big is Cliffside Park Elementary School #6 – the elementary school attended by Josh Baskin (aka Tom Hanks) and his best friend Billy (aka Jared Rushton) in the 1988 flick.  So, since we were already in the area, Owen, my fiancé, and I just had to stalk the place.  🙂  I am always a little bit leery of stalking schools while they are in session, though, as teachers and administrators tend not to like it when random adults start taking pictures of their campus while children are present.  Why are there so many bad people out there who have to ruin things for us harmless movie-stalkers???  Anyway, because most of the students of Cliffside Park Elementary were outside playing on the playground while we were stalking the place, I wasn’t able to snap the greatest of pictures, nor were we able to venture inside for a closer look.  🙁 

ScreenShot2257

Tom-Hanks-Big-Cliffside-Park-New-Jersey-28

Cliffside Park Elementary School #6, which despite what its name would lead you to believe, is actually comprised of both an elementary school and a middle school and houses about 630 students in grades one through eight.   The reason for the misnomer, you ask?  Originally, the school was solely an elementary school facility.  It wasn’t until about eight years ago that the middle school portion was added.  Cliffside Park #6 was featured twice in Big.   It first shows up at the very beginning of the movie, when young Josh rides his bike down the side of the school on his way to play stickball with Billy.

ScreenShot2263

Owen and I couldn’t seem to locate the actual stickball court the boys play on while we were stalking the place, though.  But, according to this former Cliffside student,  apparently there did used to be an empty lot located behind the school where children would actually play stickball.  That lot got covered over a few years back, though, when an addition was added to the school building.  So sad!  🙁  I am guessing that addition was built to house the new middle school. 

ScreenShot2260 

Tom-Hanks-Big-Cliffside-Park-New-Jersey-30

Cliffside Park #6 also shows up towards the end of the movie, during the montage sequence in which adult Josh returns to his hometown and watches a group of children take their class picture at his alma mater.

ScreenShot2261

IMG_2957

ScreenShot2266

IMG_2959

In that same montage, Josh also watches some boys play baseball in the school’s baseball field.  Random site note – as Owen and I discovered, the “grass” on the baseball field is not real- it’s actually Astroturf!  LOL  

Tom-Hanks-Big-Cliffside-Park-New-Jersey-26

I am very happy to report that Cliffside Park Elementary School #6 looks very much the same today as it did back in 1988 when Big  was filmed.  And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how cool I think it is that the school is located so close to the two homes used in the movie, because if there actually were a real Josh and a real Billy who lived in those houses, then Cliffside Park #6 would really be the school they would attend!  🙂  LOVE IT!  And, while I highly recommend stalking Cliffside Park #6, I suggest doing so during non-school hours when no children are present.  It’s a lot easier to take photographs that way.  🙂

[ad]

Big THANK YOU to Owen for “loaning” me his photographs of the Big  baseball field and allowing me to post them here, as, for some odd reason, I didn’t take any pictures of the field while we were stalking the school. 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Big  school, aka Cliffside Park Elementary School #6, is located at 440 Oakdene Avenue in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.  The Big houses are located just around the corner at 435 and 437 Greenmount Avenue.  The Heffernan house from The King of Queens is also located right around the corner at 519 Longview Avenue.  Unfortunately there is no easy way to get to these locations from Manhattan.  A taxi ride is your quickest, easiest bet, but be prepared as the trip will cost you $45 each way!  Riding the bus is a much cheaper option, but be prepared for a long travel time, as the bus ride to Cliffside Park takes upwards of an hour.

Grand Central Station

IMG_4414 

Yet another Gossip Girl  filming location that I stalked a few weeks back while vacationing in Manhattan is the train station known as Grand Central Terminal.  But being that Grand Central has actually been featured in more than a few hundred productions since it first opened in 1913, it’s not really accurate to refer to the place simply as a “Gossip Girl filming location”.  Truth be told, being that the building is a National Historic Landmark and has been in operation for close to a century now, it’s really not fair to refer to the place as a “filming location” at all.  The fact that the station has been immortalized in countless films and television shows over the years is more of a side-note than anything else.  Truth be told, Grand Central Station, or Grand Central Terminal as it is officially called, is not only the largest train station in the entire world, but is also a marvel of modern-day architecture and one of the cornerstones of New York History.  The terminal, which boasts 44 platforms and 67 different tracks and covers over 48 acres of space!!!, first opened on February 2, 1913 after a staggering ten years of construction.  The Beaux-Arts style building was actually designed by two architectural firms – the firm of Reed & Stern handled the engineering, while Warren and Westmore conducted the aesthetic composition.  And the place truly is a site to behold!   The station’s main concourse is absolutely breathtaking – I mean my breath was literally taken away the first time I saw it!  Seeing the huge shafts of sunlight stream through the concourse’s many window panels, as Hal Morey captured so beautifully in this photograph, is something everyone should experience in person at least once in their lives. The main concourse’s Grand Staircase which is made of marble and which was modeled after the main staircase in the Paris Opera House, is flanked by three beautiful – and HUGE – 75-foot tall leaded glass windows (pictured above).

P1000266

On a side note – The Grand Staircase is also, coincidentally, where I took one of my very favorite photographs of New York (pictured above)!  LOL LOL LOL

IMG_4415

IMG_4418

But my favorite part of the terminal’s main concourse has to be its ceiling!  Oh, the ceiling!  Grand Central’s beautiful, vaulted ceiling, which features a mural of  Zodiac signs painted backwards was designed and created in 1912 by artist Paul Helleu and contains over 2,500 stars which actually light up.  The reason for the backwards Zodiac depiction, you ask?   The mural is supposed to represent the view of the stars a god would see while looking down upon planet Earth through the heavens.

img_2488

The exterior of Grand Central Station is also quite remarkable, as you can see in the above photograph. 

img_2491

In 1914, while the station was under construction, French sculptor Jules-Alexis Coutans designed a 48 -foot tall statue of the Roman gods Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury which was to sit sentinel above Grand Central’s 42nd Street entrance.  The statue, which was carved by the John Donnelly Company, also boasts a central glass clock measuring a whopping 13 feet in circumference.  The clock was designed by none other than Tiffany & Co. and represents the largest example of Tiffany Glass in the entire world.

IMG_5634

At night, the exterior becomes even more spectacular. 

IMG_5642

As you can see in the above picture, Grand Central is usually bustling with commuters and visitors alike!  In fact, more than 500,000 people walk through the terminal’s doors EACH DAY!!!!  (No, that’s not a typo – I really meant EACH DAY!)  According to this fabulous article, in the year 1947 alone over 65 MILLION people visited Grand Central – an amount which equaled 40% of the entire popular of the United States at the time!

 P1000264

IMG_4417

Which makes it all the more amazing that the station’s doors were almost shuttered in the 1950s.   Due to the decline of railroads as a popular means of transportation, the terminal faced demolition on numerous different occasions beginning in the year 1954.  Thankfully all such plans were subsequently thwarted, until 1967 when Penn Central Railroad announced its plans to tear down Grand Central and replace it with a sixty-plus story office building.  Thankfully, New York preservationists, most notably former First Lady Jackie O., stepped in to stop the project.  Jackie’s efforts took her all the way to the United States Supreme Court, where a ten year battle was fought over the station.  Penn Central eventually lost the case and Grand Central was awarded landmark status, eliminating any further possibility of it ever being destroyed or changed. In 1994, the terminal was taken over by the Metro-North company, who subsequently began an extensive renovation process, restoring the terminal to her original glory to the tune of $250 million.  Today Grand Central is as beautiful, and as busy, as ever.  Besides being simply a commuter hub, today’s Grand Central Station also boasts fifty different retail stores and five different upscale restaurants, including the world-famous Oyster Bar which has been in operation since the station first opened in 1913.  And, of course, as I mentioned before, the terminal is also a frequent filming location!

 ScreenShot2197 

ScreenShot2198

ScreenShot2199

Grand Central has been featured in two different episodes of Gossip Girl – the Pilot episode and the Season Two episode entitled “Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?”.  In the Pilot, It-girl Serena van der Woodsen is spotted at Grand Central while making her infamous return to New York after a year spent in a Connecticut boarding school.

 ScreenShot2201 

ScreenShot2202

ScreenShot2203

In that same episode, Rufus Humphrey picks up his kids, Dan and Jenny, at Grand Central after a weekend spent with their mother.

ScreenShot2215

ScreenShot2216

And yet again in that very same episode, Grand Central’s famous Campbell Apartment Bar, which I have blogged about once before, shows up at the site of Nate and Serena’s illicit tryst.

  ScreenShot2208  

ScreenShot2209

ScreenShot2214

ScreenShot2213

In the “Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?” episode, Rufus confronts Lily about the child she never told him about while standing in the middle of Grand Central’s main concourse.

ScreenShot2207  

ScreenShot2206

ScreenShot2205

The Campbell Apartment also shows up in that episode as the spot where Chuck Bass hires a private investigator to look into the background of his deceased father’s widow.

ScreenShot2220 

ScreenShot2221

 ScreenShot2224  

ScreenShot2225

Grand Central, as well as its flap-board destination sign, figure prominently in the end of fave teeny-bopper movie Just My Luck.

IMG_4416

Other movies that have filmed at the terminal include North By Northwest, Armageddon, Carlito’s Way, Hackers, I Am Legend, K-PAX, Men In Black and its sequel Men In Black II, Midnight Run, Old Dogs, Party Monster, Revolutionary Road, The Bone Collector, The Cotton Club, The Fisher King, One Fine Day, Conspiracy Theory, Midnight Run, Loser, Falling In Love, The Prince of Tides, The Freshman, The Perfect Score, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and Unfaithful.  And, Grand Central replicas have even been built on studio soundstages when filming on location at the actual station wasn’t feasible, as was the case with Superman, Twentieth Century, Going Hollywood, The Thin Man Goes Home and Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

[ad]

On a “must-see” side note – One of Grand Central’s most famous spots, an area which I, sadly, have yet to visit, is the Whispering Gallery, which is located in the station’s Dining Concourse.  As the name suggests, thanks to the laws of physics and the Gallery’s domed ceiling, two friends can stand at opposite corners of the room, face the walls, and whisper to each other and those whispers will be carried, quite loudly, from one corner of the room to the other.  How amazingly cool is that?  Fellow stalker Owen has even tested out this marvel of science and says it really does work!  I absolutely cannot wait to try it out myself next year!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Grand Central Station is located on 42nd Street, in between Lexington and Park Avenues.  Docent-led tours of the station are given each Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. by the Municipal Arts Society.  The Whispering Gallery is located in the station’s Dining Concourse near the world-famous Oyster Bar.  The Campbell Apartment is located at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue, just off Grand Central’s main concourse area.  Sadly though, the bar has recently come under new ownership and the dress code has been changed.  And, for some incredibly odd reason, it seems no one on the Campbell Apartment staff knows exactly what the new dress code entails.  When we called the bar to inquire about the dress code prior to our arrival, we were told that jeans and tennis shoes were permissible. But when we showed up we were denied entrance . . . due to our jeans and tennis shoes.  LOL  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a place upholding a dress code, at all.  In fact, I quite like it.  But if you’re going to do so, the staff should darn well be able to tell patrons CORRECTLY what that dress code is!

The New York Palace Hotel

The-Palace-New-York-3

Yet another Gossip Girl location that I set out to stalk during this year’s Manhattan vacation was the New York Palace Hotel, a locale which has appeared in pretty much every single episode of the series since it began back in 2007.   Truth be told, though, I actually first stalked this location quite a few years back during my very first trip to the Big Apple, long before Gossip Girl was even on the air.  And, let me tell you, I absolutely fell in love with the place!  Each year since then I’ve made sure to stop into the Palace at least once during our annual New York vacation to either grab a cocktail at GILT or to simply relax for a few minutes in the hotel’s opulent lobby.  So, as you can probably imagine, I was completely floored this past summer when I first watched the pilot episode of Gossip Girl and realized that a huge portion of it was filmed on location on the hotel grounds.  So, while in New York two weeks ago, I just had to drag my fiancé back to the Palace, this time to do some stalking of my new favorite show!  🙂

ScreenShot2168

IMG_4412

The New York Palace Hotel is absolutely beautiful inside and out and is one of my very favorite places to visit in all of New York.  By now, I really must sound like a broken record due to the fact that I pretty much say that about every single place I stalk in the Big Apple.  LOL  But it’s just that there are so many spectacular and incredibly unique places on the island of Manhattan that I find it very difficult to narrow down my favorites!  Anyway, the New York Palace Hotel was originally built as a private home for New York Evening Post  editor and Union Pacific Railroad founder Henry Villard in 1882.  Villard hired the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White to design and build six four-story townhouses surrounding a central courtyard in an empty lot across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  The buildings were constructed in a Neo-Italian Renaissance style and were  modeled after Rome’s Palazzo della Cancellaria.  In 1883, Villard moved into his new home, which was still under construction, for a period of just a few months.  Sadly, though, he ended up filing bankruptcy shortly thereafter and was forced to sell the entire property, which was then known as the Villard Houses, to several different owners before construction had even been completed.  In 1974, the townhouses were purchased by the Helmsley (yes, that Helmsley) Hotel chain.  The Helmsleys came up with the inspired idea to purchase the air space above the Villard Houses (and here all this time I never knew that type of thing was for sale!  LOL)  in order to add a 55-story tower to the property and turn it into a luxury hotel.  Construction of that tower took six years to complete and in 1981 the Helmsley Palace Hotel finally opened its doors to the world.  It didn’t take long for the Palace name to become synonymous with the utmost in luxury and elegance.  In 1992, the hotel was sold to a private limited partnership, who changed its name to the New York Palace Hotel, as it is known today.  The Palace Hotel is currently owned by the upscale Dorchester Group and boasts 360 square-foot guest rooms, 22,000 square feet of meeting space, two restaurants, including GILT, which has been awarded two Michelin stars , and a 7,000 square foot spa and gym, where complimentary tennis shoes and workout clothes are made available to guests.  LOVE IT!  Rooms average $297 per night, which is incredibly low for such upscale accommodations, especially considering that the hotel is located in Manhattan.

ScreenShot2159 

ScreenShot2170

The Palace Hotel features prominently on Gossip Girl, not only because the hostelry is owned by Bart Bass, Chuck’s father, on the show, but also due to the fact that Serena van der Woodsen and family lived in one of the hotel’s Triplex Suites while their home was being remodeled during Season One.   The hotel is such an integral part of the show, actually, that, according to this article, filming of GG takes places there at least twice a month!  How cool is that??  The areas of the hotel that have been used in the filming over the past three years include the front exterior (pictured above),

ScreenShot2169

IMG_4218 

ScreenShot2172 

The-Palace-New-York-1

the central courtyard,

 ScreenShot2161

ScreenShot2162 

ScreenShot2165

the second floor mezzanine,

ScreenShot2164

IMG_4222

IMG_4221

the lobby’s courtyard entrance,

ScreenShot2167

ScreenShot2174

ScreenShot2176

the special events venue named the Madison Room,

ScreenShot2177

ScreenShot2178

IMG_4217 

the entrance to the famous GILT restaurant,

ScreenShot2150 

ScreenShot2153

the interior of GILT,

ScreenShot2155

 ScreenShot2156 

ScreenShot2157

and the GILT kitchen. 

 IMG_4219

IMG_4220

In fact, GILT’s menu now even features “The Gossip Girl – You Know You Love It” grilled cheese and truffle oil sandwich (YUM!), much like the one Chuck made for Serena in the pilot episode.  🙂  My good friend Steffi, who is also a HUGE GG fan, is holding GILT’s menu in the above picture.

The-Palace-New-York-4

Besides being a main filming location for Gossip Girl, the Palace is also a celebrity magnet.  According to fave book, Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Full Story, back during his “Thriller” days, the Palace was the only New York Hotel where the King of Pop would rest his head.  The hotel also plays host to a number of A-List events each year.  A few of the stars who have been spotted there in the past include Prince, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Lady Gaga, Orlando Bloom, Harry Connick, Jr., Helena Christenson, Claire Danes, Hugh Dancy, Molly Sims, Kristin Davis, Bethenny Frankel, and Rose McGowan.

img_2507

img_3503

img_2509 

img_3508

I honestly can’t recommend stalking the New York Palace Hotel enough!  The staff is INCREDIBLY friendly – one of the concierges even went so far as to get me a GILT menu when I was there two weeks ago just so that I could take a picture of the Gossip Girl sandwich listing!   🙂  And the entire property – from the Central Courtyard to the ornate lobby – is just simply breathtaking. I honestly can’t say enough about it!  Especially at Christmastime!  If you find yourself in the area during the month of December, stopping by to see the Palace’s Christmas decorations, which are pictured above, is a MUST!  Christmas trees, garland, and white twinkle lights can be found EVERYWHERE, especially in the hotel’s Central Courtyard which is absolutely transformed into a mass of sparkle.  LOVE IT! 

[ad]

For further information on the hotel you can read an amazingly in-depth review, written by someone who actually stayed there, here.  Although, because the author listed the fact that Palace’s “popular restaurant/bar is closed intermittently for film crews” under the Con section of her Palace Hotel Pros and Cons List, you have to take everything she says with a grain of salt.  LOL  I mean, for me that little tidbit is SO totally a Pro!  🙂   

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The New York Palace Hotel is located at 455 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. You can visit their website here.

Gossip Girl’s Constance Billard School for Girls and St. Jude’s School for Boys

IMG_8649

Another Upper East Side location that I set out to stalk while in New York two weeks ago was the building used to portray Constance Billard School for Girls and St. Jude’s School for Boys on my new favorite show, Gossip Girl.  So, you can imagine my surprise when, while doing some location research before my trip, I discovered that not one, but FOUR different spots have actually been used to stand in for Nate, Chuck, and the gang’s elite prep school throughout the series two and half year run.  And let me just take a moment here to say that using several different locales to represent just one place is one of my biggest filming location pet peeves for the mere fact that it makes tracking down sites all the more difficult for us stalkers.  UGH!  Why do producers do this to us???  I mean, just pick one location and stick with it, already!!!  LOL  Anyway, due to time constraints, I was unfortunately only able to visit one of the Gossip Girl  school sites during this year’s trip to the Big Apple – the Museum of the City of New York. 

ScreenShot2148

IMG_8643 

Ironically enough, during one of our past trips to the Big Apple just about three years ago, long before Gossip Girl had ever premiered on TV, my fiancé had actually dragged me out to the Museum of the City of New York as a sort of cultural diversion.  So, when we finally started watching the series this past summer, the two of us immediately recognized the building used as the gang’s school.  And I have to say that my fiancé was more than just a little bit smug about the fact that I had whined and complained about being dragged to the museum all those years ago, when, in fact, the place had turned out to be a filming location – on one of my favorite shows, no less!  🙂   LOL  Anyway, since I had failed to take any photographs of the museum while there three years ago, I, of course, had to make a quick stop there during this trip. 

ScreenShot2141

IMG_8644

The Museum of the City of New York is the most recognizable out of all of the Gossip Girl  school locations, as it is the place most often used for establishing shots of Constance Billard and St. Jude on the show.  In fact, the Museum has shown up in pretty much every single episode of the series since the show first began. 

 ScreenShot2110

ScreenShot2108

IMG_8650 

And while the Museum has most often been used solely for establishing shots on the show, there have been a few instances where the filming of actual scenes has taken place there, as well, such as in the scene pictured above which is from the Season Two episode entitled “In The Realm of the Basses”.  

ScreenShot2134

 ScreenShot2128

ScreenShot2129

ScreenShot2133

But don’t go looking around the Museum for the exterior stairway where the gang sometimes hung out during Season One.  Those steps, which are pictured above, can actually be found about twenty blocks South of the Museum at a Russian Orthodox Church named the Synod of Bishops. 

 ScreenShot2136

ScreenShot2142

ScreenShot2139

ScreenShot2137

And to confuse matters even further, during the second season of the show, producers stopped filming the Constance Billard/St. Jude scenes on location at the Synod of Bishops and moved to another location entirely – this one not even on the island of Manhattan!  For whatever reason, it seems that during Season Two all location shooting for the school scenes took place at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn.

 ScreenShot2145

ScreenShot2130

ScreenShot2127

ScreenShot2140

And where is the Constance Billard/St. Jude school’s small interior courtyard that shows up in pretty much every episode, you ask?  Not at any of the three aforementioned locales, actually.  No, this location, unfortunately, can only be found inside of a soundstage at Silvercup Studios, where the show is filmed.  🙁 

[ad]

Because I was only able to stalk the Museum of the City of New York on this trip, it looks I am going to have to hit up both the Synod of Bishops and Packer Collegiate Institute next year.  I’d also just LOVE to stalk Silvercup Studios, but somehow I don’t think they’d let me past the guard shack there.  LOL 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: On Gossip Girl, the four locations which stand in for Constance Billard School for Girls and St. Jude’s School for Boys are as follows: the site used for most exterior shots is the Museum of the City of New York, which is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side; the school stairway from Season One can be found at the Synod of Bishops Russian Orthodox Church, which is located at 75 East 93rd Street, also on New York’s Upper East Side; the school campus used in Season Two can be found at Packer Collegiate Institute, which is located at 170 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, and, finally, the school’s courtyard is located at Silvercup Studios, which is located at 42-22 22nd Avenue in Long Island City.  Sadly, the studio is closed to the public.  🙁

Blair Waldorf’s Gossip Girl Apartment Building

IMG_8641

Well, it must be Gossip Girl week here at Iamnotastalker.com because here I am once again blogging about yet another location from the ubiquitous CW series.  While in New York two weeks ago, one of the locales at the very top of my stalking list was the Upper East Side building where Queen Bee Blair Waldorf lives on my new favorite show.  I found this location, once again, thanks to FanPop’s awesome Gossip Girl page and, because I love me some BW, I just simply wasn’t leaving New York until I had stalked her place.  So, after dropping my best friend, his girlfriend, and his mother off at the Guggenheim Museum – because as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t do museums 🙂 – I dragged my fiancé just a few blocks North to do some stalking of Blair’s pad.  On a side note: While doing research on Blair’s apartment building for today’s post, I came across this ABSOLUTELY AMAZING website, which lists pretty much EVERY SINGLE location ever featured on Gossip Girl!  And, let me tell you, I almost fell off my chair while looking at it!  HOW IN THE HECK DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS SITE BEFORE I LEFT FOR NEW YORK!  UGH!  🙁  I could have spent my entire trip stalking Gossip Girl!!!!!  LOL  Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to set that as my goal for next year’s trip!  🙂 

 ScreenShot2117

IMG_4285

ScreenShot2118

IMG_4284

On Gossip Girl, Blair Waldorf lives in the Penthouse apartment of the ultra-exclusive Fifth Avenue building pictured above.  The 15-story building, which houses 43 different apartments, was built in 1925 by architect George F. Pelham, Jr., who also designed the Castle Village apartment complex in Hudson Heights and the residential building located at 1120 Park Avenue.  A two-bedroom unit in Blair’s building, which you can take a look at here, is currently for sale for the bargain price of $2,695,000!   Besides views of Central Park, the building also boasts a full-time, white-gloved doorman AND a full-time, white-gloved elevator operator.  That’s just so Blair Waldorf, isn’t it? 🙂   So love it!

ScreenShot2121

ScreenShot2122 

ScreenShot2123

Blair’s building has been featured regularly in establishing shots throughout the series’ two and a half year run.  Filming also took place there for the Season One episode entitled “Victor, Victrola”, in which Nate Archibald and his father get into a fistfight on the sidewalk out in front of the building (pictured above).

ScreenShot2113

In the Season Two episode entitled “In the Realm of the Basses”, Blair receives an invitation from the elite Colony Club in which the actual address of the real apartment building used for the filming is displayed.  Love it!

[ad]

IMG_4281

According to fave book Manhattan On Film: Walking Tours of Hollywood’s Fabled Front Lot, Blair’s building was also used in the 2001 Chris Rock movie Down to Earth, as the residence of Charles Wellington, whose body the spirit of Chris Rock inhabits after his untimely demise.  The building also has a bit of celebrity history, as well.  During their marriage, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid owned a seven-room unit on the building’s 12th-floor, which they sold in March 2002, almost a year after their divorced was finalized, for a cool $6.5 million.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Blair Waldorf’s apartment from Gossip Girl is located at 1136 Fifth Avenue, on the corner of 5th Avenue and 95th Street, on New York’s Upper East Side. 

The Central Park Conservatory Water

img_1163

Because I spoke only very briefly about the Central Park Conservatory Water in yesterday’s post regarding the filming of Gossip Girl, today I thought I’d do a more in-depth blog on that location and the myriad of filming that has taken place there over the years.  So, here goes.  🙂   The Conservatory Water is so named because in the original plans for Central Park, which were drawn up in 1857 by designers Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, an oval-shaped conservatory, or greenhouse, containing tropical plants was to be situated in the area where the Model Boat Pond now stands.  When the money for that particular project fell through, Olmstead and Vaux instead decided to place an oval-shaped model boat pond, designed after those in Paris’ Jardin du Luxembourg, in the exact spot where the conservatory was originally positioned.  Hence the name “Conservatory Water”.  Over the years, the Pond became incredibly popular with children and adults alike and, thanks to the model yacht races which are held there each weekend, the area has come to be more commonly known as the “Model Boat Pond”.  In fact, ask any New Yorker for directions to the Conservatory Water and I doubt they’d know what you were talking about.  🙂

img_0957

Besides its weekend boat races, the Conservatory Water is also famous for two statues which are situated along its perimeter.  The statue pictured above is of children’s author Hans Christian Andersen, who penned the stories “The Little Mermaid”, “The Snow Queen”, and “Thumbelina”, among countless others.   In the statue Hans is depicted reading his tale “The Ugly Duckling” to an attentive little duck.  So cute!!!  And please don’t ask what the heck I am wearing in the above picture – it was a freezing cold and rainy day in New York and I threw on whatever warm clothes I could find.  LOL

img_1170

At the North end of the pond sits the famous Alice in Wonderland statue, in which Alice cavorts atop a life-sized mushroom with her friends the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Dormouse, and the White Rabbit.  The statue was commissioned in 1959 by George T. Delacorte, founder of the Dell Publishing Company, in honor of his wife.  Legend has it that George’s face was the model for the face of the Mad Hatter in the statue.  🙂

img_1164

img_1167

The Model Boat Pond is so incredibly beautiful and picturesque, with its flat pool of reflecting water, curving benches running along its perimeter, lush green foliage and pink cherry trees juxtaposed against the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, that it’s not very hard to see why producers have returned to film there time and time again.

ScreenShot2072

ScreenShot2074

ScreenShot2075

In fave movie 13 Going On 30, the Model Boat Pond shows up very briefly during the montage scene in which Jenna is shown enjoying her newfound age.  You can see the Alice and Wonderland statue in the background of the first screen capture pictured above.

ScreenShot2078

ScreenShot2079

ScreenShot2080

In fave show Sex and the City, the Model Boat Pond shows up in the Season One episode entitled “The Power of Female Sex”, in the scene in which Carrie takes French Architect Gilles on a tour of the city.  While at the Pond, Carrie says, “I felt like I had landed in a Claude Lelouch film”, Lelouch being a French film director known for his picturesque cinematography.  The Alice and Wonderland statue shows up in this scene, as well – Carrie is sitting on top of it in the first screen capture pictured above.

ScreenShot2084

ScreenShot2087

ScreenShot2089

In Just My Luck, yet another of my favorite teeny-bopper movies, cutie Chris Pine has some incredibly bad luck while visiting the Model Boat Pond at the very beginning of the film.  Again you’ll notice the Alice in Wonderland statue pictured in the background above.  It seems to be a favorite of filmmakers.  🙂

ScreenShot2104

ScreenShot2105

ScreenShot2106

In the 1998 movie The Object of my Affection, it is while sitting on a bench overlooking the Pond that my girl Jen Aniston tells Paul Rudd that she is pregnant.

ScreenShot2101

ScreenShot2102

ScreenShot2103

In fave movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Fred is followed by Doc Golightly, Holly’s former husband, while taking a stroll near the Conservatory Water.

ScreenShot2091

ScreenShot2098

ScreenShot2093

And in the 1999 movie Stuart Little, Stuart (who was voiced by none other than Alex P. Keaton himself – Michael J. Fox) and his pal Jonathan Lipnicki race a model sailboat at the Pond.  (That’s Hugh Laurie, aka Dr. House M.D., who plays Stuart and Jonathan’s dad in the flick, pictured in the second screen capture above!)

ScreenShot2094

The producers definitely took some liberties while filming this scene, though, because while the race starts out at the Model Boat Pond, it ends up in the Central Park Reservoir, which, contrary to what the movie would have you believe, is not actually connected to the Pond and is, in fact, located quite a few miles away.

ScreenShot2099

ScreenShot2095

ScreenShot2096

At one point, the boats even sail under a small bridge, but, being that the Model Boat Pond has no bridge, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I’m fairly certain this scene wasn’t actually filmed in Central Park.  My guess is that the scene was filmed a few thousand miles away on a soundstage at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.  LOL  When watching that scene, you’ll notice that the camera never pans back far enough to show the entire Pond, leading me to believe that producers built their own version of it at the studio in Los Angeles which they then used for the filming.

[ad]

The Pond also showed up in I’m Not Rappaport, F/X, Jungle 2 Jungle, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Key Exchange and in 1964’s The World of Henry Orient.  And it has even been immortalized in print, as well!  In J.D. Salinger’s famous Catcher in the Rye novel, Holden Caulfield laments his problems to the Conservatory Water’s resident ducks.

img_1165

I honestly cannot recommend stalking the Model Boat Pond enough!!  It is one of my very favorite places in all of New York!  In fact, one of my favorite things to do while visiting the city is to grab a bagel from a street vendor and eat it while sitting on one of the many benches surrounding the Pond – weather permitting, of course.  🙂  Which is exactly what my best friend, Kylee, and fiancé are doing in the above photograph which was taken during my 30th birthday trip to the Big Apple.  🙂  Ironically enough, while doing research on the Pond for today’s post, I kept running across the following sentence – or some variation of it – written again and again: “The Conservatory Water is so relaxing and peaceful that you almost forget you are in New York.”  But to me, the Pond is a perfect representation of what it is that makes New York so incredibly unique.  I mean where else can you find a huge and incredibly quiet and picturesque piece of nature located smack dab in the middle of a beautiful, bustling, towering city?  🙂  No, for me, the Model Boat Pond couldn’t be more New York and I never forget what city I am in while visiting it!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Conservatory Water, aka the Model Boat Pond, is located in Central Park on New York’s Upper East Side and can be reached from 72nd through 75th Streets.

Watching The Filming of Gossip Girl

IMG_4266

Two weeks ago while in New York, thanks to fave website OnLocationVacations – who I am now seriously thinking of naming my first born after 🙂 – I was able to watch the filming of Gossip Girl live and in person no less than THREE times!!!!!  Yes, you read that right – THREE TIMES!  For those not familiar with the site, OnLocationVacations features a “Daily Filming Locations” page that chronicles which productions are filming where all over the U.S. – most notably on the island of Manhattan.   So, I, of course, checked that page pretty much immediately after I woke up every morning while on my New York vacation.  And, as you can probably imagine, I just about died when on October 5th I read that my new fave show Gossip Girl  would be filming in Central Park, just a few blocks away from the hotel where I was staying.  So, I immediately dragged my fiancé, my best friend, Robin, his girlfriend, Stephanie, and his mother, who were all visiting from Switzerland at the time, out to the Conservatory Water, which is more commonly known as the Model Boat Pond, in Central Park to do some GG  stalking!  THANK YOU OnLocationVacations!  🙂  (On our way to the set, Stephanie and I spotted the above pictured Craft Services truck and were SO excited we just had to stop and snap a quick pic!)  🙂 

IMG_4268

IMG_4270

Upon arriving at the Model Boat Pond, I, of course, struck up a conversation with a few crew members from the show who really could NOT have been nicer or more friendly.  They chatted with me about where filming was taking place specifically and about who was on set at the time.  The only cast member present when we showed up, though, was Taylor Momsen, who plays Jenny Humphrey, aka “Little J”, on the show.  Taylor was very cute in person and much taller than I expected her to be, but, unfortunately, she also looked a bit under-the-weather.  During breaks she pretty much just sat off to the side of the production and kept to herself.  The next day, I heard that she actually collapsed from exhaustion a few hours after we left the set!  Poor Taylor!

IMG_4273

IMG_4274

Also on set that morning was Air Bud  actor Kevin Zegers who will be guest-starring as Little’s J.’s new love interest on several episodes of Gossip Girl this season.  Because I didn’t recognize him, while we were there I asked around to see if any of the crew members could tell me who he was, but no one seemed to know.  LOL  One crew member told me that  Kevin had starred in the Spiderman movies, but that information turned out to be incorrect.  LOL  It wasn’t until after I got home that fellow stalker Owen was able to identify him for me.  Thank you, Owen!  🙂  Anyway, after watching the filming for about thirty minutes or so, my fiancé and best friend dragged me away from the set.  🙁   Needless to say, neither one of them is very much into filming locations.  LOL

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-45

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-56

But have no fear, because later that afternoon, I, of course, dragged everyone back to Central Park to see if any of the other cast members had shown up.  I was hoping most of all to see Ed Westwick (aka Chuck Bass) and Leighton Meester (aka Blair Waldorf) because, as I mentioned yesterday, they are my two favorite actors on the show.  I so heart Chuck Bass!!!!  So, as you can imagine, I literally almost fell over when I walked up to the set and saw my two faves standing hand in hand filming a scene! YAY!  I could NOT have been more excited!  And it seems that I’m not the only one who reads OnLocationVacations because there were at least two hundred fans and paparazzi standing around watching the filming when we arrived.  🙂

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-5

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-4

   Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-8 

  Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-7

I cannot tell you how exciting it was to watch GG  being filmed right before my very eyes!!!!!  The scene being shot involved Chuck and Blair taking a leisurely stroll through Central Park just East of the Model Boat Pond.

 Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-31

 Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-18 

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-14

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-41

We literally took close to 500 pictures while watching the filming that afternoon, so deciding which ones to post here proved to be rather difficult.  LOL  I wanted to post them ALL!  But that probably would have crashed my entire blog, so I had to settle for a select few.  🙂

IMG_4340

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-99

Leighton Meester is absolutely BEAUTIFUL in person – much prettier than she appears to be on TV – and MUCH taller than I had expected!!  I thought she would be teeny tiny, but in person she looked to be about 5’6”.

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-25

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-27

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-28

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-59

But I have to say that seeing Chuck Bass in person was my favorite part of the day!  🙂  Like Leighton, Ed Westwick is also much better looking in person than he appears to be on TV, but what struck me the most about him was the fact that he makes the SAME EXACT facial expressions in real life that he does while acting as Chuck on the show.  LOVE IT!  Stephanie and I were cracking up the whole time while watching him because he is just so similar to his character. 

IMG_4359 

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-109

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-70

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-72

In between takes Leighton and Ed hung out together on set and seemed to get along really, really well.  They were laughing and joking together and appeared to really enjoy each other’s company.  It was very cool to see.

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-88

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-94

And when she wasn’t chatting with Ed, Leighton was pretty much glued to her blackberry.  A girl after my own heart, I swear!   🙂

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-121

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-123

Unfortunately, as you can see in the above photos, during most of the breaks from shooting a big guy in a red sweatshirt stood in front of Ed and Leighton blocking the paparazzi’s view of the two stars and making it rather difficult for me to take photos.  🙁

IMG_4297

IMG_4298 

Because Chuck and Blair are my fave GG characters, I pretty much hit the jackpot with the filming I got to see.  I felt really bad for Stephanie, though, as she was absolutely dying to see Serena (aka Blake Lively) in person.  The closest we got to seeing her, though, was when her stand-in walked by (pictured above).  And, let me tell you, it was absolutely uncanny how much her stand-in looked like her!   Everyone started furiously snapping photos of her until she got close enough for us to realize that it wasn’t actually Blake Lively.  LOL

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-136

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-143

The following morning, October 6th, I once again checked OnLocationVacations and was FLOORED to discover that GG was filming on location yet again – this time in SoHo.  So, much to my fiancé and best friend’s chagrin, I once more dragged everyone out to the set to do some stalking.  LOL  This time actor Penn Badgley, who plays Dan Humphrey on the show, was shooting a scene by himself.  And, for some incredibly odd reason, besides the ever-present paparazzi, we were the only stalkers on the set that day.  And can I just say here that I so love the New York paparazzi!!!  They are so incredibly friendly and so incredibly different from the L.A. paps, who always seem to have a chip on their shoulder.  One photog that I struck up a conversation with told us exactly where to stand to get a good pic of Penn.  And, sure enough, he was right!  It wasn’t two minutes after we moved to where the photog had told us to stand that Penn walked RIGHT BY!  🙂 

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-159

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-158

So, of course, I asked him if he would mind taking a quick photograph with us.  Penn was SUPER nice and said that he had to film a really quick scene, but that he’d be happy to pose with us afterwards.  You can see him filming the scene in the monitors pictured above. 

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-166

So, while Penn filmed his brief scene, Stephanie and I waited off to the side and, as promised, just a few minutes later he walked by us once again.  When he got close to us he stopped and said to his bodyguard, “Hold on a second, I promised these girls a picture.”  How sweet is that!!!!!  Sigh!!!!!  So darn cool!

[ad]

All in all it was an AMAZING experience being on the GG  set.  The cast and crew could NOT have been friendlier and I had an absolute blast being there!  I highly recommend stalking the show if you ever have the opportunity! 

Goosip-Girl-New-York-2009-69

A big THANK YOU goes out to OnLocationVacations without whom none of this would have been possible!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Gossip Girl  scenes with Taylor Momsen, Ed Westwick, and Leighton Meester were filmed on the East and West sides of the Conservatory Water, aka the Model Boat Pond, in Central Park near 74th Street and Fifth Avenue.  The scene with Penn Badgley was filmed in SoHo at the corner of North Moore and Varick Streets.