Month: June 2008

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Miranda and Steve’s Garden Wedding

In keeping with the SATC theme of this week, I thought I’d do a post about a location that my boyfriend actually dragged me to! At the time I had no idea it was a filming location, let alone a SATC filming location, so sadly I didn’t take many pictures while I was there. When I was in New York two years ago, my boyfriend and I happened upon what looked like a huge brick castle in the middle of Greenwich Village and he insisted we go inside to explore. It turns out the building was not a castle at all, but a former New York City courthouse and detention center. A bit of trivia – the detention center once held famous prisoner Mae West! I must admit that while I am usually not into touring museums or historical buildings, this location was a really fun one to stalk. 🙂

Jefferson Market Courthouse functioned as the Third Judicial District Courthouse from 1874 to 1945, at which time it fell into disrepair and was headed for demolition. Thankfully, New Yorkers protested against the demolition and the property was turned into the Jefferson Market Branch, New York Public Library. The building is now a National Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The detention center that was attached to the Courthouse was demolished in 1974 and replaced with a community garden called the Jefferson Market Garden. That garden was the location of Miranda and Steve’s nuptials on Sex and the City. According to a Villager article, thanks to that episode of SATC, the garden has turned into a frequent wedding venue. Besides being used in the SATC, Jefferson Market was also featured in David Duchovny’s movie House of D.

The Library is very cool to stalk, as it is still set up like an ancient courthouse. There are winding staircases, wood paneled rooms and even a dark, creepy dungeon that now houses the computer room. 🙂 When you step inside the library, it feels as if you are stepping back in time.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Jefferson Market Garden is located next to the Jefferson Market Branch, New York Public Library at 425 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village. The former courthouse is open daily to the public.

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Grease is the Word!

Grease has long been a favorite movie of mine, ever since I was a little girl, actually. I still have pictures of my friend Nat and I at eight years old dressed up in her mom’s wigs and 50s clothes acting out scenes from Grease in front of the TV. One of our favorite scenes to act out was Frenchy’s slumber party when Rizzo sings “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee”. So when fave website Seeing Stars posted the address of the slumber party house I about died and dragged my dad right out to stalk it! 🙂

I was absolutely shocked to see that the house looked exactly the same as it did in Grease, which was filmed back in 1978. In reality, the house is not actually a single family home, but a tri-plex comprised of three different apartments. In Grease, it appeared to be just one home, but if you take a close look at the house in the movie, you can see that there are actually two front doors. 🙂

In the movie, the T-Birds show up to crash the Pink Ladies’ slumber party. They drive up in Greased Lightnin’ and park in Frenchy’s driveway, which runs along the side of the house. Rizzo decides she’s “going to get her kicks while she’s still young enough to get ’em”, climbs out Frenchy’s window and shimmies down the drainpipe on the side of the house. I am happy to report that the drainpipe is still there! 🙂 Later on in the movie, Sandy sings “Hopelessly Devoted To You” in the backyard of this home.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Frenchy’s house is located at 4524 Kingswell Drive in Hollywood, near Los Feliz. John Marshall High School, which was the high school in Boy Meets World, Growing Pains, Pretty in Pink, the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, among countless other productions, is located a short distance away at 3939 Tracy Street in Los Feliz.

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Virginia City Stalking!

I am currently visiting my Grandma in the Reno area and today she took me to historic Virginia City to do some sightseeing. Anytime I am in a new town, I always stop into the local visitor’s center or bookstore to ask if any movies have been filmed in the area. What’s that old saying? – Wherever you go, there you are. 🙂 Anyway, I stopped into the Mark Twain Bookstore to inquire about movie locations and the woman behind the counter told me that while Virginia City has not been used as a filming location, the movie The Misfits starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe was filmed in nearby Dayton in the 1960s. She also told us that during the filming, Marilyn stayed just up the street from the bookstore at Edith Palmer’s Country Inn. So, of course, I had to drag my grandma to go stalk it. 🙂

The Inn, which was originally a private home built in 1863, was owned by Ellis Morton, a wealthy businessman, and his wife Margaret. They lived in the home and operated the Cider Factory, which was located on the property. The Cider Factory supplied the nearby area with cider and vinegar. Edith Palmer purchased the home from the Mortons in 1948 and opened an inn. Edith was an award winning chef and apparently originally opened the Inn to put up her dinner guests who didn’t feel like driving home. In 2000, a couple named Pat and Leisa Findley purchased the home and completely restored it along with adding additional homes and guest rooms. They also opened a restaurant in the former Cider Factory space.

Today you can stay in the very room Marylin stayed in. “The Marilyn Room” is a second floor room complete with a bathroom with a tub and shower. You can see photos of the room on the Inn’s website. According to the hotel website, Marilyn is quoted as saying “To Edith Palmer and her oasis in the desert and warm hospitality – may I always be a welcome guest.” Besides Marilyn Monroe, other famous guest of the Inn include Robert Goulet and Liberace.

The Misfits was sadly the last film for both Marylin Monroe and Clark Gable. Clark suffered a heart attack the day after filming was completed and passed away 11 days later. According to IMDB, on the last day of filming he reportedly said “Christ, I’m glad this picture’s finished. She [Monroe] almost damn near gave me a heart attack.” Marilyn died a year after filming was completed on The Misfits and although she did work on the movie Something’s Gotta Give, she was fired due to her erratic behavior and filming was never completed.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Edith Palmer’s Country Inn is located at 416 South B Street in Virginia City, Nevada. Supposedly if you visit the Inn, the proprietor Leisa will take you on a tour and fill you in on the history of the Inn, but sadly she was not in when we visited. You can visit the Inn’s website here. The Mark Twain Bookstore is located at 111 South C Street, also in Virginia City.

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New York Public Library

Finally saw Sex and the City: The Movie on Sunday! I literally could not sit still in my theatre seat until the movie began I was so excited!! I must say the movie was not as good as I hoped it would be. 🙁 There were parts I absolutely LOVED and times when I felt like I was visiting with my old friends Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha, and I for sure laughed and even cried. But overall I felt the movie missed its mark. It just lacked that SATC magic that was present in the TV show. Especially the ending. I think the Series Finale of the show which aired back in 2004 was a much more satisfying send off for my favorite foursome than the movie was. I need to curl up on my couch and watch the Finale on DVD again to make me feel better. 🙂

Anyway, in the movie Carrie and Big plan to get married (don’t worry I am not giving anything away here) at the New York Public Library, in the same building that “houses the world’s greatest love stories”. The New York Library is an absolutely beautiful building and I highly recommend a stalking visit there. The library was dedicated on May 23, 1911 and has been a popular New York tourist attraction ever since. The lobby of the Library is breathtaking with sweeping white marble staircases and vaulted ceilings. The second floor is covered in dark wood paneling with gorgeous paintings lining the walls and a huge mural covering the ceiling.

The New York Public Library was also featured prominently in the movie The Day After Tomorrow as the location where Jake Gyllenhal and his friends take refuge from the storm. It also showed up in the movies Spiderman, The Thomas Crown Affair, King Kong, and the Jen Aniston movie Picture Perfect, among many others. Update – my good friend Nat was highly dissapointed in me because I forgot to mention Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which filmed at the library! In the movie Holly Golightly and Paul run into the library, right past the Lions, and look up his book in the card catalog.

Out in front of the library are the famous marble Lions named Fortitude and Patience who have guarded the library entrance ever since its opening in 1911. Designed by Edward Clark Potter, the Lions are now the offical mascots for the NY Library and a book has even been written about them called Top Cats: The Life and Times of the New York Public Library Lions. I absolutely love the Lions and make it a point to visit them every time I am in New York.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The New York Public Library is located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. If you are visiting New York in the Summertime, be sure to hit up Bryant Park right behind the Library. Bryant Park is absolutely beautiful in the Spring and Summer and they have a great restaurant called the Bryant Park Grill Outdoor Cafe.

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My Birthday Plans Go Up In Flames

For my birthday, which is coming up in two weeks, I was planning on dragging my boyfriend on the ultimate stalking adventure – a day at Universal Studios Hollywood! The last time I was at Universal was about 20 years ago and I am just dying to go on the tram ride to see the Studio’s famous back-lot, especially the Wisteria Lane set from Desperate Housewives. But Mother Nature had other plans, I guess.

This morning, while driving in Burbank to go see Sex and the City: The Movie, my boyfriend and I were shocked to see a huge fire blazing right off the 5 Freeway. I was even more shocked – and completely and totally bummed out – when I checked the local news on my blackberry and found out that Universal Studios was on fire! How incredibly sad!!! 🙁 We pulled over to take some pictures of the fire as I had truly never seen anything like it in my life.

According to news reports, sets from Back to the Future including the Courthouse Square and the Clock Tower were damaged in the blaze. Sets from Monk, Bruce Almighty, The Changeling, and House were completely destroyed. Such a bummer!! I was happy to hear, though, that after a 1990 fire destroyed many back-lot sets (including the Back to the Future sets) Universal was able to rebuild them for future stalkers to view.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Universal Studios is located at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City. Universal Studios is set to reopen tomorrow, June 1st, and according to Universal’s website the back-lot tram tour will be operational, as well. But several locations will be, of course, left out of the tour until they can be rebuilt or repaired. 🙁