Making My Job a Little Easier!

For my birthday my boyfriend bought me the new Sex and the City: The Movie book and I was totally floored to open it up and find a whole chapter devoted to filming locations from the movie! Takes a bit of the guesswork out of stalking, but it will make things so much easier on my next trip to New York. 🙂 The book is GREAT! I absolutely LOVE IT! There are tons of pictures, gossip, and trivia inside and I am having so much fun flipping through it. The only location not named in the filming locations chapter in the book is the Mexican restaurant the girls go to during Carrie’s “honeymoon”. It does mention, though, that it is located in Simi Valley, so it looks like I’ll be stalking all Mexican restaurants in the Simi Valley area for the next few months. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can buy your very own Sex and the City: The Movie book here.

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.

Leaping Off Into The Great Unknown

Trapeze Last week, I made a pretty big life changing decision and quit my job. I have decided to pursue acting (and, of course, stalking) full time – no more having a day job and fitting my acting pursuits around it. From now on I am going to pursue acting 100 percent. 🙂 I am extremely excited, but at the same time absolutely terrified! I told a co-worker the other day that I felt like I was jumping off a cliff into the vast unknown. So it was pretty apropos that I spent this weekend doing just that – leaping off a board 30 feet in the air while learning the flying trapeze!

My good friend Nat had a birthday party this past Saturday at the Circus Center in San Francisco and we spent the entire afternoon trapezing and learning various other circus skills. I was extremely excited about the party, because ever since I saw the Sex and the City episode where Carrie learns to trapeze, I was dying to try it myself. In the SATC episode, Carrie repeatedly attempts to try a “catch” move, but she just can’t seem to let go of the bar to reach for her partner.

I really didn’t think I’d be afraid to trapeze, being that I am not afraid of heights. But, let me tell you, when I started climbing up that 30 foot ladder, my knees started shaking and I became completely freaked out!! I so did NOT want to jump. But even though it was completely scary, I took the plunge and sailed through the air – three times! I never got to put my feet up on the bar and hang backwards like Carrie eventually did on SATC, but I was pretty proud of myself nonetheless. And even though I was petrified, I absolutely loved every minute of it! Which gives me a lot of hope for this new chapter in my life.

At the end of the SATC episode, when Carrie finally tries the “catch”, she misses and falls, but realizes that she has a great safety net – her friends – who will always be there to catch her. I, too, have a great safety net – my friends and family – which makes this huge leap into the unknown just a little less scary. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: TSNY (Trapeze School New York), where Carrie learned to trapeze, is located in the Lower West Side of Manhattan, in the Hudson River Park, on West Street at Houston Street, on top of Pier 40. You can visit their website here. Circus Center San Francisco is located at 755 Frederick Street. While not a filming location, if you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend going! The staff could not have been nicer or more patient with all of us amateurs. Circus Center is an awesome place for a party! You can visit their website here.

The Central Park Boathouse – Where Carrie and Big Went Swimming

home1-test.jpg One of my very favorite episodes of Sex and the City (oh, who am I kidding – every episode is my favorite episode!) was the Season Three Finale when Carrie decides, after much deliberation and a big fight with Miranda, to meet Mr. Big for lunch. Just before the lunch, Carrie promises Miranda that no matter what happens she will NOT kiss Mr. Big.

img_03222.jpg Of course, that is easier said than done! When Big sees Carrie standing on the small dock outside the restaurant, he leans in to kiss her and as she tries to back away from him, they both fall into the pond and start cracking up hysterically. God, I love Sex and the City!

This scene was shot at The Boathouse Restaurant, which I happened to spot on my very first trip to New York as we were walking through Central Park. It is an adorable little restaurant that sits right on the lake. According to my Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell book, SJP cut her foot when she fell in the water shooting this scene and had to be given a tetanus shot right after.

The Boathouse is a great place to eat lunch during the spring and summer months. You can eat lunch and watch the pedal-boaters float by. After lunch you can stop by the boat rental dock and take a nice afternoon boatride across the lake.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Boathouse Restaurant is located in the middle of Central Park at E. 72nd Street and Park Drive North. The restaurant is only open during the months of April through November. You can visit their website here – The Boathouse. Carrie and Big fell off the boat rental dock to the left of the restaurant’s entrance. Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell is a great resource for SATC fans – it contains a map with locations of many SATC filming locations and a lot of behind the scenes info.