The Fake Fendi Apartment Building from “Sex and the City”

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My favorite moment from the two Sex and the City episodes that took place in Los Angeles (Season 3’s “Escape from New York” and “Sex and Another City”) was when Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) attempted to buy fake designer purses at a seedy apartment building somewhere in the Valley.  I, of course, was pretty intent on tracking down said apartment building and while I spent quite a bit of time trying to do so a few years back, I came up empty-handed.  Then, a  couple of weeks ago, after finding Lorenzo Lamas’ house from the “Sex and Another City” episode (which I blogged about here), I became inspired to have another go at it and, lo and behold, pinpointed the place!

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In “Sex and Another City,” Samantha purchases a fake Fendi bag while visiting L.A. with the girls.  When Carrie sees the faux purse, she flips over it (and its $150-price tag) and Samantha tells here, “We could go get more.  I got the guy’s card.  He lives somewhere called ‘the Valley.’”  (Samantha says the words “the Valley” with a romantic undertone, so its obvious she was never an avid 90210 watcher. Winking smile)  The two then take a two-hour drive to the guy’s apartment building, which supposedly has an address number of 45386.

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Only the backyard and rear portion of the apartment building were shown in the episode, which, coupled with the fact that I assumed the place actually was located “deep in the Valley,” made it rather difficult to find.

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While re-watching the scene a couple of weeks ago, I was shocked to spot the unique building visible in the background behind Carrie and Samantha.  Somehow, I had failed to notice it during all of my previous viewings.  As it turns out, the building is one I am quite familiar with and have visited frequently over the years.

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The building pictured in the background of the scene is located right across the street from Warner Bros. Studios and is known as Warner Bros. Studio Plaza or Building 160.  It is the spot where guests check in for the Warner Bros. VIP Tour, which I have taken more times than I can count.  How I never spotted the building on my earlier viewings of the fake Fendi scene is beyond me!

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Especially considering that I knew from one of those tours that the scene in which Carrie met with Matthew McConaughey (who played himself) in the “Escape from New York” episode was filmed INSIDE OF a Warner Bros. Studio Plaza office.  Duh!

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Not to mention that a few other scenes from the two episodes were filmed at Warner Bros., including the scene in which Carrie attempted to smoke on a backlot stoop (which I wrote about for Los Angeles magazine here) and the two scenes in which Carrie drove to the studio for meetings about turning her column into a TV show (which were shot across the street from Building 160, in front of Gate 5).

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In real life, the building is not seedy at all, nor is it located in a shady area.

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While I really wanted to walk into the backyard to catch a glimpse of where filming had taken place, I somehow managed to restrain myself.

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I was thrilled to see, though, that the size and positioning of the building’s windows, the base of the exterior stairwell and the three gray poles to the side of it all matched up to what appeared onscreen.

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The spot where the dogs were caged up in the scene is denoted with a pink arrow in the photograph below.

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Sex and the City Fake Fendi Apartment (9 of 16)

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.  And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The fake Fendi apartment building from the “Sex and Another City” episode of Sex and the City is located at 141 South Avon Street in Burbank.

The New York Public Library from “Sex and the City: The Movie”

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In honor of today’s big premiere of Sex and The City 2, I thought I’d blog about a location from the original movie that I stalked this past October while I was in Manhattan – the New York Public Library.  And even though I’ve actually blogged about this location once before, since I did not include any interior photographs, I thought the place was definitely worth re-visiting.  In the original Sex and the City movie, Carrie Bradshaw (aka Sarah Jessica Parker) and her fiancé Mr. Big (aka Chris Noth) plan to hold their upcoming nuptials at the library because, as Carrie says, it is “the classic New York landmark that housed all the great love stories”.  The New York Public Library was constructed during the years 1902 through 1911 on the site of the former Croton Reservoir and was designed by the architecture firm Carrere & Hastings.  The Beaux-Arts structure, which is made of white marble and cost $9 million to build, encompasses two full blocks of New York City land and contains 88 miles of shelving which holds over seven million books.  Amazingly enough, any one of those seven million tomes can be requested and delivered to the library’s main circulation desk within a period of ten minutes or less!  The New York Public Library, which was named a National Historic Monument in 1965, is a truly amazing piece of architecture and, being that it is symbolic of the two great loves of Carrie Bradshaw’s life – New York City and writing – it is easy to see why producers chose it as the site of her ill-fated wedding.

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The library shows up twice in Sex and the City: The Movie. It first appears in the scene in which Carrie, while returning the book “Love Letters of Great Men, Volume I”, spots a wedding being set up in the library’s mezzanine.  She immediately decides the place is the perfect location for her own upcoming nuptials.

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That first scene was shot in the extremely beautiful McGraw Rotunda, which is located on the library’s second floor.

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The New York Public Library next appears in the big wedding scene, during which Mr. Big stands Carrie up at the altar.  And I should state here that the wedding scene seriously annoyed me.  I mean, honestly, how many times can we expect Big to screw up before Carrie leaves him for good????  The SATC writers really need to come up with a new way of creating tension, because the whole Big-breaks-Carrie’s-heart thing was already getting old way back in Season 3.  We should be long past that storyline by now, but I digress.

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According to the SUPER nice security guard I spoke with, producers had the McGraw Rotunda intricately decorated with thousands upon thousands of flowers and other adornments for the wedding scene, yet none of it was visible in the movie.  The only time any of the wedding decorations can be spotted is in the above-pictured blink-and-you’ll miss it scene in which Anthony Marentino (aka Mario Cantone) tells an assistant to keep all of the wedding guests off of the main stairwell.

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The scene in which Mr. Big tells Carrie via telephone that he “couldn’t get out of the car” and that he will not be going through with the wedding was filmed in the library’s Astor Hall area, just off of the main lobby.

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Miranda (aka Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (aka Kristin Davis) immediately grab Carrie and rush her out of the library’s northernmost front door.

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And, while I was stalking the library, I, of course, just had to reenact the scene in which a devastated Carrie drops her cell phone after finding out that Big has stood her up.

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Sex and the City: The Movie was hardly the first production to film at the library, though.  The building was also the site of the benefit gala in the Season 3 episode of Gossip Girl titled “Ex-Husbands and Wives”

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In the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paul Varjak (aka George Peppard) and Holly Golightly (aka Audrey Hepburn) stop into the library during their “things we’ve never done before” day.  And while the real life exterior of the library appeared in that scene, I cannot say for certain that the actual interior was also used.  The interior scenes quite possibly may have been filmed on a studio soundstage.  The library also appeared in a later scene in the movie as the spot where Paul first tells Holly that he loves her.  And I just have to say here that I find it absolutely amazing that Audrey Hepburn’s costumes are still stylish today, almost five decades after Breakfast at Tiffany’s was filmed!  I mean, how adorable is the orange jacket pictured above?  But, again, I digress.

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In the original Spider-Man movie, Uncle Ben (aka Cliff Robertson) drops off Peter Parker (aka Tobey Maguire) at the library, where he is supposedly going to do some studying.  Peter instead goes to a wrestling match dressed as Spider-Man.  When Ben later comes to pick Peter up, he gets killed outside of the library’s main entrance.

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Jenna Rink (aka Jennifer Garner) and Matt Flamhaff (aka Mark Ruffalo) stage part of their “Class of 2004” photo shoot in front of the New York Public Library in fave movie 13 Going On 30.

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In 1997’s Picture Perfect, the library was the site of the Gulden’s Mustard party where Kate Mosley (aka my girl Jennifer Aniston) first becomes disillusioned with the advertising world.

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And while a large portion of the movie The Day After Tomorrow was set in the New York Public Library, no filming actually took place there.  Instead producers built a replica of the library’s interior on a studio soundstage that they later destroyed during the massive flood scenes.  According to the security guard that I spoke with, set designers spent weeks taking measurements of the interior of the library so that it could be exactly replicated for the filming.

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In The Thomas Crown Affair, the inside of the library stood in for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as the Met refused to let any interior scenes be shot on the premises.

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The first Ghostbusters movie actually opens with a shot of the New York Public Library and its famous stone lions, who are named Patience and Fortitude.  The library has also appeared in the movies On The Town, Pickup on South Street, A Thousand Clowns, The Clock, King Kong, and You’re a Big Boy Now, and in the television series Kings.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The New York Public library is located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 42nd Street in New York City.  It is open to the public daily.

The Vera Wang Flagship Salon

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While I realize that today should really be the start of my annual, month long “Haunted Hollywood” theme, since I am on a plane right now headed to Manhattan, I decided to write a post about New York, my favorite city in the world, instead.  🙂  And since I’ve had weddings on the brain ever since getting engaged this past May, what better way to start my New York blogging than to write about the bridal salon that puts all other bridal salons to shame- the Vera Wang Flagship Store on Madison Avenue.  🙂  Even though there is no way in heck I could ever afford to purchase a Vera Wang wedding gown (let’s face it, I probably couldn’t even afford the sleeve of a dress in that store!  LOL), I deemed the location to be blog-worthy since it appeared in a Season 3 episode of fave show Sex and the City.  So, here goes!  (Please excuse the above photograph, as it was taken on a particularly windblown New York City day a few years back, and my hair is a bit, um, ruffled.)  🙂

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In the episode, which is entitled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, Carrie and the girls head to the Vera Wang Flagship Salon to try on some absolutely gorgeous bridesmaids dresses for Charlotte’s upcoming nuptials to Dr. Trey MacDougal.  It is while trying on the dresses that Carrie laments over whether or not to tell Aidan about her recent affair with Mr. Big.  As the girl discuss the pros and cons of coming clean with Aidan, Samantha, of course, resorts to using foul language, causing Charlotte to whisper “Could you please not use the ‘F word’ in Vera Wang!”  LOL LOL LOL 

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Even though Charlotte specifies in the scene that they are at Vera Wang, I wasn’t sure if filming had actually taken place at the legendary Madison Avenue salon until I was able to verify it in the locations section of fave book  Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell.  And once I knew for sure, I, of course, immediately dragged my then-boyfriend out to the Vera Wang Flagship Store to snap a quick picture.  🙂  Unfortunately, though, because the store is a ” by appointment only” establishment, I wasn’t able to venture inside.  🙁  And being that I stalked the place LONG before I was engaged and had any sort of need for a wedding dress, there was really no reason for me to make an appointment.   LOL   Such a bummer, too, because I so wanted to see the spot where Carrie and the girls tried on their dresses.  I did manage to grab the above photograph of the interior of the Madison Avenue store off of the company’s website, though, and you can kind of catch a glimpse of where filming took place.  🙂 

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You can also sort of see the store’s interior in the above photograph that I took last December.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Vera Wang Flagship Salon is located at 991 Madison Avenue in Manhattan.  You can visit their website and make an appointment to try on wedding gowns here.

Samantha Jones and Smith Jerrod’s Beach House

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This weekend after stalking Carrie’s honeymoon villa  from Sex and the City: The Movie, I dragged my boyfriend about 15 miles south to stalk yet another location from the film – Samantha and Smith’s beach house.  Thanks to fave book Sex and the City: The Movie, which stated that the home was located on Malibu Road, this location was a snap to find!  Smith and Samantha’s house, with its curved glass and steel architecture, is quite unique and it’s not hard to see why producers chose it as the residence of SATC’s  trendy P.R. exec and her young movie star boyfriend.

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In person, the house is absolutely breathtaking.  Located right on the sand in Malibu, the home has five separate cantilevered balconies that seem to just hang right over the Pacific Ocean.  I can only imagine what the views must be like at sunset!  I’m not usually a big fan of modern houses, but this one is pretty special.   At the time of filming the home was on the market for a cool $17 million (the price has now dropped to $14,500,000).  I believe it was also vacant, which would have made filming there much easier than in a home that was occupied. 

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Filming of the Samantha/Smith scenes took two weeks to complete and both the interior and the exterior of the real life beach house were used extensively.  Featured in the movie were the kitchen area (where Samantha cooks Smith homemade sushi),

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and the master bedroom, where Smith asks Samantha to stop running off to New York every chance she gets.  You can compare the above screen captures to the interior photos of the home shown on its real estate website and on this website.  From the looks of it, it seems producers even chose to use the home’s real bedroom furniture for the filming.

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The front of Samantha and Smith’s home wasn’t shown in Sex and the City: The Movie, but you can catch a glimpse of it in the above pic.  Ironically, the front of the house looks like a normal everyday modern style home and doesn’t give any clue as to the amazing architecture located just on the other side of it.  And while the front of the house will not be familiar to Sex and the City  fans, the back definitely will be.  Public beach access is located fairly close to the house, so if you would like to see the back view – and I really suggest you do – it’s less than a five minute walk down the beach.

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The house directly next door to Samantha’s should also be recognizable to SATC  fans. It was used as the home of Samantha’s hunky neighbor Dante (played Gilles Marini who is currently competing on Dancing With The Stars) on whom she develops quite a crush.   As for Dante’s outdoor shower, I couldn’t find it anywhere.  It is my guess that either another home was used for that scene, or a special shower was created especially for filming purposes that was later removed.   

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Also missing in real life –  the balcony hot tub that Samantha relaxes in towards the beginning of the movie. 

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  Samantha’s house is absolutely beautiful in person and I highly recommend stalking it – or purchasing it if you have the means!  If you don’t have $14,500,000 on hand to buy the home, it is also available as a rental property at the rate of $75,000 per month.  Being that I’ve never made that amount in an entire year, let alone a month, I think I’m pretty much out of the running on this one. LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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Stalk It: Samantha and Smith’s beach house is located at 24826 Malibu Road in Malibu.  Dante’s house is located directly next door at 24822 Malibu Road.

The Sex and the City Honeymoon House

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Ever since Sex and the City: The Movie premiered last May, I have been absolutely dying to stalk the hotel where the girls stayed during Carrie’s non-honeymoon.  In the movie, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte spend a week at what is supposedly a private villa located on the grounds of a Mexican resort.   In actuality, though, not only were the Mexican hotel scenes not filmed in Mexico, but they weren’t even filmed at an actual hotel.  LOL  In reality, two different locales situated over forty miles apart from each other stood in for Carrie’s honeymoon hotel.  The villa the girls stayed in is actually a private home located right off the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.  And the hotel restaurant where Carrie and the girls drank margaritas is actually a ballroom located at an equestrian compound in Simi Valley named Hummingbird Nest Ranch.  And while I have yet to stalk the Ranch – something which I am planning to do in the near future – I did drag my boyfriend out to stalk Carrie’s villa this past weekend.

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My first clue in locating the villa came from fave book  Sex and the City: The Movie, in which  Sarah Jessica Parker mentioned that the honeymoon scenes were filmed in Malibu.  Knowing that there is no hotel anywhere near Malibu that looks at all like the one Carrie and the girls stayed at, I started searching the internet for a private home near the coast that had an infinity pool flanked by two huge built-in planters holding palm trees.  And I located the home almost immediately.  Then when I came across these close up photos of the house, I knew for certain that it was the place where Carrie spent her honeymoon.

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At first I couldn’t figure out why producers didn’t use a real Mexican resort to shoot the honeymoon scenes. But then I remembered that Kim Cattrall and Jason Lewis were already shooting on location in Malibu, so it would have made sense to shoot the honeymoon sequence there, as well.  Apparently, the producers were even given the opportunity to film for free at a Caribbean resort (in exchange for a pretty prominent plug of the hotel, I’m sure), but they loved Carrie’s “Mexicoma” joke so much that they decided to keep the honeymoon in Mexico.  I actually thought that joke was pretty lame and I can’t even believe they gave up a free five-star filming location to keep it in the script!  LOL

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Carrie’s honeymoon house is absolutely stunning in person and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was quite a lot of it visible from the street. 

Even the pool area, which was the part of the house featured most prominently in SATC, can be seen from the road!  Love it!  Quite a bit of the property can be seen from the Pacific Coast Highway, as well.

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There is even what appears to be a chapel located on the property, so I am guessing that the owners must rent out their house quite often for weddings.  Even though the place didn’t prove to be good luck for Carrie, it still looks like a pretty amazing place to get married.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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Stalk It: The Sex and the City: The Movie honeymoon house, aka Villa Lizton,  is located at 4440 Encinal Canyon Road in Malibu.  To see the house’s pool area, you have to drive a bit south of the property.

Samantha’s Meatpacking Digs!

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Yet another New York location that Mike, God of Stalking, found for me is the new apartment Samantha moves into early in the third season of Sex and the City. This same apartment was featured throughout the end of the series’ six season run. And I absolutely could not figure out its exact location. According to IMDB, the apartment was located on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, but after extensive searching on Google street maps, I soon realized that that information was not correct. So, as usual, I enlisted Mike’s help in finding the apartment and, sure enough, he located it in a snap! 🙂

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I sent Mike the above screen captures from the Season 3 episode of SATC entitled “Cock-A-Doodle-Do”, which featured Samantha’s apartment quite prominently. He immediately recognized the overhang located at the end of Samantha’s street (pictured in the second screen capture above). It seems Mike had stalked that very overhang earlier this year, after it was featured in the Will Smith movie I Am Legend. Eureka!

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So, while in New York a few weeks ago, I dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk Samantha’s Meatpacking digs. Sadly, though, her apartment building looks very different today than it appeared back in 2000 when SATC filmed there. In the early 1900’s, the Meatpacking District was solely an industrial neighborhood, housing over 250 of New York’s slaughterhouses and warehouses. In the 80s, prostitutes and drug dealers moved in, turning MePa, as it is sometimes called, into a seedy and run down part of town. But during the past ten years or so, the entire Meatpacking District has undergone a huge transformation, turning it into one of the most trendy neighborhoods in New York. During this transformation, many of the old slaughterhouses and buildings, including Samantha’s, were given complete face lifts and no longer look as they did a decade ago.

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You can see in the above photographs how very different the loading dock area in front of Samantha’s apartment now looks. While it is still, for the most part, recognizable as Samantha’s apartment, the entire bottom floor of the building was recently given a complete makeover and is now home to a trendy restaurant named Spice Market.

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And when I saw the building in person, I realized that Samantha’s apartment building on SATC was actually made up of two different exteriors that are located right next door to each other. The front door Samantha is shown exiting and entering on the series (pictured above) actually belongs to the building located directly next door to the building used as hers on the series.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Samantha’s front door is located just to the right of the entrance to Fusion Physical Therapy & Sports, located at 407 W. 13th Street. Her apartment building is actually the building next door, located at 403 West 13th Street in New York’s Meatpacking District.