Sex and the City – Page 3

March 24, 2014March 25, 2014

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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).

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

March 4, 2014March 3, 2014

Lorenzo Lamas’ House from “Sex and the City”

This past weekend was hands down the best. Oscar. weekend. ever. I ended up stalking only one event (the torrential rain kept me indoors the rest of the time), but while there I got to meet one of my top-five celebrity crushes, Mr. Joshua Jackson from Dawson’s Creek. Like I said, best. Oscar. weekend. ever.

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I also met Alex Newell from Glee . . .

and The O.C.’s Peter Gallagher (who happened to be playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Palm Springs).

I also got to do a bit of location stalking during the few, brief moments when the sun was out, most of it Sex and the City-related. While doing research for my most-recent Los Angeles magazine Scene It Before post, about the backlot stoop where Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) attempted to smoke a cigarette in the Season 3 episode titled “Escape from New York,” I got inspired to track down some of the missing locations from the episode and the one that followed it, titled “Sex and Another City.” (Both episodes took place in L.A.). The locale I was most intent on finding was the ultra-modern pad that Keith Travers (Vince Vaughn) took Carrie to look at in “Sex and Another City.” In the episode, the real estate agent informs Keith that the residence belongs to actor Lorenzo Llamas and that he has it listed at $3.4 million, but that it will probably go for $3.2.

When Carrie sees the inside of the place, she says, “This is not a house, this is an airport!”

Thanks to its modern style and stellar views, I was convinced that the residence was located somewhere in the West Hollywood area, so I was shocked to come across this listing which stated that it was actually in Studio City. From there, tracking down the home’s exact location was a snap. Sadly though, when I went to stalk it, I learned that the pad is located on a private road and is not accessible to the public. I did manage to catch a glimpse of it from a few blocks away, though.

According to this article, the unique home had a bit of a stilted start. Architect Michael Pearce completed building the exterior of the structure in 1996, shortly before it was acquired by the bank. A man named Robert Seltzer subsequently purchased it for $600,000 and commissioned architect David Kellen to finish the project. The residence was then put on the market in 2004 for, in a case of life imitating art, $3.4 million. It appears to have been put on the market again in 2013 for $2,795,000, but I do not believe that it ever sold.

According to the real estate listing, the property was in need of some repairs and TLC at that time. As you can see below, it does appear that some sort of work is currently being done on the place.

The stunning home boasts four bedrooms, five baths, 5,873 square feet of space, a 0.59-acre plot of land, an infinity pool, a spa, a rooftop deck, three balconies, twenty-foot ceilings, glass walls, a gourmet kitchen, three fireplaces, and a sauna. You can see some interior photographs of the pad here. According to this article, Leonardo DiCaprio (whom I was devastated did not win the Best Actor Oscar on Sunday night) even checked out the property at one point in time.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Lorenzo Lamas’ house from the “Sex and Another City” episode of Sex and the City is located at 3596 Woodhill Canyon Road in Studio City. Woodhill Canyon Road is private and not accessible to the public, but you can catch a glimpse of the residence from Mound View Place, which is located just a few blocks east.

August 5, 2010March 3, 2011

My “Sex and the City” Bachelorette Party

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s blog, this past weekend I headed up to Northern California to celebrate my final days of singlehood with a bachelorette party in San Francisco. My friends Nat and Kylee planned the entire celebration and until I actually arrived at the party site, I had absolutely no idea of what the evening would entail. As it turned out, they had put together a Sex and the City-themed soiree for me which was held at an amazingly chic New York-style loft in the Marquee Loft Building located in the heart of downtown San Francisco. YAY!

When I first walked into the loft, Nat and Kylee had the Sex and the City theme song blasting from the TV in the living room, but I have to admit that I was so in awe of the actual loft that I didn’t even notice the music and therefore had no idea of the night’s theme.

The loft was simply AMAZING and walking in I truly felt like I had stepped into a residence in New York. The place was decorated so perfectly and was just so Sex and the City-ish, that I should have known right away what my friends had in store for me, but the blonde in me had taken over I guess, because I am ashamed to admit that I had absolutely no idea.

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Then I walked into the kitchen and immediately noticed the cupcake apron that Charlotte York (aka Kristin Davis) had worn in Sex and the City 2, but even then I STILL didn’t realize the night’s theme! I thought the apron was simply a part of the loft’s cool decor and when I pointed it out to Nat and commented on its movie connection she must have been ready to smack me because she said, “Yes, I KNOW!! I wanted you to feel like you were walking into Charlotte’s kitchen.” How incredibly cute is that????? Nat and Kylee finally explained the theme of the evening to me and needless to say I could NOT have been more excited.

Besides the loft fitting in with the party’s whole Sex and the City theme, the place was also, of course, a filming location! As it turns out, Nelson Moss (aka Keanu Reeves) lived in the Marquee Loft Building, in Unit #702, in the 2001 movie Sweet November.

And while we didn’t stay in the exact unit where filming took place, many elements of our loft, including the front door, living room windows, and kitchen area, were an exact match to Nelson’s loft in the movie.

The Marquee Loft Building, which was built in 1921, originally housed the Don Lee Cadillac Dealership and was designed by Charles Peter Weeks and William Peyton Day, the notable San Francisco architecture team who was also responsible for designing the Mark Hopkins Hotel, the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, and the Huntington Hotel. The former auto dealership, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was converted into a residential loft building in 1999 and that same year won the San Francisco Business Times award for “Best Rehab of the Year”. My fiancé and I actually currently live in a loft-style apartment, but our entire place could literally fit in the master bedroom of the loft where my bachelorette party was held. 😉

My bachelorette loft, which is a vacation rental, featured two bedrooms (pictured above) and over 1,300 square-feet of living space. I was absolutely DYING over it as it is EXACTLY the type of place that I would love to own someday.

The ultra-chic pad also boasted a private computer office area;

a large living room with a sofa-bed;

and amazing views of the City . . .

. . . especially at night! Sigh! What I wouldn’t give to live in a place like that!

But my story doesn’t end there! In keeping with the night’s theme, instead of just making a veil for me to wear throughout the evening, as is the norm with bachelorette parties, Kylee constructed an almost exact replica of Carrie’s feathered veil from Sex and the City: The Movie. I was absolutely DYING laughing when she first pulled it out of her bag, as I knew as soon as I saw that flash of blue exactly what it was.

Then to complete the look, she also had a Carrie-style necklace made for me that spelled out the word “Mrs.”, with a diamond stud standing in for the period. LOVE IT! I should really explain here that neither Nat nor Kylee is at all a fan of Sex and the City (in fact, Kylee downright hates the show) so the fact that they came up with all of this stuff is absolutely mind-boggling to me! I mean, I’m like the biggest Sex and the City fan in the entire world and I don’t think I would have thought of any of it!

But the soiree didn’t just involve spending the weekend at an exclusive New York-style loft. My friends also took me to Teatro ZinZanni, which is described on its website as “a bewitching evening of European Cabaret and Cirque, Divas and Madmen, Spectacle and Sensuality with Live Music and Gourmet Five-Course Dinner – set in the nightclub of your dreams!” I had never actually heard of the musical/comedy/dinner theatre show, which is currently celebrating its tenth year in San Francisco, before this past Saturday night, but, let me tell you, the whole thing was RIGHT UP MY ALLEY. The show was absolutely HILARIOUS, the food was AMAZING, and the costumes! Sigh, the costumes! I couldn’t take my eyes off of them! The subject matter of the show changes a few times each year and, as fate would have it, the current theme just happens to be “Love, Chaos, and Couture”, which fit in perfectly with my SATC-themed night. One of the stars of the show also just happened to be actress Liliane Montevecchi, who played Mrs. DeLauer in 2003’s How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days. Teatro ZinZanni was simply AMAZING and I honestly cannot recommend stalking it enough. As my friend Nat says, “It is my favorite thing to do in San Francisco.” And I can honestly say it is now mine, too!

All in all, the evening was spectacular and, as I said to Nat afterwards, she and Kylee could not have planned a more perfect evening for me had I given them a blueprint of what I wanted. 🙂 The following morning, my mom texted me and said that my dad was worried that I might have gotten sick during the party. That cracked Nat and Kylee up to no end and Kylee said sarcastically, “Yeah, ‘cause that would just be so Lindsay.” 😉 No, I did not get sick – the evening was fun, but extremely classy, which is exactly the way I wanted it. 🙂 As I mentioned in Monday’s post, planning this wedding has been a very stressful and trying endeavor, compounded mostly by the fact that my dad has been so sick (and yes, he is sick once again and has to have another surgery today – UGH). But looking at these photographs absolutely warms my heart and makes me realize that, when all is said and done, I am not going to look back on the past few months with irritation at the guests and family members who asked for ridiculous things , the vendors who fell through or messed up, or the invitations that didn’t arrive on time. All of that stuff is trivial. No, I am going to look back and be hit with how incredibly lucky I am to be surrounded by such an exorbitant amount of love in my life. As it turned out the evening’s Sex and the City theme could not have been more apropos, because the thing I thought about most that night was friendship. I have the most incredible group of friends a girl could possibly ever ask for . . . just like Carrie Bradshaw.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Marquee Lofts are located at 151 Alice B. Toklas Place in San Francisco. In Sweet November, Keanu Reeves lived in Loft #702. My bachelorette party was held in Loft #509, which is a vacation rental. You can visit the loft’s rental website here. Teatro ZinZanni is located at Pier 29 on the Embarcadero at Battery Street. You can visit the show’s official website here.

May 27, 2010June 16, 2011

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

January 23, 2010January 23, 2010

Welcome to the Very First Iamnotastalker and MovieShotsLA Filming Locations Contest!

Update: Well, that was fast! Fellow stalker Billy is the winner of our first ever contest! Even though he has never seen an episode of SATC, he figured out the answer to our challenge in record time! I really thought this was going to be a stumper, but I guess not! Jenna’s apartment building from 13 Going On 30 appeared in the Season 6 episode of Sex and the City entitled “The Perfect Present”. In the episode, the girls walk by Jenna’s building while on their way to Jennifer Coolidge’s purse party. Billy also figured out our bonus question – Jenna’s apartment building was also used as the residence of Paul and Jamie on the series Mad About You. Congratulations, Billy! Mike and I will be hosting locations contests every month from now, so be on the lookout! 🙂

Our friends over at On Location Tours in New York City recently made the kind offer to donate a gift certificate good towards their popular Sex and the City Hot Spots Tour or Gossip Girl Sites Tour to be used as a prize if I ever wanted to host a contest. Well, let me tell you, I got EXTREMELY excited after hearing this and immediately called up Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to see if he wanted to host a movie locations contest with me, which he, of course, did. So, without further ado, welcome to the first ever Iamnotastalker and MovieShotsLA Filming Locations Contest! 🙂

So, what does the challenge entail, you ask? Well, a few weeks ago, while thumbing through fave book Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell, I noticed a photograph (pictured above) of Carrie and the girls standing in front of a building located at 51 Fifth Avenue, the very same building where Jenna Rink lived in fave movie 13 Going On 30. (For those of you who own the book, the photograph is located on page 39.) I cannot for the life of me figure out which episode of Sex and the City that particular still was taken from though. So, your mission, should you choose to accept it: Find the episode of Sex and the City that featured 13 Going On 30 building.

As a bonus – If you can figure out what hit 90’s television series also used the 51 Fifth Avenue building as the dwelling of its two main characters, Mike and I will throw in a copy of fave stalking book New York: The Movie Lover’s Guide by Richard Alleman, as well. 😉

Good luck, fellow stalkers!

And a big THANK YOU to On Location Tours for sponsoring our first ever contest event! 🙂

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Send your guesses to Lindsay@iamnotastalker.com before February 6, 2010. The On Location Tours gift certificate never expires, so you need not live in the New York area to enter – or win – the contest. 🙂

November 20, 2009November 19, 2009

Jefferson Market Garden

Another Sex and the City location that I re-stalked while in New York last month was Jefferson Market Garden, the spot where the series’ ever-present cynic Miranda Hobbs finally married long-time boyfriend Steve Brady in the Season 6 episode entitled “The Ick Factor”. I first stalked this location back in December of 2006, but at the time had absolutely no idea that it was a filming location and from one of my favorite television shows, no less. My fiancé had dragged me to the garden and it’s adjacent library due to the place’s historical significance, and, while I enjoyed visiting it, I took virtually no photographs while there. So, this year, I vowed to return, camera in hand! And return, I did! Thank goodness my family scheduled this year’s New York trip in early October, though, as I had not previously realized that Jefferson Market Garden is only accessible to the public seasonally, during the months May through October.

Jefferson Market Garden’s name is derived from the fact that in the early 1800’s a produce market, named after former president Thomas Jefferson, existed on the site where the garden and library now stand. In 1873, that market was torn down and a courthouse built in its place. Jefferson Market Courthouse, which opened in 1877, was designed by Calvert Vaux, one of the men responsible for designing Central Park, and architect Frederick Clarke Withers. In 1885, the Gothic-style building (pictured above) was voted the fifth most beautiful in the entire country. In 1931, an eleven story detention center for women was constructed on the lot directly adjacent to the Courthouse. And while the Courthouse served the Third Judicial District of New York from 1874 to 1945 and the detention center even housed a certain famous prisoner named Mae West at one time, by the 1940’s, both structures had fallen into serious disrepair and were threatened with demolition. Thankfully New York preservationists stepped in and convinced the City of New York to renovate the Courthouse and turn the space into a Public Library. They also petitioned to have the dreary detention center torn down and a garden created in its place. Which is exactly what happened. The library opened to the public in 1967, the detention center was destroyed in 1973, the garden was planted in 1974, and the rest, as they say, is history. Jefferson Market Garden, which measures one third of an acre, opened to the public in 1975 and, while owned by New York City Parks & Recreation, remains a community project, cared for by local Manhattanites.

Today’s garden consists of a central lawn, a koi pond, a rose garden, beds of various annuals, and several benches upon which to sit and enjoy the view. It seems like the perfect place to spend a sunny afternoon. In fact, while we were stalking the place, quite a few people were seated on the benches talking and enjoying the warm Autumn weather, while several artists stood nearby and painted the scene on portable easels. It looked like something straight out of a movie. 🙂 Jefferson Market Garden is a truly beautiful place, and not surprisingly, has been the site of numerous nuptials ever since Miranda and Steve tied the knot there back in 2004.

On Sex and the City, the garden first showed up in a beginning scene of the “Ick Factor” episode, in which the recently engaged Steve and Miranda have some issues while walking home after doing their weekly shopping. Not only do Miranda’s shopping bags explode during the scene, spilling their contents onto Greenwich Avenue, but Steve also steps in a wad of chewing gum, causing Miranda to proclaim “We should get married right here in this mess!”, to which Steve replies, “We’re gonna have to if I can’t get this gum off.” LOL LOL LOL Ahhh, I so love Steve!

It is then that Miranda looks up and notices the picturesque garden setting situated right in front of them and announces to Steve that she thinks it might just be the perfect spot for the two of them to get married.

And get married there, they do, in a beautiful ceremony which took place later in that very same episode, which, as I’ve mentioned before, has to be one of my favorite episodes of all time. Carrie’s closing line of “For better or for worse, we were all ourselves that day, just the way Miranda wanted it.”, which she utters just after Samantha’s announcement that she has breast cancer, never fails to bring a tear to my eye!

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On a sad side note – Jefferson, the restaurant where Miranda and Steve held their wedding reception in the “Ick Factor” episode (pictured above), has since been closed. 🙁 Such a bummer, as I had so wanted to stalk that place. You can see photographs of the former Jefferson restaurant here and here, though.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! : )

Stalk It: Jefferson Market Garden is located on Greenwich Avenue, in between Sixth Avenue and West 10th Street. The garden is open every afternoon, except Mondays, during the months of May through October. You can visit their website here. Miranda and Steve’s wedding reception took place directly across the street from the garden at the now-defunct Jefferson restaurant, which was formerly located at 121 West 10th Street.

November 19, 2009November 18, 2009

Scout Bar from “Sex and the City”

Yet another Sex and the City location that I stalked while in New York last month was O’Nieals Grand Street Bar, which stood in for Scout, the watering hole owned by Carrie and Miranda’s ex-boyfriends, Aidan and Steve, on the show. And even though I had actually stalked this location during last year’s New York vacation and also blogged about it, because I had not been able to venture inside, it was a place I had always planned on returning to. So, since my good friend Steffi, who is an even bigger fan of Sex and the City than I am (if that’s at all possible) and who has always loved the character of Aidan, accompanied me to New York this year, I decided there was no time like the present! On this particular occasion, though, nothing was going to stop me from journeying inside! 🙂 And, let me tell you, I am so glad I did, because O’Nieals’ interior is nothing short of magnificent.

One look around O’Nieal’s dark Mahogany interior and it’s easy to see why producers chose to use it as the bar that Carrie’s furniture designing former boyfriend built. Upon seeing Scout for the first time on the show, Carrie says “There was no sign of him, but he was everywhere. In the mahogany bar, wood floors, carved ceiling. The whole place looked and felt just like Aidan.” And in real life, that same sentiment is true – the place truly does look and feel just like the character played by John Corbett. So much so, in fact, that it’s hard to believe the bar wasn’t a set built by production designers specifically for the series.

O’Nieal’s decor consists almost entirely of dark, shiny, hand-carved wood and, let me tell you, it is absolutely gorgeous. But my favorite part of the bar had to be its amazingly intricate ceiling, which unfortunately I just could not get a very good photograph of. 🙁 But take my word for it, the ceiling is beautiful. O’Nieals has a definite old New York vibe to it and, I am happy to report, looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen in Sex and the City. The staff also could NOT have been nicer and allowed me to take all of the photographs I wanted, even though I wasn’t dining at the establishment. On a side note – Being able to take pictures inside of bars and restaurants is just one of the many reasons that I love New York so much. In L.A., unfortunately, there are many venues that don’t allow any sort of interior photography. And, while part of me understands an establishment’s desire to keep stalkers like myself from taking pictures of their celebrity patrons, for the most part I think the whole thing is just plain ludicrous. A few months back my fiancé and I grabbed some cocktails at a place called the Writers Bar in Beverly Hills. The upscale (read: snooty) bar had numerous autographed scripts displayed on their walls and when I went to a photograph in front of one which had been signed by Julia Roberts, the manager came rushing over and demanded that I put my camera away. Dumbfounded, I asked him why, to which he replied “We do not allow cameras here due to our high-profile clients”. LOL LOL LOL Now, if I had been trying to take a photograph of a celebrity sitting nearby (and by the way, my fiancé and I were the only two people in the entire bar at the time), I can totally understand the manager requesting that I put my camera away. But it was very obvious what I was taking a picture of and why and being that we had just shelled out $25 per drink, I found the whole thing highly ridiculous and my fiancé and I vowed never to return. Which we haven’t. But thankfully, in my many visits to New York, I have NEVER EVER – not even once – been told to put my camera away – even in cases when celebrities actually were dining right next to me. 🙂 But, I digress. Anyway, as I said before, O’Nieals is a very hip, absolutely gorgeous little spot and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it.

O’Nieals was featured twice on Sex and the City. It first showed up in the Season Four episode entitled “Ghost Town”, in which Carrie visits Scout to drop off a congratulatory Mulberry bush for Aidan and Steve, just before the bar is set to open.

O’Nieal’s shows up once again later in that same episode, when the girls attend Scout’s grand opening party.

The bar was also featured in the Season Four episode entitled “Time & Punishment”, in which Carrie shows up at Scout only to discover Aidan flirting with a skeezy bartender named Shana. And, even though Steve continued to own the bar throughout the rest of Sex and the City’s six year run, for some reason, it never again appeared onscreen.

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On a sad side note – While in New York, I was also dying to visit Collins Bar, the spot where Miranda first met Steve in the Season 2 episode of Sex and the City entitled “The Man, The Myth, The Viagra” (pictured above). Unfortunately, though, the beloved dive bar closed its doors in July of 2007 and the building that formerly housed it is in the process of being torn down to make room for a new hi-rise condominium development. Such a bummer!!!! You can see some great pictures of the former Collins Bar here and here, though.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Scout, aka O’Nieals Grand Street Bar, is located at 174 Grand Street in New York’s SoHo area. You can visit their website here. Collins Bar was formerly located at 735 Eighth Avenue, near Time’s Square.

November 16, 2009November 16, 2009

Bethesda Fountain and Terrace

Just around the corner from the Central Park Boathouse Cafe, which I blogged about on Friday, is another New York landmark known as Bethesda Fountain and Terrace. Because the area is one of my favorite places in all of New York, I’ve actually stalked it numerous times during my many trips to the Big Apple, but, for some reason, never thought to blog about it. Which is actually quite ironic being that the fountain has been immortalized in countless movie and television productions over the years. So, with the mindset of ‘it’s better late than never’, today I thought I’d give it a go. 🙂 The first time I visited Bethesda Fountain and Terrace was back in 2004 during my very first trip to Manhattan. My fiancé and I happened upon the fountain while walking through Central Park and I immediately recognized it from an episode of fave show Sex and the City and just about flipped out. Since that time, I’ve made it a point to visit the area at least once whenever I’m in New York. On a side note – Due to the below freezing temperatures, fountains in Manhattan are turned off during the winter months, which is why Bethesda Fountain is not running in the above photograph which was taken in December of 2004.

Bethesda Fountain, which measures 26 feet tall and 96 feet in diameter and is one of the largest fountains in New York, was the only sculpture that was included in “The Greensward Plan”, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s original design blueprint for Central Park. In the plan, the fountain and terrace area were intended as a gathering place for park-dwellers, a picturesque spot for Manhattanites to congregate and socialize.

The statue that flanks the top of the fountain is named “Angel of the Waters” and was designed by Emma Stebbins, sister of Central Park Commissioner Henry G. Stebbins. The statue, which was built in Germany, took over seven years to construct and wasn’t unveiled until 1873, an additional five years after its completion. The idea behind the neoclassical statue was based on “The Pool of Bethesda”, a man-made bath in Jerusalem, which, as legend had it, was often frequented by angels who could cure the ailing. The fountain was built in commemoration of the Croton Aqueduct, Manhattan’s very first fresh water system, which had been completed thirty years prior. The statue’s largest angel measures eight feet tall and holds a lily in one hand symbolizing the purity of New York’s water, while blessing the waters of the fountain with her other hand.

The four cherubs which stand beneath the main angel represent Peace, Purity, Temperance, and Health.

British architect Jacob Wrey Mould designed the two large staircases which flank the terrace, as well as all of the area’s ornamental details, which include wildlife carvings and over 16,000 intricate Minton tiles.

The Terrace and Fountain area quickly became the focal point of Central Park and even boasted an outdoor restaurant at one time. But during the 1970s, Central Park fell into a terrible state of disarray and, sadly, remained that way for over a decade. When my parents checked into the Plaza Hotel during their very first trip to New York back in 1980, the concierge told them in no uncertain terms NOT to enter the Park under any circumstances. Today, Central Park is so incredibly beautiful and picturesque, that it is EXTREMELY hard for me to imagine it ever being a scary place. During that time, Bethesda Fountain became a haven for the homeless and drug addicted of New York and was even given the nickname “Freak Fountain”. It wasn’t until 1980, when the Central Park Conservancy stepped in with their plan to restore the Park to its original grandeur, that things began to change. The Conservancy’s first step was to renovate the fountain, which had actually been left dry for over a decade. A few months after the fountain was restored, the Terrace area was also renovated. Today, Bethesda Terrace is so grand and so tranquil that it’s hard to believe at one time it was one of the most dangerous areas of the park.

Because it is so incredibly picturesque, Bethesda Terrace is one of the most photographed areas of Central Park and has long been a favorite of movie producers. As mentioned above, I first recognized the area from a Season 2 episode of Sex and the City. In that episode, which was entitled “The Freak Show”, Carrie meets a “normal” guy while sitting by the fountain one spring day and, in an unprecedented move, gives him her unlisted phone number.

In Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Kevin is chased onto Bethesda Terrace by Harry and Marv, aka the “Sticky Bandits”. He just narrowly escapes them by hiding in the trunk of a horse drawn carriage.

Not only does Nate run near the fountain in the Season 1 episode of Gossip Girl entitled “Poison Ivy”,

but in that very same episode the fountain shows up as the spot where Serena and Blair have a much needed heart-to-heart.

The Terrace is also the site of the grand finale of the “That’s How You Know” song and dance number from the movie Enchanted.

In Elf, while Will Ferrell is trying to save Christmas, Santa’s sleigh knocks off the tip of the “Angel of the Waters” statue and almost crash-lands on the Terrace’s top level.

The fountain is also the location of the New York City Junior Science Fair from which Mel Gibson and Rene Russo’s son is kidnapped in the 1996 movie Ransom.

It’s also the spot where George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer, and their two children frolic in some puddles while on their way to a soccer game in the movie One Fine Day.

The music video for the They Might Be Giants song “They’ll Need a Crane” was also shot in its entirety at Bethesda Fountain.

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The fountain has also been featured in the movies The Producers, The Way We Were, Deconstructing Harry, Sunday in New York, Eyewitness, Stuart Little 2, Hair, Godspell, Everyone Says I Love You, Angels in America, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Tommy Boy, Bullets Over Broadway, It Should Happen to You, It Could Happen to You, Madigan, Green Card, and The Manchurian Candidate, and in episodes of TV’s The Amazing Race, Law and Order, and Lipstick Jungle.

Bethesda Fountain and Terrace is an absolutely beautiful spot and I honestly can’t recommend stalking it enough! It has long been considered “the heart of Central Park” and is definitely a New York must-see!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bethesda Fountain and Terrace are located just off of 72nd Cross Street Drive in Central Park.

November 13, 2009December 6, 2013

The Central Park Boathouse Cafe

One of the locations that I was most excited about stalking while in New York last month was a little restaurant named the Central Park Boathouse Cafe, also known as the Loeb Boathouse. And although I’ve stalked this location once before – and even blogged about it – because the restaurant is not open for business during the winter months when we usually visit New York, I’d never been able to actually eat there. Until my most recent trip to the Big Apple, that is. This year, because my parents had only ever seen Manhattan during the cold winter months, we decided to change things up a bit and schedule our annual NYC vacation in early October. And I couldn’t have been more excited, as that meant that I’d FINALLY be able to grab a bite to eat at the famous Boathouse Cafe! 🙂

The first Central Park Boathouse was originally built in 1873 by park designer Calvert Vaux and cost $2,360 to construct. Vaux’s design consisted of a two-story Gothic inspired structure with open terraces lining the second level. For over eighty years, the Boathouse provided park-dwellers with a place to dock and store their vessels, grab a bite to eat, or just simply people-watch. But, in the 1950s it became clear that the eighty year old structure was in desperate need of a renovation. Thanks to a $305,000 donation from American Metal Company founder Carl M. Loeb and a $100,000 supplement from the Parks foundation, the original Boathouse was torn down and a new building was assembled in its place. The new structure, which was dubbed the Loeb Boathouse and was constructed in the neo-classical style by designer Stuart Constable, opened in March of 1954 and remains standing to this day. Although a bit more upscale than its predecessor, the Loeb Boathouse still provides visitors with a place to grab a bite to eat or an evening cocktail, rent a rowboat, or just simply take in the beautiful park scenery.

Because the Loeb Boathouse is so incredibly picturesque, it has, of course, been featured countless times over the years in various movie and television productions. With its lakeside setting, frequent rowboat passersby, and view of of the park and Manhattan skyscrapers in the distance, it’s really no wonder why producers have returned to film there time and time again.

Just inside the Boathouse’s main entrance is a large display of photographs from the many filmings that have taken place there over the years. So love it!

And, let me tell you, I just about died when I noticed an old picture of my girl Marilyn Monroe on the wall! As it turns out, though, according to the hostess that I talked to, the picture was not actually from a movie that was filmed on the premises, but was a candid that was taken while Marilyn rowed a boat one evening on the nearby Central Park Lake. You can just make out the outline of the Boathouse above her left shoulder in the photograph. So cute!

Ostensibly missing from the Boathouse’s picture wall, though, was a photograph of fave show Sex and the City, which filmed a VERY memorable scene from the Season 3 episode entitled “Cock A Doodle Do” at the restaurant. When I asked the hostess about it she said, “Sex and the City was filmed here? Really?” LOL LOL LOL In the episode, Carrie reluctantly agrees to a lunch date with Mr. Big at the waterside cafe, but, as often happens with those two characters, trouble, of course, ensues. Just before Carries enters the restaurant, she stops outside to make a quick call to Miranda on a nearby payphone. During the course of their conversation, Miranda makes Carrie promise that no matter what happens during the lunch she will NOT let Big kiss her. (On a side note – I tried to stalk Carrie’s payphone, but, unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found, which leads me to believe that it was either a prop that was brought in solely for the filming or it was a real payphone that was removed sometime after the filming took place. Such a bummer!)

Carrie then proceeds to enter the restaurant and spots Big waiting for her in the Bar & Grill area, which is pretty much the exact spot where my family and I sat while dining there. 🙂

Upon Carrie’s arrival, Big immediately goes to kiss her and, in backing away to avoid him, Carrie winds up falling into the water, pulling Big down with her. The two immediately collapse into fits of laughter until Carrie realizes that her Christian Dior purse has gone missing, at which point Big screams out “I’ll get it!” and then proceeds to heroically dive under the water to save the purse . . .

. . . with the whole rest of the restaurant looking on. LOL LOL LOL So love that episode! 🙂

So, of course, when I first visited the Cafe back in 2005, I just had to take a picture reenacting that scene. Too bad I couldn’t also reenact Carrie’s Richard Tyler dress from that scene, too! LOL 🙂

The Boathouse is also the spot where Sally lunched with her friends, one of whom was Carrie Fisher, at the beginning of the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.

In the more recent 27 Dresses, the Boathouse figures prominently as the place where Katherine Heigl’s character’s parents were married and where she also intends to someday hold her own wedding. As fate would have it, though, her younger sister gets engaged first and books the restaurant for her wedding instead. Towards the end of the movie, a scene takes place at the Boathouse in which Katherine attends a food tasting for the upcoming nuptials with her secret crush, who also just so happens to be her sister’s fiancé, Edward Burns.

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The Boathouse also appeared in the 2005 movie Little Manhattan and in an episode of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. The upcoming Drew Barrymore/Justin Long movie entitled Going the Distance also apparently did some recent filming at the Boathouse and a fake Boathouse set was even built in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park this past summer for the Tina Fey/Steve Carell comedy Date Night.

Besides being a filming location, the boathouse has also long been a favorite dining spot for celebrities. In recent years, stars like Lindsay Lohan, Becky Newton, Orlando Bloom, and Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr have all been spotted eating at the Cafe. The Boathouse has also played host to numerous celebrity events, including the premiere after-parties for the movies Pride and Prejudice, Mamma Mia, and My Sister’s Keeper.

And while the Boathouse was at the very top of my list of locales to stalk during this year’s trip, as fate would have it, we actually got “stuck” there after being caught in a brief rainstorm while walking through Central Park. Because the Cafe was the nearest shelter we came to and because it was on my stalking list, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and ducked inside. 🙂 Thankfully the rainstorm didn’t last more than a few minutes and once it was over we immediately grabbed seats on the patio in the Boathouse’s Bar & Grill area (pictured above) and ordered up a few cocktails. And, I have to say, the place was A-MA-ZING! It is worth a visit just for the setting alone! I honestly can’t recommend stalking the Boathouse Cafe enough! It has to be one of my favorite places in all of New York. It is the absolute PERFECT place to spend a sunny – or even a not so sunny, as was the case for me – Manhattan afternoon.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Central Park Boathouse Cafe is located at East 72nd Street and Park Drive North in Central Park. The restaurant is seasonal and is only open from April through November. You can visit their website here.

November 12, 2009November 12, 2009

Pete’s Tavern

Yet another Sex and the City location that I stalked while in New York last month was a spot that touts itself as New York’s oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant. And while there are actually quite a few watering holes claiming to be New York’s most long-established, Pete’s distinguishes itself thanks to the fact that it first opened up in 1864 – when Abraham Lincoln was in office! – and has never closed since. Like not ever! Not in the 30’s during Prohibition – when it was disguised as a flower shop – nor more recently during the city-wide blackout of 2003. No, the small tavern on the corner of East 18th Street and Irving Place has been in existence as a drinking establishment of some sort or another for over 145 years! And because it’s also a frequent filming location, I just had to stalk the place!

Beginning in 1852, the space which Pete’s now occupies contained a small grocery store, so while it’s entirely possible that liquor was sold on the premises as far back as that year, the place didn’t officially become a tavern until 1864. The original bar was named the Portman Hotel and it enjoyed a 35 year run, until 1899 when brothers Tom and John Healy purchased the establishment and re-named it Healy’s Cafe. In 1932, a man named Pete Belles came on the scene and changed the bar’s name to Pete’s Tavern, as it has remained to this day. And, thankfully, despite a high rate of ownership turnover, aside from the name, little else at the establishment has been altered since 1864. Even the decor and the original rosewood bar have been left largely untouched since the drinkery’s opening almost a century and a half ago! And I’d say chances are pretty good that a hundred and fifty years from now, Pete’s will still look very much the same as it does today. Love it!

Pete’s Tavern has long been something of a celebrity hotspot. In fact, the watering hole’s walls are absolutely covered in photographs of its many rich and famous clients. I so love it, by the way, when restaurants display pictures of their celebrity patrons on the walls! 🙂 Just a few of the celebs who have dined at the tavern include Ben Stiller, Mike Meyers, Bruce Willis, Natalie Portman, James Gandolfini, Zack Braff, Ed Burns, Harvey Keitel, Jeremy Sisto, Julia Stiles, Johnny Depp, and Tom Cruise (pictured above). The Kennedy family has also long had ties to the tavern. Joe Kennedy was the one who provided the place liquor during Prohibition, JFK dined there with Jackie on more than one occasion during his presidency, and their son, JFK, Jr., also became a regular patron years later.

Pete’s has also appeared in countless film and television productions over the years. Robert Mitchum grabbed a drink there in the 1962 movie Two for the Seesaw and it was also at Pete’s that Kramer set up a sting operation involving Jerry’s nasally accountant in the Season 5 episode of Seinfeld entitled “The Sniffing Accountant” (pictured above).

And while the real Pete’s was used for the establishing shots shown in that episode, the bar’s interior (pictured above) was actually a set that was built on the CBS Radford lot in Los Angeles where Seinfeld was filmed. You can watch Seinfeld’s Pete’s Tavern scene here. Pete’s also popped up in the movies Ragtime, Endless Love, Across the Sea of Time, The Guru, and in an episode of Law and Order.

Pete’s Tavern is probably most famous for its significance in literary history, though. Not only did legendary author O. Henry set his short story “The Lost Blend” at the bar, which he called “Kenealy’s” in the tale, but in 1904 he wrote the “The Gift of the Magi” while sitting in one of the eatery’s booths. That very booth is still in existence to this day and even boasts a plaque commemorating the occasion. Children’s author Ludwig Bemelmans also penned the first Madeline book at Pete’s – on the back of one of their menus, no less! 🙂

Aside from the celebrity patrons and historical significance of the place, I actually wanted to stalk Pete’s Tavern for one reason and one reason alone – because it was there, on the restaurant’s front patio and over $3 beers, that Miranda Hobbs proposed to longtime boyfriend Steve Brady in one of my very favorite Sex and the City episodes of all time – the one entitled “The Ick Factor”. I honestly cannot say enough about that particular episode! It’s just simply one of the series’ best! In fact, I just got sucked into watching the entire thing AGAIN while making screen captures for this post. LOL Sadly, though, because Pete’s front patio was absolutely jam packed while we were stalking the place, we weren’t able to sit in the exact spot where Sex and the City was filmed. But even though I had to settle for indoor seating, I still could NOT have been more excited to finally be dining at Pete’s!

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I honestly cannot recommend stalking Pete’s Tavern enough! The food was excellent, the staff was super-friendly and also quite knowledgeable about the bar’s filming history, and the ambience was one hundred percent old New York! I absolutely loved the place! My only beef with the establishment is the fact that their chicken fingers meal is only made available to those patrons sitting at the bar, which I, unfortunately, wasn’t. 🙁 Being that chicken strips are my favorite food, I was pretty bummed out that I couldn’t order them from where I was seated. So much so, in fact, that I almost made our entire group of seven move over to the bar. LOL Memo to Pete’s staff –chicken fingers are not just a bar food. I mean heck, I’m even serving them at my wedding, for Pete’s sake (and yes that pun was intended LOL)! So, do us all a favor and please, please, please put the chicken fingers on your regular menu for all of us lowbrow foodies to enjoy. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Pete’s Tavern is located at 129 East 18th Street, near Gramercy Park, in Manhattan. You can visit their website here.