Law and Order

One New York filming location that will look familiar to anyone who passes it – unless they’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years – is the New York County Courthouse.  This massive building, with it’s hundred foot wide grand staircase and towering granite colonnade, has been featured in thousands of productions over the years.  But it should be most recognizable to fans of the crime show genre as the courthouse from all of the Law and Order series.  It is at this courthouse that McCoy and Briscoe, Benson and Stabler, and Eames and Goren see all of their cases tried.  Besides being featured weekly on the three Law and Order series, the courthouse has also been featured in Miracle on 34th Street, Twelve Angry Men, Legal Eagles, Regarding Henry, Nuts, Wall Street, Good Fellas, The Devil’s Advocate, Married to the Mob, City Hall, The Hurricane, Kojak, Cagney and Lacey, Naked City, NYPD Blue, The Equalizer, The Godfather, and Aftershock: Earthquake in New York.

The New York County Courthouse was built back in 1919 by Boston architect Guy Lowell, who also built the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Guy actually won the commision of the building in a 1913 design contest.  His original winning design for the courthouse featured a circular shape, but plans changed and he ended up building the courthouse in a six-sided, hexagonal form (bird’s eye view pictured above).  Looking at the building from the front, one would never know it was built in this way.  Very cool!  The building, which was made a New York City Landmark in 1966, is absolutely beautiful – and overwhelming – in person.  I am telling you, we don’t have anything like this in L.A.! 

In the Sixth Season of Sex and the City Carrie reported for jury duty at the United States Courthouse, which is located right next door to the Law and Order Courthouse.  In the episode, entitled “Hop, Skip and A Week”, Carrie and her boyfriend Berger share a “Hollywood kiss” on the courthouse steps just before she checks in to perform her civic duty.  At first I thought Carrie and Berger had their kiss on the steps of the Law and Order Courthouse, but upon closer inspection I realized it was a different Corinithian-style building altogether.  The two courthouse buildings look amazingly similar, and are both very beautiful, especially because they are situated right next to each other.  They create quite an imposing view as you come upon them.  The U.S. Courthouse was built in 1933, a bit later than the New York County Courthouse.  It was designed by Cass Gilbert, who also designed New York’s Woolworth Building. Even though I am pretty sure New York jury duty is nowhere near as fun as jury duty in L.A., I think it would be very cool to perform my civic duty in such a historic building.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The New York County Courthouse is located at 60 Centre Street in Lower Manhattan.  Carrie reported for Jury Duty at the US Courthouse located right next door at 40 Centre Street.

Park Avenue Princess

Today I thought I’d write yet another post about yet another Sex and the City: The Movie  filming location – Charlotte York’s Upper East Side apartment.  🙂  From the beginning Charlotte York was Sex and the City’s  reigning Park Avenue Princess – a role I’d like to see myself in someday 🙂 – and, in real life, her apartment really was located on New York’s prestigious Park Avenue.  Well, the exterior of it anyway.  All of the interiors of Charlotte’s apartment existed only on a soundstage at New York City’s Silvercup Studios.  I found the location of Charlotte’s pad, once again, thanks to my go-to SATC  locations guide.   

This apartment originally belonged to Charlotte’s first husband, Trey.  The two moved into it after they got married in the third season of Sex and the City.  After their divorce in Season Four, a fight for the apartment ensued and Charlotte ended up winning it thanks to her divorce lawyer – and future husband –  Harry Goldenblatt.  Charlotte’s building was built in 1916 by New York City architecture firm Schwartz & Gross.  The 13-story building is situated in the elusive Carnegie Hill area of New York and houses only 24 apartments. 

The scene from Sex And The City: The Movie  that took place at this location was quite memorable as it was the first time in the film that we saw Carrie in her wedding attire – complete with a blue bird on her head.  LOL   On the morning of her would-be nuptials, Carrie and the girls head out of this building and into a waiting limousine.  Carrie’s huge Cinderella dress has to be carefully pushed into the limo, causing her wedding planner Anthony to lament, “It’s like pushing a cream puff through a key hole.”  LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Charlotte and Harry’s apartment is located at 930 Park Avenue on New York’s stylish Upper East Side.

Ray’s Pumpkins

Last week, thanks to Mike over at MovieShotsLA, I was able to stalk the pumpkin patch that was owned by Ray Pruit’s family on the original Beverly Hills, 90210.   I was shocked when Mike told me that the property where filming took place is the location of an actual pumpkin patch in real life.  I had been convinced that producers just dressed an empty lot for the filming of 90210, but in reality they rented out a real pumpkin patch that has occupied the same corner in Sherman Oaks for over fifteen years. 

When I drove up to the patch I just about keeled over with excitement as there was a large sign out front which read “Ray’s Pumpkins”.  I naively thought the owner named the patch after Ray Pruit because of the filming that took place there, but it turns out that the actual owner’s name is Ray!  How cool is that! 

Ray really could not have been nicer and spoke to me about the filming of 90210  for a good 15 minutes.  He said that everyone on the cast and crew was very nice and very professional.  Even though the pumpkin patch scene lasted only about four minutes and was shown in only one episode (the Season 5 episode entitled “Homecoming”), the filming took a full two days to complete.  Ray told me that during the filming, some construction was being done on an apartment building located across the street from the patch.  At one point the construction noise got too loud, so the producers of 90210  actually paid to have all construction shut down for the remainder of the shoot!  LOL  The cast and crew of 90210  returned to Ray’s later that same year and the real Ray’s Christmas tree lot stood in for the one owned by the Pruit Family in a Christmas episode of the show.  Ray said there is always some sort of filming taking place at the patch.  He couldn’t remember all of the productions that had filmed there, but he did say that Dancing With The Stars  featured the patch in a brief segment last year. 

Ray’s Pumpkin’s is a very cool pumpkin patch and I highly recommend stalking it.  There are hundreds upon hundreds of pumpkins to choose from and tons of cute Halloween merchandise and decorations for sale.  Ray told me that he also gets quite a few Valley celebs visiting his patch each year, so you just might get to rub elbows with the stars while pumpkin shopping.  🙂  Unfortunately I visited Ray’s after it was already dark outside, so my pics didn’t turn out very well and don’t really do the patch justice.  But a BIG THANK YOU to Mike for providing the top pic.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Ray’s Pumpkins is located at the corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Moorpark Street in Sherman Oaks.  Ray also owns the Peterson Ranch Fruit Stand located at 3402 Los Angeles Avenue in Somis, CA. The fruit stand is also a frequent filming location.  It is most often used in commercials and was featured recently in a car ad.