So last summer (June2014), my GF and I visited NYC for about a week.
The Ghostbusters firehouse was on the top of the list to visit.
So one morning, she was scheduled to go to the spa. I told her I was gonna visit the house while she was at her appointment.
So Im using my maps app on my phone to get there. Mind you, this was my first time traveling alone in NYC.
It was a bout a 20 minute subway ride to the area.
When I got off the subway and into the area, the GPS told me the destination was about .2 miles up the street.
I walk down the street and dont see it.
Then, I turn to my right and there it is!!!
It was like I was in my favorite childhood movie. I completely lost it. Taking pics. Cheesing. Tearing up. It was truly something I’ll always remember.
The one that got me really choked up… and rather unexpectedly so… was Dana’s apartment building from the first film.
We were coming from Central Park past Tavern-on-the-Green, and all of a sudden it was just looming in the distance in front of us, and I felt that same feeling you described, like I’d set foot inside the movie frame.
I got a lump in my throat. I turned around to my buddy Adam and he snapped this pic.
By the time we got a little closer to the right ‘movie angle’, I had composed myself a bit, LOL.
I went there specifically May 1st, 2014. I will never forget it. It was early and my friend and I just finished checking out the World Trade Center memorial.. from there we walked .. yeah walked North on Church Street, made a left on Franklin, then head North again to North Moore Street. From there we made a left and I didn’t realize it till I saw it walking in pouring rain. I said to my friend.. There she is.. The Ghostbusters HQ. Also visited The New York Public Library as well. Missed my chance on Dana’s apartment/spook central because it was raining really hard. Next time!
That’s quite a walk. I feel you. On the day we went to 55 Central Park West, my host Adam and I logged seven full miles on foot. I calculated it later by reconstructing our route on GoogleEarth.
The NYPL was one of the most frustrating parts of my July trip. They had just closed the Rose Main Reading Room, where Egon sits under the table, a couple of weeks before I got there. They estimated that it would be closed for six months to evaluate needed repairs to the ceiling. I was like, “Augh! So close and yet so far!”
Ah well, I did get to see Fortitude the lion out front, and marveled at how perfectly the GB Video Game had recreated the lobby of the Library.
The photos I posted above, where I am standing in front of it, were taken just minutes before it began to rain that day, too. We had just crossed the street and were in front of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church when the first few drops fell.
We actually ascended the stairs of the church to get under the overhang for shelter, and stood in front of the red doors as I packed all my camera stuff into ziploc bags.
We were so tired from our seven-mile trek (which was on top of visiting Columbia U. that morning) we just decided to call it a night. Even after the rain slacked off and stopped, we still got a subway back to Adam’s apartment in Brooklyn.
Yeah it was quite a walk, it was our first time in NY, and all we had to go with was a water downed (literally) map.. Ink was fading, but I had to make it no matter what! But for sure when I saw it I was like.. in awe.. hahaha.
For the NYPL, we visited that when we just got into town.. it was around 5pm .. it was closed. So don’t be too sad now! I couldn’t even go in!
I was actually pretty darn close to Spook Central. I just didn’t have the time to go. Not to mention, I also went to Columbus Circle which was pretty cool. All I had to do was walk down, but that day.. timing wasn’t right. It was a hell of a 3rd day. ( The reason we did go to Columbus Circle was because we were going to McGee’s. It’s the pub that inspired McLaren’s in How I Met Your Mother)
We only had 3 days in NY so even my friends and I had to split from the group to actually go to places where we want to go. Ironically, that day.. the rest of our classmates had a bus ride to sight see.. and they actually did go to 55 CPW… well passed by it. Oh well, if I had to choose between those.. I’d choose the Firehouse. Speaking of which, the Firehouse was the first thing that caught my eye when we entered Manhattan. I was like OMG THERE IT IS.. and within a flash.. it was gone. lol.
On the second day though.. we were going to the pier to go to Staten Island.. and when we hopped off, I totally recognized the MIB building. When we came back, we were walking back East.. then I couldn’t believe my eyes.. It was the Natural Museum of Art ( American Indian) We were walking pretty fast.. cause we had to catch our bus.. but I saw it.. didn’t realize it till I saw it.. couldn’t snap any pics either.. which was a bummer. Next time I got to NY, I already have a list of where to go.
Yep. It wasn’t until I began planning my trip and reading about the Filming Locations on the SpookCentral website that I began to realize how close some of the spots were to each other.
The Maine Monument, which Vinz Clortho passes as he goes to talk to the horse, is just off-camera in the shot where Stay-Puft makes his grand entrance. And the statue of Columbus on the column is visible again later when the Ecto and its ■■■■■■ vehicles are coming towards 55 CPW.
I had spent so much time on GoogleEarth planning my trip, cross-referencing the addresses from SpookCentral, I looked out the window and realized I could pick out the Museum (and MIB headquarters) from the air as the plane made final approach into LaGuardia.
Until I began my pre-trip research, I had no idea MiB and the GB2 Museum were THAT close to each other. I went back and watched the first Men in Black, and you can actually see the Museum in the background of some shots.
It’s also visible in another Will Smith movie… Hitch.
There are several GB locations in Hitch, including the Firehouse, the Washington Square Arch, and Columbia University.
Oh, and one morning at my hosts’ apartment in Brooklyn, Adam’s wife was watching an old episode of Friends, and in a scene with Ross (the paleontologist) being reprimanded at work, I recognized his boss as the hotel manager from GB1… and suddenly it cuts to the exterior of the museum where they work, and it was a stock shot of the same Museum.
I snapped a pic of it off the screen because I like neat omens like that, and then his wife snapped a picture of me and posted it on her Facebook saying “Alex comes to New York… takes pictures of the television.”
We might go to NYC this summer - if we don’t go to Greece - and I was wondering, could you post the addresses? I really want to visit HQ and the Museum of Art (my mom used to go to the church next to Dana’s apartment building and we were going to go anyway).
