Ok, I may have missed it but during the encore scene they show the Ecto-1 returning to the abandoned firehouse with the containment unit still intact and the indicator light on the front panel ominously flashing red. I could have sworn that Ray told Phoebe on the phone that they lost the firehouse and the new owners turned it into a Starbucks. Or did I imagine that part of the conversation?
No that’s what Ray said. I took the line as sarcasm and I can only assume Winston, using his own cash, purchased the property sometime after they shut down the business. I mean, hell, maybe it WAS a Starbucks before he bought it back.
The comment that the Firehouse had been turned into a Starbucks was obviously incorrect, Maybe Winston bought the firehouse but never released that info so the general public thought it was going to be a Starbucks to keep people from breaking in and meddling with the ECU? or maybe they did buy it but then when they learned what it was and what’s inside it they said no thanks and Winston purchased it.
Now that you guys have said that, it makes more sense. Ray was obviously bitter at that point. I think seeing the equipment (especially the car) gone hit him hard and then the final straw was having to let go of the firehouse. Lots of sentimental attachment there. I think as things started slowing down, Winston was on his way to becoming a successful businessman (and may have been starting his career change during the hiatus between Ghostbusters 1 and 2 as he wasn’t with the guys while they were digging holes in the street nor was he with them in court- Ray had the book store, Egon had his psychoanalysis studies and Peter was a TV host but what was Winston up to? ). By the time the firehouse went up for sale, Ray could have very well sold it to a development company and told it was going to be a Starbucks at which point Winston probably swooped in and made an offer. Ray was probably so sick and disgusted he never bothered going to the area anymore.
Just wanted to make sure I hadn’t imagined or added any information when I watched it in the theater. Thanks!
I read the line as Ray throwing a bit of misdirection. He at first thought Pheobe was a Ghostbusters groupie, and wasn’t in any mood to encourage her scooping out the team’s old haunts, so tried to throw her off by saying the place had been bought and/or torn down.
Did he say that the Firehouse was MADE into a Starbucks or that Starbucks BOUGHT the Firehouse?
Ray says, “Some actor bought up most of Tribeca. We lost the Firehouse. It’s a Starbucks now.”