Seeing as I stayed on the Upper West Side when I was in New York two weeks ago, I thought it would be a great opportunity to treat myself to a self-guided tour of some of the locations used in my favorite movie,
You've Got Mail. I had remembered viewing this special feature on the DVD and was able to pull up the exact
locations online. I didn't make it to the boat docks, the store front used for The Shop Around the Corner,
or Riverside Park garden from the film's last scene.
"Don't cry, ShopGirl. Don't cry."
"I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly."
Horribly cheesy ending aside, this movie warms my heart like the giggle of a chubby baby or a frozen cheese cake sampler. And despite missing a few clinch locations, it was exciting, particularly seeing the intersection of Amsterdam and Broadway, where Joe's and Kathleen's paths cross in the opening scene as
The Cranberries' Dreams plays in the background (scroll to the bottom if you want a music guided tour). "Ohhhh my liiiiife is changing every daaaay in every possible waaaaay!"
Location: 83rd and Broadway
Quote: "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, nonfat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on Earth they are can - for only $2.95 - get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self. Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino!" - Joe Fox
Location: Corner of Amsterdam and Broadway, at 72nd Street
Memorable Quote: "Ya know what? The truth is that he was the one who started me thinking about writing." - Kathleen Kelly
"Mister.... 152 felony indictments?" - Joe Fox
"Mister 152 insights into my soul!" - Kathleen
Location: 2245 Broadway, between 80th and 81st Streets
Memorable Quote: "Knock knock." - Joe Fox
"Who's there?" - Rose**
"Orange." - Joe
"Orange who?" - Rose
"Orange you going to give us a break by zipping this credit card through the credit card machine? Come on. You can do it. Zip zip." - Joe
**I hope you've all realized that Rose is played by the same actress who is Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy.
Location: 201 W. 83rd Street, at Amsterdam
Memorable Quote (this entire scene is my favorite in the movie with a lot of great dialogue, but here are some of my favorites):
"Joe? Just call me Joe? As if you were one of those stupid 22-year-old girls with no last name, 'Hi, I'm Kimberly.' 'Hi, I'm Janice.' Don't they know you're supposed to have a last name? It's like there's an entire generation of cocktail waitresses." - Kathleen
"Look. I am not a 22-year-old cocktail waitress." - Joe
----
"You poor, sad multi-millionaire, I feel so sorry for you." - Kathleen
----
"So who is he, I wonder. Certainly not, I gather, the world's greatest living expert on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, but somebody else entirely different." - Joe
Location: 2090 Broadway, at 72nd Street
Memorable Quote: "Today?" - Joe Fox
"Today." - Kathleen Kelly
"Wow." - Joe
"I know. In Riverside Park." - Kathleen
"Hmm... well that would mean he's a West Sider." - Joe
"Isn't that amazing? Maybe I've seen him and don't even know it." - Kathleen
"You could have seen him every day and not know it." - Joe
"It's very possible." - Kathleen
Location: 80th and Broadway
Memorable Quote: "Listen to this. Every night a truck pulls up to my neighborhood bagel place and pumps about a ton of flour into underground tanks. And then the air is filled with white dust which never seems to land. Why is that?"
For the rest of the tour locations, click
here.
And because it's Valentine's Day, and I love Harry Nilsson's Somewhere Over the Rainbow:
I am not sure if it's the chesterfield sofa, the rows of colorful shoes, the profusion of white, or the monogram A hanging in the living room, but this house puts a big smile on my face and has me longing for a complete revamp of my own home. The hodge podge of items in the living room exemplify a space that was not decorated in one fell swoop, but one that came together over time through the collecting of memorable items. Almost every item seems to be an investment piece: the leather couches and the industrial coffee table, the Persian rug and the Moroccan poufs, even the distressed lanterns and the art collection stacked on the floor. Often times people run out and buy everything simply to furnish their new house (guilty), and more often than not, it shows. Homes end up looking like pages out of a catalogue. This apartment illustrates the results of waiting and slowly collecting favorite pieces over time. By doing this, your home will be a better reflection of you, and not just whatever items were hot that season.
Overstuffed embroidered pillows piled atop a polka-dotted coverlet. Mmm, I like.
Love the juxtaposition of this modern pineapple lamp and the antique door. And I'm just now noticing the oversized apple core. How fun is that? Perfect for a kids room.
Awesome, awesome rug. Oh - and pretty much everything else in the room. See the little mushroom on the side table? If it wasn't concrete, that would have found its way back to Chicago with me.
Linen settee with nailhead trim adorned with an ikat pillow. Do you see why I had to visit this place? Also, I know it's difficult to see, but the rug below was made from recycled bottle caps. And it's gooorgeous. How cool is that?
This jaw-dropping black glass chandelier hangs in the front room. Talk about a statement piece. Can you imagine it in an all-white room?
Mmm yummy grey velvet topped with lemon yellow pillows. And how sweet is the mini lucite Louis chair?
I really wanted this pig. Alas, I did not buy him.
Paper mache birds. I don't like birds, but I was drawn to the lines of these guys. I thought they made a great decor piece, especially against a darker colored wall, and they were priced quite reasonably ($45). I knew it would be a risk traveling with them (and I was low on room in my suitcase as it was). But I see they're available for purchase online. Interesting...
The dramatic mirror, the colorful drapes, the lucite Louis chairs, and the black flower pillows. I love it all.
The chandeliers were bananas. I mean - do you see that purple murano-style glass? It also comes in red and turquoise and sells for $1750.
In an effort to change up the decor in my living room, I am thinking of taking on a painting project, something I have never done. This beautiful piece perfectly captures the colors and look I'd like in my own home: soothing, dreamlike colors in soft, messy brushstrokes. Filing this away in the back of my noggin.
A bevy of antlers! My favorite decorative accent.
Another interesting painting - although the colors are much brighter than I am looking to do in my home.
