Pastrami on white bread with mayonnaise...
July 30, 2012 6:41 AM   Subscribe

Scouting New York (previously) presents "The Filming Locations of Annie Hall," Part 1 and Part 2.
posted by griphus (41 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
a nice site, but the archives has stuff that for me is of greater interest.
posted by Postroad at 6:43 AM on July 30, 2012


The tall lady in this shot is Sigourney Weaver - taking her place in the lengthy list of "improbably attractive onscreen girlfriends of Woody Allen".
posted by Egg Shen at 6:47 AM on July 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


I lurve this post.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:49 AM on July 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


Goddammit griphus I was waiting for part 2 to go up so I could post this.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:49 AM on July 30, 2012


Goddammit griphus Max...
posted by obscurator at 6:59 AM on July 30, 2012


Oh fine now I've forgotten my mantra.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:01 AM on July 30, 2012


He said "I was waiting for part Jew." No not "Part Two," "Part Jew," Max. You get it? "Part Jew."
posted by griphus at 7:03 AM on July 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


(Also, I almost titled this post "I Forgot My Mantra.")
posted by griphus at 7:04 AM on July 30, 2012


This. Is. Awesome.
posted by Edison Carter at 7:09 AM on July 30, 2012


Luff. Yes, that's with two Fs.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:21 AM on July 30, 2012


Scouting NY is a treasure.
posted by scratch at 7:31 AM on July 30, 2012


Annie Hall is like 2001, for me; every time I see somebody mention it on Metafilter, I want to see it again (and usually end up doing so).

This is not a complaint; in fact, when I do actually follow through, I'm not disappointed. I'm really not big on re-watching movies -- there's so little much to see in the world and so little time. But if you want to talk about 4-star movies with maybe infinite re-watch-ability, those two are the top (along with North by Northwest).

The problem with Annie Hall is that it also makes me want to go to New York (which is not as much of a problem with the other two as they exist in a past and future that don't exist). I guess this Scouting NY post makes the argument that the same is true about Annie Hall, but it still triggers that longing, and I'm not from there nor have I ever lived there (which is maybe why it does).
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:36 AM on July 30, 2012


I hope they find the location where Diane Keaton sang "Seems Like Old Times". I want to go to there. They can put that clip on a loop on the inside of my coffin lid.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:47 AM on July 30, 2012


Oh my god just watching the stills of that diner scene at the end is making me tear up. Love that movie.
posted by sweetkid at 7:52 AM on July 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


...which is not as much of a problem with the other two as they exist in a past and future that don't exist...

That's not as true as one would hope. I generally hate all the "NEW YORK HAS CHANGED AND THAT IS BAD" nostalgia. I hear a lot of it especially from people who visited here for an hour in 1982 and didn't bear the brunt of how genuinely shitty things used to be before Giuliani threw everyone who so much as looked at a joint in jail, shot the homeless, drowned the prostitutes and sold Times Square to the Disney corporation. Hell, even in 1977 Allen managed to either deftly sidestep or glamorize it. Which isn't bad! Things weren't as good as he made them seem, but they also weren't as bad as Scorcese made them out to be in Taxi Driver, for instance. These movies aren't documentaries, after all - they're fictions. But, then, what the hell do I know? I only moved here in 1990 and saw but the barest glimpse of pre-Giuliani NYC.

Anyway, I recently went to go see Annie Hall at the Film Forum in the West Village, and I came out into a very different world. Double-especially because I walked directly into Pride celebrations which, I can assure you, were not as all-encompassingly joyous as they are today (there's a number of poorly-aged jokes in Annie Hall, the Fire Island one is definitely up there.) I'm never going to objectively say that everything is utterly, utterly different or that 1977 New York is better or worse than 2012 New York, but sometimes the NYC of Annie Hall and Manhattan (and Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy and every other zeitgeisty movie you can think of) seems as remote to me as the outer space locales of 2001. And other times it feels like home, even though I have no memories of that New York and never even find myself in 90% of the locales Allen shot in because there's not much for a 20something with not a lot of money to do out there. So who the hell knows.
posted by griphus at 8:01 AM on July 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


Other deleted scenes from Anhedonia have passed on into legend. The scene in Annie Hall where Alvy leaves a party to watch the Knicks in a bedroom was initially longer, and included a fantasy segment where the Knicks play a squad made up of himself and philosophers – including Kafka, Nietzsche and Kierkegaard.

The money I would pay to see this.

I don't think we'll see these deleted scenes while Woody is alive.

I wish Woody the best of health and all, but...
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:01 AM on July 30, 2012


Whoops, forgot to take that first sentence out as I realized I'm not contradicting you, MCMikeNamara.
posted by griphus at 8:02 AM on July 30, 2012


Pretty cool. I used to go to the "Bump Your Ass Off” Eldorado" bumper cars place 30 years ago, no doubt it was there during the Annie Hall era. Makes sense that the same space would have been used for bumper cars during Alvy's childhood.

I'd kind of like to see a comparison between The Warriors and Annie Hall, even though The Warriors was only 2 years later.
posted by Ad hominem at 8:44 AM on July 30, 2012


God I wish there was a way to read the full script of Anhedonia! I first heard about it in the excellent book When The Shooting Stops, and have been curious ever since.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 8:54 AM on July 30, 2012


I only moved here in 1990 and saw but the barest glimpse of pre-Giuliani NYC.

Pre-Giuliani days and even the first year or so of his evil reign were glorious halcyon days of sunshine and hugs and puppies and really fucking good weed.
posted by elizardbits at 9:05 AM on July 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


The lore is a little confusing, but parts of Manhattan Murder Mystery were the excised sections of Anhedonia.
posted by griphus at 9:10 AM on July 30, 2012



I wish Woody the best of health and all, but...


I just. I can't even thinking about the headache I'll have when Woody passes.
posted by sweetkid at 9:12 AM on July 30, 2012


I can't even thinking about the headache I'll have when Woody passes.

Indeed. We've been spoiled.

For all the times critics have said 'I love Woody, but not this one' -- it's always wrong. Even the worst Woody is twenty times better than whatever else is playing. This is a guy we're still going to be studying in a hundred years.

I saw his new Rome movie a couple weeks back -- packed house -- and whatever he puts out there, it always has pure movie magic. Always some complicated artistic ideas presented in a manageable way. Always the deft, easy hand of a master.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:28 AM on July 30, 2012 [3 favorites]


Has anyone gone to see him play clarinet at the Carlyle? I keep meaning to.
posted by griphus at 9:29 AM on July 30, 2012


Nice, griphus! I was just reading that the other day.
posted by idest at 9:41 AM on July 30, 2012


If he ever gets around to having a scouting LA site, the scene where Alvy has just arrived in LA and stops at a restaurant to meet Annie, the earthy crunchy restaurant where he orders the mashed yeast? That was filmed at The Source, which was owned and staffed by members of a new agey sort of cult of the same name. Just saw a documentary recently at a documentary film festival and it included a clip of that scene.
posted by kaybdc at 9:57 AM on July 30, 2012


Side note: I think this concept would make for an excellent coffee table/photo book, and if anyone might be interested (ahem TASCHEN ahem), please contact me!

I would buy that book.
posted by glhaynes at 10:25 AM on July 30, 2012


After a trip to California (to be someday covered by sister site Scouting LA), Alvy and Annie officially break up
Is this serious or joking? I would subscribe to that sister site in a heartbeat.
posted by muddgirl at 10:46 AM on July 30, 2012


Google Maps view of the Sutton Place bench in the iconic still from Manhattan.

But for me, Allen-related Manhattan nostalgia will never be more bittersweet that the Tower Records scene near the end of Hannah and Her Sisters.
posted by Egg Shen at 10:48 AM on July 30, 2012


(Naturally, that section of the store is where the jazz records were kept.)
posted by Egg Shen at 10:50 AM on July 30, 2012


...the end of Hannah and Her Sisters.

You can play Woody and Wiest by dining in the window of the Jackson Hole at 91st and Madison.

More on Woody's restaurants here.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:06 AM on July 30, 2012


I didn't see any actual "Sister Site" for the Los Angeles scenes, so I've taken it upon myself to spend my morning googling around L.A. for a half-assed version, for those interested.

If you'll forgive the self-link, I give you Annie Hall filming locations (Los Angeles edition)
posted by ShutterBun at 11:13 AM on July 30, 2012 [4 favorites]


Single MeFites of NYC: On your next date, make sure to have your first kiss in front of Zachary’s Smile at 9 Greenwich Ave!
posted by funkiwan at 1:34 PM on July 30, 2012


Later, Alvy and Annie walk down to the South Street Seaport and kiss with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background:

On that night I was playing fiddle with my Old Time String Band, the Ramapo Mountain Stump Strutters and the proto-punk fiddle band Swamp Opera at an outdoor dance at the South Street Seaport. A rare paid downtown summer string band gig! In the middle of a really great party up walks some snobby arrogant film people and they abruptly break up the event, telling everybody to go away for one hour while they film Alvie and Annie's scene on the other pier... This was a scheduled event, we were hired, a couple of hundred people had showed up. Nobody told us that there was going to be a film shoot that night.

We were a bit put off, not to mention under the influence... and the guys from Swamp Opera were Alaskan cannery workers who hung out at the early CBGB's scene... so we were not taklng this unseen setback entirely well. Although there was a huge schooner ship blocking us from view we simply refused to be removed from the pier and - as was the fashion in the dawn of punk rock - we became somewhat aggressive in the face of authority. And when they asked us repeatedly, we picked up handfuls of gravel and began flinging it over the bow of the schooner into the water between the two piers while berating the film crew with tireless obscenity. I was a lot younger then.

If you look very carefullly at the scene you may see some drops on the water and think think that a slight rain was falling on the water. Nope. It was us throwing loads of gravel at Woody Allen.
posted by zaelic at 1:35 PM on July 30, 2012 [7 favorites]


On your next date, make sure to have your first kiss in front of Zachary’s Smile at 9 Greenwich Ave!

Then you can digest your food.
posted by griphus at 1:37 PM on July 30, 2012 [3 favorites]


I was standing on that street corner in the last shot just yesterday evening. I love Woody Allen for making my adopted hometown seem that much richer and enjoyable.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:13 PM on July 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


I keep waiting for the Scouting NY blogger to show up in this thread and tell you all you know nothing of his work.
posted by Eideteker at 8:35 AM on July 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


Marvelous post. Scouting New York is a brilliant labor of love website, a favorite for years.

Was surprised to see in the before and after pics how much greener - and cleaner - NYC is now than 30+ years ago.

As much as I abhor Woody's choosing to commit incest with his adoptive daughter, his movies are increasingly brilliant, year after year. One gem after the other. And yes, his love affair with NYC is movie poetry. I feel a bit jealous now when he turns his adoration to Paris and Rome and yet I can't help being captivated there as well.

Great combination, Annie Hall and Scouting New York's superb research and images.
posted by nickyskye at 2:03 AM on August 1, 2012


I am not actually much of a Woody Allen fan, but I feel compelled to defend him against the charge that he "chose to commit incest with his adoptive daughter."

I mean, any way you slice it, it's fucked up to get in a relationship with the underaged daughter of your current partner, but Soon-Yi was adopted by Mia Farrow and her prior husband, Andre Previn, not by Allen.
posted by muddgirl at 6:34 AM on August 1, 2012


Soon-Yi was not underaged when her relationship with Allen began. (she was 20 years old in the infamous "nude photos")
posted by ShutterBun at 4:44 PM on August 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I don't think we know when their relationship actually started (just when it was discovered) - I made an assumption based on veiled references by Woody ("Probably in retrospect I should have bowed out of that relationship [with Farrow] much earlier than I did.") and the fact that I find it hard to believe that, if one were attracted to the daughter of one's girlfriend, one would scrupulously wait until she was 18 years old to the day to express that interest.
posted by muddgirl at 4:52 PM on August 1, 2012


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