Comments on: I walk the same streets. Why don't I notice these things?

I walk the same streets. Why don't I notice these things?

grumblebee — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:30:46 -0800

I work as a film location scout in New York City. My day is basically spent combing the streets for interesting and unique locations for feature films. In my travels, I often stumble across some pretty incredible sights, most of which are ignored every day by thousands of New Yorkers in too much of a rush to pay attention. As it happens, it's my job to pay attention, and I've started this blog to keep a record of what I see.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:43:25 -0800

That whole thing is so unexpectedly gorgeous.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:57:24 -0800

Cool.

By: popechunk

popechunk — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:05:17 -0800

What a great site, thank you.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:09:06 -0800

I really like all the detail and research. The author links to articles about the sites found. Thanks. Site is worth bookmarking.

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:09:35 -0800

nice to see mementos from when new york was interesting.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:11:35 -0800

Holy crap! Thank you.

By: defenestration

defenestration — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:12:12 -0800

I dig it. I also commend the creator's genius form of self-promotion: 1. I am a location scout 2. While scouting locations, I see many interesting things 3. I share interesting things on my blog 4. People love my blog and see how good I am at finding interesting things 5. As a result, I get more jobs as a location scout 6. Go to 1 Thanks for sharing.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:26:01 -0800

So does anyone else play my favorite movie game, Name That Street? The Dark Knight was so great for Chicago.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:38:31 -0800

Cool blog, thanks for the link.

By: chihiro

chihiro — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:42:07 -0800

Wow, this is terrific. Thank you!

By: HopperFan

HopperFan — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:44:32 -0800

This is so neat - thanks for posting it!

By: darth_tedious

darth_tedious — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:48:59 -0800

Beautiful-- thanks.

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:49:00 -0800

Inspired by or taken from the blog: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3042114094/ There is an identical Spock with Marilyn hair on Fairfax near Beverly in LA ------------------ http://www.interestingideas.com/roadside/names/HardwareAndPain72.jpg I'm not sure how old this photo I found online is, but back in 1985 when I lived in Brooklyn off the F line at Ft Hamilton Pkwy, the stop before it, 15th st, if I recall, was near this hardware store. I assume this is a fairly recent photo, but the sign said 'Hardware & Pain' even back in '85 ------------------ http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3042115218/ See those yellow things at the base of the firehouse archway? I know they were installed to deflect carriage wheels back on course, and their presence whenever you see them is evidence that a horse used a doorway. Does anyone happen to know their name?

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:28:05 -0800

Ah dear grumblebee, thanks for this wonderful gift of a post. I've been luxuriating in joy reading the pages, leaning forward, right up close to the monitor, getting in all the details of each photograph, avidly reading the captions and stories. This is the kind of site that makes me feel really good to be alive. The author, NYC Scout, so obviously enjoys the architecture, history, all the surprises. His intelligent appreciation is delightfully contagious and I feel charged with exhilaration and vitality. *sigh of bliss

By: suedehead

suedehead — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:07:55 -0800

Ended up reading his entire blog (which isn't that much yet, unfortunately). Awesome. Thanks for posting this!

By: Songdog

Songdog — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:20:03 -0800

This is, in fact, great.

By: Quietgal

Quietgal — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:32:06 -0800

Very nice - thanks for posting this!

By: freshwater_pr0n

freshwater_pr0n — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:32:07 -0800

What a great eye this guy has! And you are awesome for posting this - yay!!!

By: inthe80s

inthe80s — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:40:10 -0800

just fantastic... utterly fantastic.

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:42:53 -0800

I wish I could credit someone for helping my find this. I did find it via a Metafilter link, which lead to a link-to-link random walk. And now I can't remember where the journey started. But thanks -- whoever you are!

By: Jumpin Jack Flash

Jumpin Jack Flash — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:56:47 -0800

The Navy Yard bar was open in 1963 when I got drunk in there a few times. Thanks for the memories.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:02:50 -0800

That is a great use of the blog format. Little snippets of cool stuff every few days. Not to change the subject, but am I the only one irritated by the way Hollywood studios set every television program in Los Angeles? Other cities do exist, guys, and unlike Hollywood have histories longer than half a century. I can't decide if scriptwriters and producers are full of themselves or just lazy. I don't mind British programs set in London, because that's in interesting city with a long and important history.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:06:26 -0800

Oooh, I have a friend who's an architect in NYC. He'll love this if he hasn't seen it. Great site.

By: wallstreet1929

wallstreet1929 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:07:59 -0800

Fresh. Arcane but not sniveling or snarky or kitsch. Good one.

By: MrVisible

MrVisible — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:09:35 -0800

This makes me want to go walk around and take fresh look at my city. Excellent post.

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:13:24 -0800

If you enjoy this blog, you might like http://www.nyctaxiphoto.com/also.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:35:39 -0800

Wow. Thank you.

By: JoeXIII007

JoeXIII007 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:48:50 -0800

[Psst...] Ann Arbor, MI could really use a scout like this kid... [/Psst...] Awesome gallery, thanks for the link!!!

By: euphorb

euphorb — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:54:58 -0800

Other cities do exist, guys, and unlike Hollywood have histories longer than half a century. Los Angeles was founded in 1781.

By: seagull.apollo

seagull.apollo — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:54:50 -0800

I always forget how dense cities are until I see something like this. There's just so much history there, so many little forgotten things that someone spent years creating. If you take a walk in the middle of the night when no-one's around you can feel the weight of it pressing you down. Nice find, thanks.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:01:56 -0800

> Los Angeles was founded in 1781. Absolutely. But the first studios in Hollywood date to the 1950s. The area's importance is exaggerated on screen in my view.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:11:19 -0800

Los Angeles was founded in 1781. And you've got one replica of one building from that time. Saddest of all places.

By: Joey Bagels

Joey Bagels — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:53:24 -0800

I can't decide if scriptwriters and producers are full of themselves or just lazy. Mostly it's money. Costs a lot to take a TV show on the road, as opposed to shooting in the company town. Dexter, for instance, shoots material in Miami every season, but the vast bulk of the show is shot on locations and stages in Los Angeles for cost savings. You'll notice trends in locations if you pay attention. During the 1990s, Canada was Hollywood North because the government's tax incentives made it very economical to shoot up there. In recent years, New York City and New York state have both gotten much better at offering economic incentives to producers, and the result is you're seeing more location shooting in New York -- especially among television shows, several of which (Ugly Betty comes immediately to mind) have moved there recently. Then again, green-screen and "virtual set" technology has gotten better, to the point where lots of shows do their location work using VFX.

By: drmanhattan

drmanhattan — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:09:56 -0800

I've been lurking here for years, but after looking at the scoutingny blog, I wanted to thank you for this post so much that I ponied up my $5 and joined up! Thanks so much...

By: moonmilk

moonmilk — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:50:37 -0800

This is lots of fun! And I get a pleasant little burst of smugness on the rare occasions when The Scout notices something I knew about already. It's interesting that he was able to find documentation on the web about a lot of his finds. Not to take anything away from his scouting; it's just that NYC has a lot of people interested in the same stuff he is.

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:00:54 -0800

His blog is totally authentic. He is all about finding the details. Then he shows you what you missed.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:39:10 -0800

This is totally cool!!! I'm a huge New York fan and there are definitely some treasures here. My dad would have loved this to death! (That said, I see these things all the time - I'm always looking for them. I mean, that's why I came here! The best ones are things that I see once and can never find again - the panther in Central Park - that strange garden I saw in Greenpoint once in a mist and didn't see again for ten years (it's McGolrick).) (Now I'm taking a train into the Bronx!)

By: five_dollars

five_dollars — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:50:49 -0800

Fantastic blog! Are there any others like it for other great cities? For London, I can think of http://londondailyphoto.blogspot.com/ as something that comes close, if anyone's interested.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:02:31 -0800

His blog is totally authentic. He is all about finding the details. Then he shows you what you missed. Except that he was fooled by the fake window at Milk & Honey! So much so that he calls it "most definitely not nostalgic/ironic" when it's really the most ironic pseudo-nostalgic thing in town... Great photoblog anyway though.

By: Artifice_Eternity

Artifice_Eternity — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:43:32 -0800

Interesting. He discovered an old art moderne Sears building deep in Brooklyn (actually not too far from where I now live -- I may need to go check it out). It looks almost identical to a Sears building in Miami, dating from 1929 and now gone except for its iconic tower (which thankfully was preserved and incorporated into a new downtown performing arts center).

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:58:08 -0800

There's another Sears building just like that one in Hackensack.

By: vannjanis

vannjanis — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:59:33 -0800

Very nice work. The art work on that steel clock is gorgeous. And these are the things one does not notice. I am in New York and I will go and check this out in person. Really cool.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:47:51 -0800

This is so awesome.

By: urbanwhaleshark

urbanwhaleshark — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:00:55 -0800

Neat. It looks like the author doesn't want to reveal his anonymity so I won't either, but it's easy to work out, looking at some of the shots on the site, at least one of the films he's involved with.