Author Topic: USA Travel Thread - The Bert and Wotto show begins - for anyone interested.....  (Read 14251 times)

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Offline 4_amusement_only

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Great thread, thanks for posting. When I was there again in 08' they didn't have the memorial fully operational by that stage.

The collapse of Building 7 is still sketchy though  #@#

Offline Wotto

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Morning boys.

Well FINALLY I can say we had a very decent day.
For anyone that knows the 1979 film The Warriors ( the NY gang movie with the baseball dudes fighting in it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warriors_%28film%29 ) - I have been obsessed with that film since I first saw it , all those 356 screenings ago :lol

I had always wanted to come here to go to Coney Island ( the Warriors home base and where they 'bopped all night to get back to" ) but I wanted more , and hence I found a stack of other shooting locations around NYC before I left. Now bear in mind these are not ANYWHERE near Coney Island and it took a bit of subwaying and walking to find them all - but we did it. For me , this was like a pligramage of sorts , for Kayla , well she was BORED SH*TLESS - LOL

Anyway - here ya go , for those of you that know the movie you may find this all interesting, for others this may be a bit boring.


Here I am outside 72nd Street Station - this is the actual doors that The Warriors exited and then stopped and saw The Baseball Furies around the street area here looking at them - and that famous running chase scene began.



For any fans - you may recall one of the Furies standing on a street corner swinging his bat - it was in this EXACT spot.
Do I look as tough ?



In the movie - the chase continued and you see The Warriors running down a street , stop and look back, and the Furies faces come over the crest of a hill on a street - this is the street, the hill behind me is where the Furies appeared



The chase continues into a park but first they run past a statue and over some benches - it was the Firemans Memorial at the end of 101 Street - this spot



And this is pretty much an exact shooting location view from when they jumped the benches that were there at the time, they came down the stairs in the left of the shot and jumped a bench right where I am standing




Later in the Movie , the main guy Swan , leaves his mates and runs up a set of steps - these ones



But the place I HAD to find was where the initial massive gang meeting was held at the very beginning of the movie - the place where Cyrus got shot.
And here it is ..........Cyrus would have been standing on his platform smack in the middle of that circular area, and when he got shot and all hell broke loose all the gang member ran around escaping the area, any fans will recognise the circular steps and ramps etc. If you watch the movie again today , the arches on the wall at back are easily recognisable as well







Here I am sitting pretty much were Cyrus would have been shot from



And here I am being an idiot - the park cleaner thought I was a bit of a whack job I think !




Now - already being WAY WAY 'uptown' there was another famous place I wanted to visit, as do thousands of others from around the planet.
Most of you will recognise this place I am sure ( without TOMS on it of course )





Obviously the inside of the diner in the show was a TV set - but this IS the place in the show.
The waitress told us that Seinfeld still lives in that area and before famous he used to frequent this place and therefore put it in the show.





And what a GREAT waitress we had , and the food was KILLER - we each had 2 x coffees/ tea, Milk, an Orange Juice, the meals you see there, toast, and milkshakes for what you see below !



We were way up past the top of Central Park - so we decided to walk back through the entire park ( around 40 blocks in length ) - a long long walk but quite worth it.

Before hitting the park we found this HUGE church, now I am far from the most religious person you would ever find - but this place was UNFRIGGINBELIEVABLE



Central Park is MASSIVE - Kayla had soon had enough of walking it and we werent even a third of the way through it



I found her relatives in here as well




Eventually she got going and we found many places seen in movies and TV shows
Here are some random shots

Think Mel Gibson movie RANSOM - where his kid was taken from.



FRIENDS



HEAPS of movies here.....



Some random shots of the park - and of course , what would one of my posts be without the daily crazy !









We caught the YELLOW 'Q' back and will go to Times Square tonight.

DW Drums rule !

Offline Pintoxicated

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Keep it coming Wotto.

Addicted to pins.

Offline swinks

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really enjoying the read and photos, thanks for taking the time out to keep us updated.

interested to see that skate shop that has pins in it....  &&
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Offline Strangeways

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Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, it looks so quiet in the park - but I find it funny that nearly everywhere you have been, there has been a nutjob in frame. I didn't know Friars had baseball caps !

Keep the photos coming - you both look like you have settled in well.
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Offline pinballheaven

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Wotto,

Loving the Pics Mate keep them coming!

Must say The Warriors is my favourite movie along with Shawshank, but considering it was made and released in 78/79 it still rings true today! Also they are doing a remake I believe latter this year!  ^^^

Stay Safe!

Jeff

Offline Cursed

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Loving the posts Wotto keep them coming. Feels like im on holiday when i read them!

As Swinks says the skate shop should be good, only a few pinnies i think but still cool.

Love the Warriors mission, may have to watch it today.

Offline Wotto

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will be heading to the skate shop ( Reciprocal ) on Friday here - so that will be Saturday at around 4-5 am for you guys
DW Drums rule !

Offline ddstoys

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Unreal wotto really loving the pics and your write ups

Offline Wotto

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Morning all

Caught the subway today to The Rockefeller Centre
The subway , as already stated, is busy at all times , however it is quite OK to navigate once you get your head around it all.

The Rockefeller is where they film the TODAY SHOW that you see the lunatics at the back of the camera shots at.





It is also the place you see in films and TV shows with the ice rink and ( in December ) the big Xmas tree.
We really wanted to see the ice rick ( or at least where it is when in season ) - in keeping with our brilliant NYC trip  - here it is when we visited .....
YEP - all covered up  ^.^



Oh - by the way - here is how we got to see the New York Stock Exchange Building the other day .....
YEP - all covered up  ^.^



And of course Liberty Island was closed so we couldnt go to the Statue of Liberty either  #@# #@# :lol !!!

Anyway - back to today........

I think The Top of The Rock gives MUCH better views of the city than the top of The Empire State Building
Here you can see looking downtown towards The Empire State and further on is the new Freedom Tower at the 911 site





This may give you an idea of the streets here from up top...



And here you can actually see Central Park and the distance we walked yesterday from the top of it way way way in the back of this photo.
ummmmmmm no wonder she had the sh*ts with me yesterday  &&



For any of you that know the Today Show filming that I am talking about - here is the spot where all the people stand - nothing glamourous really.



But of course we went there and waved like lunatics as well  @@*



We grabbed some lunch at Wendys Burgers - we entered the store and no joke there was around 6-8 lines of 20++ people deep at each line - they took orders and then sent EVERYONE ( think about the numbers ) to a small corner of the counter to await their order to be called - the people piling into the joint did not stop the entire time we were in there .......more craziness.

I found an EXCELLENT comic store and here is just part of it




We then walked to Grand Central Terminal and The New York Public Library before heading to do some shopping around the area.

This is on approach to the upper side of Grand Central



and a couple of shots from inside........today we note there is a very noticeable military presence , along with all the cops , at most of the popular places like this terminal and also at 34th Street and Penn Stations which are 2 quite large 'transfer' stations.....I am asuming it will be similar tonight at the Ice Hockey being held in Madison Square Garden





And this is the front of the NY City Library ........think Law & Order.....here I am being one of the lawyers walking down the steps - please note the similarity....




And an inside shot - I wanted to bust in , in a ghostbusters suit.



I was appreciating the architecture ..............




Kayla apparently was not.................




Finally - some random street shots - they love thier flags, most of which are ( if they are able to be ) flying at half mast this week.





SO MUCH business is just carried out on the footpath - you cannot walk a street without trolleys and deliveries happening mostly all along the footpath



and these food carts are on nearly every corner in some parts of town.



Off to the ice Hockey at 9am your time today.
Hope the Hansen Brothers are there !
DW Drums rule !

Offline Wotto

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And totally unrelated videos.....

This is actually a very cool clip that play at the MM World in Times Square




And I hope this gives you some indication as the what it is like to walk these streets ANY time day or night here

http://youtu.be/nMcdtFwP_F8

DW Drums rule !

Offline Cursed

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The M&M vid was cool. I would be scared to go into that shop i would be concerned how much i would spend there. Not on the chocolate but on yellow and red, LOVE the M&M ads!  %.%

Offline tonyt

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Great read so far mate.

What no Denny's yet?

Offline Wotto

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Hahahaha - there isnt a Dennys in all of Manhattan mate - dont worry I checked long and hard before we left  ^^^



FINALLY - tonight , was an OUTSTANDING night..............


MADISON SQUARE GARDEN:o

I had arranged tickets over the net via Stub Hub and hoped to hell they (a) got us in ( b ) were the seats as described and paid for.
I couldnt have asked for much better.







The seats were at the very front of the gallery level , with a clear view to the Rangers goal twice end ( the game is played in 3 periods )
They also had your own decent sized screen to watch the game, replays , lunatics in the crowd etc.
The view and position was OUTSTANDING



The crowd built up real nice




Here are both teams waiting to come on - New York Rangers in blue Vs Florida Panthers.







Midway through the game I could hear this bloke YELLING OUT " The PUCK WAS IN, THE PUCK WAS ON THE LINE MORON" etc
This bloke !



Later I felt a bit crook , I asked for a doctor , they got me this one but all she did was blow me kisses - yes really , these were for me .




I must get some video together and up for you - it was INSANE when The Rangers scored - a FANTASTIC atmosphere.
THE best moment in NYC so far - without question
DW Drums rule !

Offline Wotto

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Here is just a small taste of the hockey.
I started with a classic scene , moved on to the guy from The Goonies, then watch through and listen to em go off when the Rangers score.

http://youtu.be/WlBW5HyAol8
DW Drums rule !