This will now be my 100th post since starting this blog back in September 2009. I have decided to use this as an excuse to go back in time! Much like my ‘2009 end of year recap’ this blog post will recap 10 months before I started the blog and write about the time I made a pilgrimage to New York to celebrate a big influence for me growing up it both shaped my life and my work… Ghostbusters! I saw this film during its original theatrical release back in 1984 and like its subsequent sequel, cartoon series and merchandise it has stayed with me ever since.
This pilgrimage was an especially poignant celebration of my youth, as it not only accrued during my final month of being “twenty something”, my brother also accompanied me, as children we rarely saw eye to eye but we both loved Ghostbusters. We hadn’t intended to make a comprehensive trip, just a few choice locations of particular points of interest to us so apologises if you are expecting a detailed tour. Despite the cold our spirits were high (pun definitely NOT intended) as we made our way to the first location which coincidentally was the site of the Ghostbusters first investigation, the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. There was no mistaking this magnificent building with its iconic marble lions seen at the very beginning of the film. Rocky fans will run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, Ghostbusters fans run down these steps!
And then the finale, what the trip had been building up to the famous Ghostbusters headquarters Hook and Ladder 8, 14 North Moore Street. Used in both movies it featured in the animated series, comics, games and toys this building was like a temple devoted to my childhood. I stepped out of the cab and stared at it in awe, my young self wanted to live in this building and now here I was standing outside it! Being an actual firehouse it was interesting to see how different people view this building, we asked a citizen of New York to take a photograph and she simply took a photo of us cutting the building out of the shot… For her it was just that firehouse she saw every day she didn’t view it in the same manner as the tour bus filled with English tourists that piled out for photographs moments later. We were fortunate in the fact the fire truck returned as we stood outside, the crew very kindly granted us the opportunity to see the original Ghostbusters sign from Ghostbusters 2 left after shooting.Once it sunk in we walked away, I took one final look with a stupid smile on my face. I didn’t think it would be possible to love the film anymore than I already did but it happened and certainly didn’t think it would be possible to add more precious memories to it but it happened, so pleased that I made this pilgrimage.
Well there you have it blog post#100 I hope you enjoyed it, it certainly brought back some happy memories for me anyway. I have decided to write more posts that address my influences over the coming months- covering locations, objects or people in the hope that they might provide an insight to my work. Do please feel free to comment on the posts and thanks for reading the previous 100!
© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.
nice post! Ghostbusters was the first film i ever saw in a cinema and was also the 2nd and 3rd as they repeated it many times in cinemas and my parents would drop me and my brother off in the cinema whilst they sat out in a local teashop for a break!
ReplyDeleteIt is most definatley one of my favourite films of all time and one i have to watch if it's on tv!
Same here (although I only saw it the once in the cinema) I’m confident enough to say that I have seen it on every media since its release, as for tv it’s a joke of mine to suddenly announce “Ghostbusters returns after the news” at the point ITV would choose to stop the film! Having watched the recorded version so many times! :) Pleased you liked the post, I’ll try a few more like this me thinks x thanks for taking the time to comment x
ReplyDeleteNice post, definitely a nice post!
ReplyDeleteI must've seen Ghostbusters more than any other film, ever - it shaped whole generations! Never saw it theatrically due to being born in 1985, but I honestly can't remember a time BEFORE being aware of (and loving) Ghostbusters.
I've made this pilgrimage in a "virtual" sense (as in, I've pinned down all the locations on Google Earth), and one day, ONE DAY, the dream will be made reality.
Interesting fact, sort of: That fire house was also used in the filming of The Mask - it's the garage that gives Stanley Ipkiss the "Loaner" car.
That was indeed an interesting fact, all the interior shots of the station where indeed filmed in LA (Love the Mask and when I first saw it I thought the garage looked familiar!) You realise this when you peer into the NY station how different the two are. You have to go some day, and make the rounds around the city! Pleased that you liked the blog post! :)
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