New York

I'm heading there in a month or so because I am transfering either to NYU or Hofstra next year (and either switching to or double majoring in film )and want to kind of look around. I figure that while I am there, I might as well be one of those damn tourists and go to some Godfather places. Any suggestions?

There MAY just be a Godfather website that lists some filming locations.....

...if you find it, let me know. :rolleyes:

:p

Yeah.... I've been looking for one, too.

I think Geoff is yankin' your chain..... you can check out his site and see some good info on filming locations HERE

DSC,

Have a great time. I'll be there in August and can't wait. Although I don't try to look like a tourist, I don't hesitate to take pictures. Who cares, there's so much to see, even if you're just staring at all the activity, all the people, or just walking down Time's Square. I don't think I've walked so much in such a short time. It's just a wonderful city. Check out a play, see the Statue of Liberty. I know, all touristy, but for me anyway, it's something I wanted to do. Besides, how can you go to NYC and NOT see some of the popular tourist sites.

By all means, look for the "naked cowboy". By August I assume he'll be ready to re-appear. Have a fun time. The weather should be nice that time of year.

TIS

One caveat about touring NYC, DSC: Take care of your "business" before you set out, because there are no public toilets anywhere (or at least any that any civilized person might consider using).

Tell me about it. I remember during a visit 2 years ago I walked for about 1/2 hour trying to find a McDonald's or someplace just to use the bathroom. They all had signs, "Not for public use". I think we found a bar somewhere with a bathroom.

But men can just hide behind a tree in Central Park. :p

Periodically, I get via e-mail a list of 20 reasons why it's "good to be a man." One of the reasons is that "the world is your urinal."

SC- I clicked on your link up there, and it said I had to pay a monthly fee to view the site

What I meant was what are some of the places that are actually worth going to. I know a lot of them have changed in the last 30 years and are now Chinese grocery stores.

Good point.

The best place to visit (that has remained almost unchanged since the movie was filmed) is The Edison Hotel (241 West 47th Street, just off Broadway). You'll walk down the same hallway where Luca Brasi took his final steps and you'll enter the hotel's bar/restaurant that served as the bar in which Luca was killed. Look for the fish etchings on the door.

Its a nice example of art-deco style PLUS you can actually have a drink or two while visiting

Head east a few blocks to Sixth Avenue and 50th Street and see Radio City Music Hall (from which Mike and Kay exitted only to see the newpaper headline about Vito getting shot). You won't find the newsstand or the phone booth from which Mike called the mall but the marquee is exactly the same.

Take the subway downtown to the "Brooklyn Bridge" stop and you'll find see the courthouse steps used to film Barzini's final tumble (60 Centre Street). Some blocks west you'll find the Old St. Patrick's Cathedral at 263 Mulberry Street and you can go inside to see where the christening scenes were filmed for Part I.

Unfortunately most of the remaining film locations have changed drastically and are almost unrecognizable.

Scotch. Pre-war.

Say, SC...anyone know which hotel lobby that was where Michael was seen walking through when he left Kay to visit Vito at the hospital?

Apple

I'll take a guess and say the St. Regis Hotel (at 55th Street and 5th Avenue). Thats where they filmed Mike and Kay's love scenes.

I had no trouble at all accessing the page through the link SC provided (and a very informative page it is). Anyone else have this problem?

Signor V.

Really nice you are comming down to that big apple! If you are intrested in hystoric places here are my top 5:
- Umberto's Clam House (Crazy Gallo was whacked there)
-247 Mulberry Street (Old "Ravenite Social Club", Dellacroce's place).
-Spark Steak House (Where Big Paulie was shoot)
-Nouva Villa Tamaro (Where Maranzano was clipped, God knows if that place stills exists).
-The Park Sheraton's Barber Shop (ol times favorite!)

The only problem with these (as stated in one of the thread's later posts) is that four of them no longer exist as they were when they became famous (infamous?).

1. Umberto's has moved from its location where Crazy Joe was killed.

2. 247 Mulberry is no longer a social club (the last I saw it was a boutique).

3. The Nuova Villa Tammaro Restaurant (West 25th St in Coney Island where JOE MASSERIA was killed) is long gone.

4. The Park Sheraton barbershop is now a newsstand.

If you have some time to spend in New York, I would suggest a day in the Belmont section of the Bronx. Go to the Bronx Zoo or Botanical Gardens, and then dinner on Arthur Avenue. I highly recommend Pasquale Rigoletto (reservations recommended), or some Italian ices or pastry at Egidio's. If you have a nice day, it's a beautiful way to spend it.

Yes, that is the exact neighborhood I grew up in. My grandmother still lives there. You will love it!!!

DSC,

As far as being a tourist...don't stand on a busy street corner with a map trying to figure out where to go - you're easy prey for a pick-pocket; especially in the Times Square area.

As far as mother nature...the secret, in the the Midtown area - find a big hotel (my favorite is the Marriot Marquis on Broadway and 46th, but there are several others)...walk in like you are a guest or going to the bar/restaurant. There are always restrooms near the bars/restaurants. During the day they are usually open. In the evening you might need a room key. The Marriot Marquis is worth a look anyway. The lobby is on the 8th floor with a great bar lounge that overlooks Times Square. If you get there during off hours you can get a window seat and enjoy the view along with an $8 beer.

Note: Everytime there is a thread about NYC, TIS mentions that naked cowboy..hmmmm?

As for views, there are two bars in NYC that offer an experience like no other, IMHO. The first is The Rainbow Grill on the top of Rockefeller Plaza. Amazing!! Go at night so you can see the city all lit up. It's as if it's made from jewels.

The other is The Rise in the Ritz Carlton Battery Park, which has spectacular views of the harbor and the Statue of Liberty. Go at sunset for the best impact.

One warning: Expect to pay a ridiculous price for a drink. It comes with the territory. But believe me, the views are worth every penny.

Ahh New York is a wonderful place, if you do transfer to NYU, which BTW is REALLY expensive, but if you do go see a play on broadway, like Spamalot, that was good. Of course you have your share of Italian resturants in NYC, there are a lot of them and many of them have food that is quite delectable. I went to a place called Daniela's and it was pretty good, the pepper boy, pasta drowning in butter, ahh good times.

Fuhgetabouit, I got the thing today, its in the upwards of 40 thou

The only problem with these (as stated in one of the thread's later posts) is that four of them no longer exist as they were when they became famous (infamous?).

1. Umberto's has moved from its location where Crazy Joe was killed.

2. 247 Mulberry is no longer a social club (the last I saw it was a boutique).

3. The Nuova Villa Tammaro Restaurant (West 25th St in Coney Island where JOE MASSERIA was killed) is long gone.

4. The Park Sheraton barbershop is now a newsstand. [/b][/quote]Well, I am just a poor ol' school guy... I know nothin since Gotti was sent with the feebees; but those places are still there, maybe they are now newstands but if you go there you feel tha force! Or are ya gonna tell me that the Gettysburg fence is still there? No! But you still go there! That's the beauty of history!

Forty thousand? Wow. For how many years? Is that just tuition fees, or does it cover living costs too? Do you get bursaries? Loans? Any kind of financial help?

Or is it only open to rich phonies?

Aaah, New York. I hope to go there someday, it looks very interesting.

Thats per year, and its only housing and tuition. There are a couple of loans they offer, but if I accepted them, I wouldn't have them paid off until I was well into my 50s.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.

What I have decited to do is to transfer to Hofstra. I cant deal with the "theee-a-tar" people here anymore. Hofstra is in NY, has film and will hopefully get me resident (or at least "commuter" status) the following year at NYU. Also, I found out that you must be enrolled for 5 semesters at NYU to graduate from there, so even if I were to transfer at the end of this year, I would still have to say for an extra semester to graduate.

Perhaps its naivety on my part, but I don't see the problem with loans. At least not student loans over here; you don't have to pay them back until you're earning a certain amount, and even then it's in proportion to how much you're earning. Going by your post, though, it seems they ask for less money from folks who actually live in New York?

When I had my student loans, you had to begin paying them back within 9 months after graduating, if you were employed or not. And it didn't matter if you were making $10 a week or $10,000, you had a set payment each month. I don't know if the rules here have changed, but that was my deal.

That's harsh indeed. What did you major in, Loansharking?

Browbeating. :p

Hey, is that a slur on my Sicilian heritage?? j/k!! :p

Yeah, I kind of jumped backwards out of one hole and into another.

My original suggestion was going to be that the loan payments system may have changed since the days of when you oldies were studying. :p

Ah, yes, back when we had to take our class notes on stone tablets!! :p

Well, not to wax too nostalgic, but...
I grew up in Brooklyn. My folks were too poor to send me to a "pay" or "sleep-away" college. So, like tens of thousands of other non-rich New Yorkers, I applied to the City University system, which offered free tuition to qualified NYC high school graduates. I chose Brooklyn College, which (along with City, Hunter and Queens) was at the hub of the system. I had to go to work full-time immediately after graduating high school, so I went at night. They charge tuition in night school: $9 per credit! I paid it. Took me seven years to earn a B.A. at night. Then I enrolled in Brooklyn College graduate school, also at night. They charged all of $35 a credit. Took me five years to earn a M.A. That was then.
When my son graduated from Skidmore College in '92, his tuition was $23k. My daughter enrolled in Tulane University that year; her tuition was $22k. Then she transferred to Rutgers (New Jersey's state university), where the tuition for residents was about $9k. She said Rutgers was an infinitely more serious school than Tulane.

$9k a year? With no help from government grants, loans, bursaries etc.?

Mick, in the US, just about every state has a "state" university or college that's supported in large part by taxpayer dollars. The idea is that children of (taxpaying--and voting) residents of the state should have higher education available that's relatively close to home, and that costs less than a comparable "private" university. Residents of other states can apply for, and attend, state universities, but they almost always have to pay considerably more for tuition, room and board--the idea is to keep the tax subsidy for the residents, not the out-of-towners.
Some state universities are considered first-rate. But they're almost always huge. To give you an idea: At my daughter's graduation, they started awarding undergraduate degrees at 2 in the afternoon, and didn't get to the last grad until after 8 p.m.--and Rutgers isn't even big by some state U. standards. Michigan and Wisconsin are gigantic, and California has several huge campuses around the state.

I presently have two kids in college and it is brutal. My son is at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., and my daughter is at Drew University in New Jersey. It is $40,000 per year per kid. They do have some scholarships and other financial aid, otherwise they could not go. That said I fear the prohibitive cost of private education is dangerously close to making us a two class country...haves and have nots.

That's dangerously restricting opportunities, isn't it? Over here, now, they're trying to get a different kind of reputation by allowing kids from "lowlier" backgrounds, but with good grades even so, who normally wouldn't get the chance to, to study at Oxford and Cambridge and whatnot. My best friend applied but didn't get in; I didn't apply because they don't do Film Studies.

So over here the maximum a university can charge for tuition fees is £3,000. Scottish universities only charge £1,700; and Wales is £1,200, for some reason. Maintenance and accomodation fees are round about the same on top of that, but your parents are means-tested as to how much they earn, and the government gives grants according to the annual income.

It seems, on first spec, much more pocket-friendly than your system, the extent of which I had no idea.

I guess that's my plans for an MA in Film at USC down the drain...