The chain and the sign have been up for over a year now and I'm not sure how the deterrent has been working out. Maybe not so well. SATC fans are an irrepressible bunch. But now the Perry Street townhousers have added a new twist.
To all those SATC picture-snappers they say, "Took a picture??? Now Please Help," and donate a dollar to orphaned kitties and puppies. That's making the most of a deeply annoying, invasive, uncontrollable situation. I like it.
In fact, I think it could start a trend. Call it a Tourist & Yunnie Nuisance Tax.
Beleaguered neighbors of noisy hotels like the Cooper Square and the Jane could put out boxes saying, "Puked on my sidewalk? Woke me up with your drunken screams? Donate a dollar to [your favorite charity here]."
Just think, if every yunnie or tourist in the city donated just one dollar for every time they did something annoying, we might have the means to cure HIV, eradicate world hunger, and save all the orphaned kitties of New York.
More on SATC:
Great idea. Sometimes I wonder how much more live-able it would be here were SATC to have taken place somewhere else- like LA or Boston. Ha. Wishful thinking...
ReplyDeleteexcellent idea! i'd love it if the cooper square hotel patrons would pay every time they took a picture of our tenement courtyard
ReplyDeleteI like it too. Perhaps they can replace some of the 78,569 ATMs in the EV.
ReplyDeleteI live on Perry St. I heard that the people that live at that address were actually working with the tour lines to allow people to have their pictures taken on those steps. The street association (or some association, or just the neighbors) sued the owners of the steps because the Carrie Bradshaw lines down the street were getting to be a bit much. That is when the owners put the sign up, much to the relief of all of us on Perry Street. (a street that I am being driven off of as a renter by the way- but that's another story)
ReplyDeletePerry Streeter, that's fascinating. i always assumed the owners of the building were being driven insane by the Carrie gals. i know i would be. i've long had the fantasy of interviewing them about their pain--but you present a much different picture.
ReplyDeleteit would definitely be a great idea. one that none of the uber-luxe hotels would endorse. however, i'm afraid these outdoor cash boxes might become prime targets for petty crime.
ReplyDeleteI also live on Perry Street, directly opposite "Carrie's" staircase, and it was certainly my impression, after many days of filming for both the TV show and the movie, that the owners of the house in question certainly made a lot of location money from it, and disrupted the lives of others living on the block without our getting a proverbial red cent for our own inconvenience (nothing like having 20-something PAs tell you imperiously not to walk down the sidewalk to your own building – something, by the way, they're legally not entitled to do, as most directors acknowledge). Which made the appearance of the sign forbidding photos seem somewhat hypocritical to me – they've got their money, and now they act grand and difficult to various German, British and Japanese girls who want to have their pictures snapped in front of the (in)famous staircase? Seems a bit selfish to me, since the owners of the property didn't seem to care too much about all of their neighbors when filming was happening (over and over and over again) but now are acting "put out" by the tourists whose interest they originally piqued by their allowing the house to be used (and well paid for) by the production companies.
ReplyDeleteJust be happy you live in NYC folks. It's a great town - the whole world wants to see it on the big screen. I'm happy to sacrifice my parking spot any time so filmmakers can make movies in my 'hood (the west village).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the film crew you see working on SATC - all New Yorkers who are very glad to be working. And FYI - the owners of the 'Carrie' brownstone were INSTRUMENTAL in getting the tour buses kicked off the block. Yes, they've made a few bucks over the years, but they also live with people taking pictures and sitting on their stoop everyday and night!
Can't we all just get along ?