But the only section that’s applicable to this tour is the Sackler Wing, where Harry and Sally meander around the Temple of Dendur, which was saved from being drowned by the Aswan Dam. It’s the largest art museum in the country, packed with classical and historical works from the around the world. Plot-wise (and tour-wise) the bookstore scene is significant because the couple’s serendipitous reunion here – which comes after break-ups and as they’re starting to heal – leads to them hanging out as friends.Ĭut to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located eight blocks away, just inside Central Park. The bookstore doesn’t specialize, so has a bit of everything, including “ World Film Locations: New York”. This is the last of a small chain, the original of which closed on the Upper West Side in 1996, and was where Harry meets Sally for the third time after Marie spots him staring at her from the "personal growth" section. Head straight to the inviting Shakespeare and Co Booksellers, unrelated to the older ones of the same name in Paris. The subway would take you to our next stop as well, but Harry and Sally never venture underground, it seems. Since there’s nothing worth seeing between Greenwich Village and Central Park – at least according to Reiner’s version of the city – you might as well hail a cab. The small-ish park is cinematically lovely any time of year, especially since playgrounds were added and the fountain was moved five years ago to be aligned just so with the arch. Washington Square Park appears twice in the film: early on when the eponymous couple first part (“Have a nice life,” Sally said before Harry walks off under the white marble arch) and again at the end (a callback to the earlier scene). The party was filmed in the Skylight Ballroom, now a private office space.Ī few blocks up Broadway and two blocks west is the second most famous park in Manhattan. The wedding took place in the Grand Ballroom, which is now an REI store selling outdoor sports gear. Inside, two key When Harry Met Sally… scenes were filmed: the wedding of the couple’s best friends Marie (Carrie Fisher) and Jess (Bruno Kirby), in which Harry and Sally have a big row and call off their budding relationship and the New Year’s Eve Party where (spoiler alert) the two reconcile and decide to spend the rest of their lives together. Roughly eight blocks west, at the corner of Houston and Lafayette Street, is the Puck Building, its facade perhaps more recognizable as the office from the US sitcom Will & Grace. Then she proudly pointed out a faded, 25-year-old photo of the cast during the filming, next to another of Reiner unappetizingly eating a sandwich. Most people have no idea.” She said she could only think of one occasion in the last two years when someone recreated the scene. She guffawed at her cluelessness.Īfter finishing my sandwich, a creamy slice of New York cheesecake and a terrible cup of coffee, I asked a waitress how often people ask for the famous seat. She was a few bites into her sandwich, which she wisely carved into with a fork and knife, when an older gentleman paused to flirt with her: “I’d be glad to have what you’re having.” She looked perplexed, so I pointed out the sign above her. He left and a pretty blonde took his place. “Oh! The scene with the…the…Oh! Well, I’ll be damned!” And then he promptly handed his phone to a stranger – who’d just snapped a picture of the sign – to capture his accidental brush with cinema fame. I gave him a summary and his eyes went wide in recognition. “What’s a ‘Harry meets Sally’?” he asked. I asked if he chose the table because of its connection to the film. As he packed up the uneaten half of his massive, expensive, mustard-smeared pastrami on rye, he seemed oblivious to the diners taking his picture (though they were really aiming for the sign). I joined a tourist who was eating alone at the table, and he romantically shared the plate of dill and garlic pickles that’s delivered to every group. In the middle of the main dining room, indistinguishable from every other except for the sign hanging above it, is the table where Sally hilariously and provocatively demonstrates the ease and ubiquity of faking an orgasm – to which Rob Reiner’s mother famously quips: “I’ll have what she’s having.” The lines getting in (to order) and out (to pay) can be long, especially on weekends, so you may want to expedite your lunch by sitting at a waiter-served table – but then you wouldn’t be sitting at the table, in the self-serve section. This 125-year-old deli is the stuff of corned beef legend.
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