"Ghostbusters" firehouse and a 9/11 connection
Jack Kemp
The NY Post announced today that Mayor Bloomberg wants to close 44 New York firehouses, including Ladder 8 in Manhattan, the site of the movie "Ghostbusters." http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/fired_houses_on_budget_hit_list_8lrXt8orX5RQMeRZqO8tTP ; This might be a bluff in order to get more money from the state capitol - I don't know - or a done deal.
I've mentioned here that Project Shining City/Island Metro Productions has been involved in making a documentary movie about 9/11. There is a connection to this firehouse.
Two Sundays ago, I reserved a book online at a Barnes and Noble in Lower Manhattan, went off to help edit the documentary at director Jeff Bruzzo's place, planning to pick it up afterwards. Watching many scenes, we saw NY City Councilman Dan Halloran talk briefly about his firefighter cousin Vincent dying on 9/11. He did not discuss with us where his late cousin worked. After the movie, I took a train downtown to pick up that book and something highly unusual happened.
Having printed out a map of the bookstore's location - and being very familiar with the streets of that part of lower Manhattan - I knew I should take the train to Chambers Street. I had worked near the Canal Street stop for about 18 months in the late 1980s and had walked through the entire area more than once. Yet something made me decide to get off one stop before (north) in "error." As I wandered the streets, slightly confused, I happened to randomly take a cross street at North Moore and passed a small firehouse. At the corner, I saw a street sign that said, "Lieutenant Vincent G. Halloran Street." The truck was in and the firemen were talking to tourists. I approached them and told them of the movie project, showed them a printed out photo of me shaking hands with Councilman Halloran, and talked for a while, noticing some artwork on the wall that I didn't pay much attention to. Saying I would be back tomorrow to photograph the street sign, the plaque they showed me on the outside wall, and the name "Lt. Vincent Halloran" painted on the front of their firetruck, I wrote down the address and telephoned director Jeff Bruzzo twice. On the second call, Jeff told me that the internet lists Ladder Company 8's firehouse as the place where the movie "Ghostbusters" was filmed.
Jeff and I also returned on the following Saturday for him to do some digital movie filming at Ladder 8. It was a nice spring day and many tourists were there to have their picture taken with the firefighters from the "Ghostbusters" house, probably because the location is now part of many travel guides and word of mouth. We also met there with two women who lost close relatives on 9/11 and walked further downtown. One of these was Rosaleen Tallon, whose firefighter brother was stationed at Ladder Ten, a firehouse directly across the street from the World Trade Center site (the site where we filmed the interviews). The other lady was Rosa Leonetti, who lost her firefighter brother-in-law on 9/11. What they said will be in our documentary. Suffice it to say that they spoke from the heart.
I don't think this is the place to speculate on New York City Budget politics and firefighting response times - and I'm not the person to do that. What I will say is that this is a week of amazing cosmic coincidences. And the mystics say that there are NO coincidences, everything happens for a reason.
The NY Post announced today that Mayor Bloomberg wants to close 44 New York firehouses, including Ladder 8 in Manhattan, the site of the movie "Ghostbusters." http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/fired_houses_on_budget_hit_list_8lrXt8orX5RQMeRZqO8tTP ; This might be a bluff in order to get more money from the state capitol - I don't know - or a done deal.
I've mentioned here that Project Shining City/Island Metro Productions has been involved in making a documentary movie about 9/11. There is a connection to this firehouse.
Two Sundays ago, I reserved a book online at a Barnes and Noble in Lower Manhattan, went off to help edit the documentary at director Jeff Bruzzo's place, planning to pick it up afterwards. Watching many scenes, we saw NY City Councilman Dan Halloran talk briefly about his firefighter cousin Vincent dying on 9/11. He did not discuss with us where his late cousin worked. After the movie, I took a train downtown to pick up that book and something highly unusual happened.
Having printed out a map of the bookstore's location - and being very familiar with the streets of that part of lower Manhattan - I knew I should take the train to Chambers Street. I had worked near the Canal Street stop for about 18 months in the late 1980s and had walked through the entire area more than once. Yet something made me decide to get off one stop before (north) in "error." As I wandered the streets, slightly confused, I happened to randomly take a cross street at North Moore and passed a small firehouse. At the corner, I saw a street sign that said, "Lieutenant Vincent G. Halloran Street." The truck was in and the firemen were talking to tourists. I approached them and told them of the movie project, showed them a printed out photo of me shaking hands with Councilman Halloran, and talked for a while, noticing some artwork on the wall that I didn't pay much attention to. Saying I would be back tomorrow to photograph the street sign, the plaque they showed me on the outside wall, and the name "Lt. Vincent Halloran" painted on the front of their firetruck, I wrote down the address and telephoned director Jeff Bruzzo twice. On the second call, Jeff told me that the internet lists Ladder Company 8's firehouse as the place where the movie "Ghostbusters" was filmed.
Jeff and I also returned on the following Saturday for him to do some digital movie filming at Ladder 8. It was a nice spring day and many tourists were there to have their picture taken with the firefighters from the "Ghostbusters" house, probably because the location is now part of many travel guides and word of mouth. We also met there with two women who lost close relatives on 9/11 and walked further downtown. One of these was Rosaleen Tallon, whose firefighter brother was stationed at Ladder Ten, a firehouse directly across the street from the World Trade Center site (the site where we filmed the interviews). The other lady was Rosa Leonetti, who lost her firefighter brother-in-law on 9/11. What they said will be in our documentary. Suffice it to say that they spoke from the heart.
I don't think this is the place to speculate on New York City Budget politics and firefighting response times - and I'm not the person to do that. What I will say is that this is a week of amazing cosmic coincidences. And the mystics say that there are NO coincidences, everything happens for a reason.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 8:18 AM
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