And who am I? That's one secret I'll never tell. You know you love me. Xoxo, GossipGirl Last Friday I was invited by On Location Tours to partake in the
NYC Gossip Girl Tour. Now, before you say or think
anything...I have to admit, I have watched maybe a total of one hour of the show (spread out over 5-10 minute increments) so I went in rather blind. And old. As in almost as old as some of the mothers who brought their teenage daughters. However, I have to say...the combination of our fabulous and entertaining tour guide, the incredibly nice people I met on the tour and our air-conditioned luxury bus made for quite the enjoyable afternoon.
All 44 of us met under the wrought iron gate of the New York Palace Hotel (where some of the colorful cast of characters live and where the kids hang out at Gilt eating grilled cheese with truffle oil sandwiches). From there our entertaining and in control tour guide Meghan gathered us all on the bus and explained we would be seeing over 40 locations in a little over 3 hours!
We began our tour on the Upper East Side, of course. Meghan opened with "What's up Upper East Siders!" In the busload of mostly foreign tourists, I am pretty sure I was the only UES resident, but I was more than happy to play tourist for the day...camera and all. We headed up Madison to see important stores like Vera Wang and restaurants like Centrolire. Other sites to note were Synod of Bishops Russian Church (the back entrance of the fictitious Constance school), the Museum of the City of New York (the front entrance of the school), The Met steps (where the mean girls eat lunch consisting of apples and yogurt), 1136 5th Ave. (Blair Waldorf's home) and 74th at Madison (the exterior of the Archibald residence).
Some locations we saw from the bus and for some we disembarked for picture taking. We even made stops at Dylan's Candy Bar (I resisted) and Henri Bendel's (I did not resist as the 20% off coupon we were given was too good to pass up).
While on the bus we were also shown clips from the show highlighting some of the locations we had just seen. For those of us who are not show fanatics, this was a great help and really put things in perspective. I thought I recognized some of the locations! Wait, are those high school kids really drinking at The Campbell Apartments at Grand Central? You betcha! We saw quite a few restaurants, stores and of course drinking establishments where the upper crust kids like to imbibe.
While the show is about privileged teenagers on the Upper East Side and that is where most of the filming takes place, it is shot all over Manhattan so the tour took us everywhere from the UES, to midtown, to the Flat Iron District, to the East Village, Nolita and even the Bowery. The tour ended at Union Square. Over 40 sites in 3.5 hours! I was wiped by the end. However, I have to say, On Location Tours and Meghan did a great job. Thanks for the fun afternoon! It was fun being a tourist a while. Oh and if Gossip Girl ain't your thing...they also offer a Sex and the City tour.
xoxo, The Upper East Side Fashioniste
screentours.com Fridays and Sundays at 12 Noon
$38 (+ $2 ticket fee)
P.S. Gossip Girl: On Location Tours is hiring! They are looking for an extremely outgoing, personable, fun actress in her 20's as tour guide for bus tour of Gossip Girl sites. Stand up comedy experience a plus. Tours are approximately 3.5 hours in length. Position is part time -- three or four tours per month. Candidate must be willing to obtain New York City tour guide license. Email acting resume and headshot to paulineg@onlocationtours.com. Headshot can be attached, but RESUME MUST NOT BE ATTACHED.
- Lauren Dimet Waters
