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The Empire State Building: 80th to 102nd floor, from King Kong to Gossip Girl
The Empire State Building, New York’s number one reference…
Depuis sa construction en 1931, l’Empire State Building est une icône. Troisième plus haut building de New York, il est également celui qui incarne le plus Big Apple. Sur de nombreux plans de la cité, l’immeuble apparaît souvent en arrière-plan, quand il n’est pas au centre de l’attention. Ready Player One, Le Gendarme à New York, Independence Day, Superman IV, les séries Gossip Girl, Doctor Who ou encore FBI : Duo très spécial… Toutes les œuvres évoquant New York nous le présente. Sa longue flèche si reconnaissable témoigne de son grand âge. à l’origine, elle devait servir de point d’ancrage aux dirigeables, moyen de transport innovant à l’époque et censé durer dans l’avenir. Un pari perdu, mais qui laisse une superbe trace dans l’histoire. Et dans l’imaginaire.
It was used at King Kong in 1933 to overlook the entire city and try to escape its pursuers and the planes, which would be fatal to it. Still at the top, the observation platform on the 102nd floor served as a meeting place for the heroes of An Affair to Remember, both in its 1939 and 1957 versions. On the other hand, the 86th was immortalized in Sleepless in Seattle, during the meeting between Annie (Meg Ryan) and Sam (Tom Hanks).
While it is possible to access these two platforms to observe the city in a spectacular way, a third coming is just waiting for the cameras to be immortalized.
The observatory on the 80th floor
Initially used as a transition floor between the ground floor and the elevators to access the 86th floor, the 80th floor now becomes an observatory in its own right. But when you can go up to 86th and 102nd, why stop at 80th?
This brand new layout has first and foremost a prodigious decoration, including a metallic wind rose embedded in the ceiling, a fresco of the New York skyline on the walls by British artist Stephen Wiltshire, a sober black floor and beautiful vintage binoculars.
But these glasses aren’t for observing the city from the windows. These are interactive terminals in augmented reality. So you can discover New York at different times, in different places and with different sounds.
Before discovering all these wonders, the Empire State Building offers, from the first floor, a few surprises.
The Empire State Building pays tribute to cinema
On the second floor of the building is a museum. You can discover the history of the site in the 1920s, the stages of construction of the famous building or a simulation of an elevator made by Otis.
For the more cinema-loving, the Empire State Building also has two very interesting exhibits. The first is the legendary King Kong. Two gigantic hands seem to be coming from the outside to grasp each other. On several screens, resembling windows, the gigantic monkey observes the visitors. The most daring can come and curl up in his immense arms. The experience is breathtaking.
Right next to this superb staging, the visitor can stroll between different film posters with the Empire State Building as a frame or as a guest-star. Some excerpts from feature films or television series are also broadcast to remind us of the importance of the building in popular culture. And to go even further, the New York guide to the 1000 cult places of films, series, music, comics and novels lists the most outstanding works concerning the building, but also in the whole Big Apple.
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Cult! movies: 100 mythical places of cinema [French Edition]
Since the dawn of cinema, films have invaded the world and highlighted sometimes unexpected places. Every film location has its secrets. The latter are sometimes as exciting as the feature films themselves.
Did you know that the cemetery where the final duel of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was built from scratch and that no body lies there? Or that the bus ofInto The Wild has been moved to discourage fans from spending the night there? From the story of the construction of The Bridge on the River Kwai to the incredible encounter during the shooting of the last scene ofIndiana Jones and the Last Crusadeembark on an exciting world tour with the greatest stars of the seventh art. Shiver in the real haunted house ofAmityville and discover the terrifying anecdotes of the making ofApocalypse Now in the Philippines. Visit the building of Blade Runner before stopping at Hogwarts and finally landing in Jurassic Parkin the middle of the Hawaiian archipelago. What if we also took you behind the scenes of the making of the Hobbits’ village of Lord of the Rings ?
Produced by a team of pop-culture specialists and enhanced by numerous anecdotes, Cult! movies tells the secrets of the places that made the history of cinema.
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Interest for fans
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By Damien Duarte
Passionné par la culture pop depuis son enfance, ses références vont de Donald Duck à Batman en passant par Marty McFly. Fantripper dans l'âme, voyager sur les traces de Ghostbusters, James Bond ou des héros de romans comme Cotton Malone fait partie d'un séjour idéal et réussi !