Rich & Famous WalkingTour

Plastado!

That sums up my experience after joining the Rich & Famous House tour in the Upper West Side in Manhattan on Friday afernoon.  I got so dead tired we were not able to make it to our dinner for that night at Tauraeu to try their Beef and Cheese Fondue.   Plastado once we hit the bed, tulog agad!  Our reservation was at 8 pm.  Hindi ako makatayo sa kama,  “Anak move it to 8:30 pm”.  Nung 8:30 na,  I opened my eyes,  anak, pls cancel it”.

Even before the tour started, I was already feeling rayuma kasi the day before, I walked two dozens of blocks, plus I stood for two hours at the cooking demo and book signing of Rachel Khoo. Masakit na talaga ang mga legs ko.
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The tour began at 2 pm in front of the Time Warner Building.
I’ve lost track of how many streets and avenues we walked back and forth, but all I remembered was the rayuma that I could still feel 4 days later.

First, our walking tour guide, Jym, pointed at the Trump Tower in Columbus Circle. He said Justin Bieber has an apartment there.

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Then, we crossed the street under rain and moderately strong winds, and stood in front of Trump Tower and he pointed at the Time Warner towers and told us there lived famous people like Celine Dion.

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We went around Trump Tower and we stood at a corner for some 10 minutes while he told us background stories of the famous people living in this building.

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Who lives here? Nalimutan ko, I will try to recall….
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Every time he mentioned a name, we didn’t know who it was. There were six of us in the tour group, two Americans and four Asians. Hindi namin kilala yung mga ibang tinutukoy nya.

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Tila Denzel Washington and wife live here. He paid $17M yata several years ago.
Sobrang mura naman. $17,000,000 x 43.50 = P739,500,000
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Jym updates his sources to make sure he provides the tourists accurate information (almost).
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Jym said he’s also an actor and had worked with Jennifer Aniston in a few projects. He said among the FRIENDS actors, Aniston is the nicest.

Oh no, who lives here kaya? I should’ve kept notes during the tour.
Ghostbuster’s actor?

Jutin Timberlake?

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My famous daugher lives here, he he he (dreaming only)
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Million dollar apartments along Central Park West.
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I saw an old man coming out of the apartment and loaded his golf clubs to his car.
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The rain wasn’t cooperative, but that’s better than walking under the heat.
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Oh my God, I can’t remember who lives here. Kasi turo-turo sya ng turo ng building, tingala lang ako ng tingala.

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abc studio
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he not only pointed at the buildings where the actors live, our tour guide tells us stories about the place, building, and the personality.
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Ben Afleck, Tony Danza
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Eto, si Rhegis Philbin lived here for many years, kasi tapat lang ng abc where he worked.
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Si ano rin, dito nakatira….. ???????

The light colored building is where our tour guide and his parents lived when he’s growing up. Neighbor nila si Lady Gaga. Or same street.
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According to Jym, Lady Gaga’s real name is Joanne. They bought a neighborhood restaurant and changed its name to Joanne.
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Lady Gaga’s dad, who’s an Italian, manages this restaurant.
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Let’s dine there next time.
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Eto naman is on the same street but next block. This tiny store used to be an antique shop owned by a lady who rented it out for the filming of Who’s Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The producers changed the store and made it look like a book store. If you’ve seen that movie, the shop is called Shop Around the Corner. Jym said they didn’t know how much it was rented for the duration of the filming, but the old lady was able to bring her grandchildren to Europe for a grand holiday.
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Neighborhood where Lady Gaga’s parents live
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Lady Gaga is rumored to have bought two adjacent apartment buildings in the same street where she grew up and where her parents continue to live.
The place is under total renovation, and this would be her own place in New York while steps away from her parents. Nice girl.
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Anak, is that yours? Not the apartment, but the umbrella (laughs).
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Millenium Tower, 101w 67th Streeet, Columbus Avenue.

Robert De Niro lived here too.  According to Jym’s source,  the couple weren’t friendly.  When they first moved in,  they distributed signs to the neighbors “please don’t speak to the De Niro’s unless you know them personally”.

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Valentino allegedly owns the whole top floor.  It’s under renovation.

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John Lennon lived here.  He was shot dead while entering the gate,  by a crazed fan.

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Yoko Ono currently lives in the apartments with white window shutters.
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Our tour ended at 4:40 pm near Central Park’s Strawberry Fields, in front of the buildig where John Lennon was killed.
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Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones live in the building a few steps away but I was already too tired.    Harrison Ford, Donna Karan, and many other rice and famous  live around here.  I will update which building once I remembered.

I wish next time we could go inside the apartments and not just outside of the buildings.   Nirayuma lang ako at nagka stiff neck sa katitingala.
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