Park Slope Movie Magic Reveled In New Book By Local Writer

PARK SLOPE, BROOKYLN — Do you know that your morning walk could include major scenes from the annuls of Hollywood?

More than 50 films — including "Dog Day Afternoon," "The Royal Tenenbaums," "Goodfellas," "John Wick," "The Departed," "Wolf of Wall Street," "Malcom X" and "Juilia & Juilia" — had scenes shot in Park Slope, as a new book by a local author reveals.

"Filmed In Brooklyn" lays out all the sites of movie magic across the borough, but especially in Park Slope, author Margo Donohue's home since 1995.

The book not only provides a scene-by-scene of locations filmed in Brooklyn, but also a history of movie magic in Kings County. One of the first silent film studios in the country, Vitagraph, was in Midwood back when the neighborhood was still primarily farmland.

"All the silent film stars started there," Donohue said.

Donohue watched over 250 films for the book, which took over two years to complete.

"Part of that was getting the images and doing all the research to make sure everything was as accurate as possible," she said.

Donohue said the most popular filming locations in Brooklyn include iconic landmarks, like the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island, "but Park Slope just has dozens and dozens of movies," she said, estimating the list to include at least 50 films.

And Donohue said her research was full of surprises — like how a scene from "Julia & Julia" that supposedly takes place in a Parisian restaurant was actually shot at the now-closed Fifth Avenue restaurant Moutarde.

Or when Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Margot, in "The Royal Tenenbaums" moves in with Raleigh St. Clair, portrayed by Bill Murray, she's moving into 196 16th St., near Fifth Avenue.

In "Goodfellas," a young Michael Imperioli is shot to death after insulting Joe Pesci inside a Seventh Avenue building, just steps from the Park Slope Food Coop.

Tina Fey shops for baby books at Community Bookstore on Seventh Avenue in "Baby Mama," a film that Donohue admits she didn't finish.

"Not a great movie," she said jokingly. "I don't care how it ended,"

The bank exterior from "Dog Day Afternoon" was filmed at 279 Prospect Park West. After filming, Donohue explains in her book, a clever business owner decided to open up a Chicago-style hot dog shop across the street from the bank, named after the movie.

The Park Slope Armory is the site of many films, including "Goodfellas," "Meet Joe Black," "Donnie Brasco," "Raging Bull," and "Addicted to Love."

"Donnie Brasco" was also shot inside of the "rundown" diner that preceded the late Dizzy's on Ninth Street, Donohue writes, adding that "minimal art direction was needed to achieve a dirty look."

Other popular Park Slope locations include St. Francis Xavier Church on Sixth Avenue ("The Departed," "John Wick"), The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture ("Malcolm X," "The Royal Tenenbaums"), the late Grand Prospect Hall ("The Cotton Club," "Prizzi's Honor," "The Royal Tenenbaums") and The Montauk Club ("Rounders," "Definitely Maybe," "The Associate," "The Chaperone," and many others).

Park Slope native Noah Baumbach has filmed several movies in the neighborhood, including "The Squid and the Whale," "Mistress America," and "Marriage Story," where in one scene, Adam Driver stands outside of the Laundromat Wash & Dry at 173 Seventh Ave.

In the 2003 film "Duplex," Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore decamp to Park Slope after being priced out of Manhattan, moving into the supposedly affordable duplex apartment at 240 Berkeley Place, which now rents for $9,000 per month.

With hundreds of Brooklyn movies under her belt, Donohue says that her favorite one is an easy pick: the 1970 Hal Ashby classic "The Landlord," which takes place at 51 Prospect Place.

"I kind of became obsessed with it like ten years ago," she told Patch, perhaps fueling her interest in movie locations.

"I would go out and check it out every once in a while, just because the juxtaposition of where we are now in Park Slope of what it was like in 1970," Donohue said.

Prior to the 1990s, Brooklyn was not the hugely popular filming location it is today, since many in the movie business considered the borough to be too dangerous.

Donohue explains how the film crew hired lots of locals in the then largely Black neighborhood to be involved with the production to get buy-in from the block, and the film includes lots of running shots of star Beau Bridges running up and down Flatbush Avenue buying toilet paper and other supplies for his tenants.

"It's amazing to look at Brooklyn and what it was like in 1970, especially this neighborhood, and how it looks now," Donohue said.

Neighborhood film buffs can find Donohue's book at two Park Slope locations, Books Are Magic and Barnes & Noble, or online here.