Walking up North from the Lincoln Centre, you arrive to Nora Ephon's part of the city. If Nora does not ring a bell, I am sure that the films "When Harry met Sally", "Sleepless in Seattle", and "You've got mail" do. Nora Ephon wrote them all and the latter is solely filmed on the Upper Westside. I used to live in the building, which Nora honored in an article in the New Yorker magazine, in which she depicted rather well the special community feeling and neighbourhood you still can get in some places of this big Metropolitan. The two places which played a major part in "You've got mail" are the small sailing boat harbour and Riverside Drive Park. The first is on the Hudson River at 79th Street where also a few houseboats are moored - I think the only place on Manhattan with such harbour. There is a lively outdoors restaurant serving good burgers with a great view over the harbour. In fact, one of my photos on the front page of this site is taken there one evening.
To get to the harbour, you have to cross Riverside Drive Park, so continue up north in the park or along the waterside and you'll have a great stroll there.
Many remember the scene with Meg Ryan waiting for Tom Hanks while she 'reads' a book in a cafe cum restaurant - this place, Cafe Lalo, still exists on 83rd street, but it's unfortunately very crowded exactly because of it featuring in "You've got mail". The great thing about Lalo is its many different kind of cakes - especially their cheesecakes in many various flavours!
The city has played the main part in so many films, that you always might recognise a corner somewhere from the filmstrip. I find it quite amusing to visit certain bars or restaurants from films. In fact, one evening walking home from the subway, I found myself part of a movie; some guy in a cowboy hat was steering a bus which did not go anywhere as it was anchored to a truck, and I realised first then that they were filming! Most of the time, the film crew blocks the roads for their filming, but sometimes, if all can go naturally, they let us "normal" people also pass.
