Posts tagged Connecticut
May 10-19, 2013: Overview-East Bound and Down
0Back home again in Indiana! Wow, what a great trip that was. It was loads of fun as Pat and I explored many two lane roads throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont (just a hint), New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Here’s the overview of our trip, and posts for each day will follow (and will be hyperlinked below as they are added).
- May 10-11, 2013: Not much to report, as these were “get from point A to B as quickly as possible” travel days. Slabbed from Indianapolis to Dubois, Pennsylvania on Day 1, and DuBois to Connecticut on Day 2.
- May 12, 2013: Spent the morning in Waterbury visiting a friend, then my cousin. In the afternoon, it was onto the PEZ Candy Museum in Orange, then to Mystic, Connecticut.
- May 13, 2013: Visited Mystic, Connecticut – downtown and Old Mystick Village. Meandered our way to New Haven. Spent the next two nights in downtown New Haven.
- May 14, 2013: Rode the Metro North to New York City. Spent the day mostly hoofing it around midtown Manhattan, but also went downtown to visit the 9/11 Memorial. Took the Metro North back to New Haven.
- May 15, 2013: Left New Haven, visited another friend in central Connecticut, then continued meandering northwest on some state roads, then on US 7 into Massachusetts. Took NY 23 to the Hudson River, then followed US 9 and NY 9J. Spent the night in Schenectady.
- May 16, 2013: Today’s destination was Lake George, New York, a favorite tourist destination of mine from my teen years. Before heading north, we took a detour back east to Bennington, Vermont to have breakfast at the Blue Benn Diner. Traversed northwest and spent the afternoon and evening in Lake George on a cute motel on the lake.
- May 17, 2013: Spent the morning in Lake George. There was not much open yet, since we were still in the off season (just a week away), so we checked out the site of the former amusement park Gaslight Village (now demolished) and figured out which motel my parents and I stayed in when I was a teen. Played a round of mini golf at Goony Golf, and then headed southwest / west on US 20, visiting an iconic tourist stop, the Tepee.
- May 18, 2013: Continuing west on US 20 through New York state, through the Finger Lakes area, visited the town that inspired Frank Capra’s vision of Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, continued on US 20 into Pennsylvania along Lake Erie on PA 5 (Circle Lake Tour).
- May 19, 2013: Continued along PA 5 (Circle Lake Tour) by Lake Erie, visited a memorial to those lost in a bad train wreck in 1876, saw the longest covered bridge in the US, and the world’s two largest loaves of bread.
What a ride! Stay tuned.
Pat & Jennifer
May 15, 2013: Day 6 – East Bound and Down
1Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
We left New Haven this morning and met up with another friend for coffee. We couldn’t resist stopping off at the Big Dipper in Prospect for some ice cream!
then we started northwest through Connecticut, meandering on a mix of state and US routes into Massachusetts on US 7. We picked up 23, which crossed into New York. In Craryville, we found the Chief Martindale Diner. Cool spot and great food; but the owner is very touchy about photos. I asked the waitress if it was Ok to take a few shots, she said no problem, but then came back out, saying the chef/owner didn’t want any photos being taken. Hmmm…
We continued on 23/23B until we reached Hudson, New York. Along the way, I’d post things to friends and family on Facebook and at this point, my cousin Leigh suggested that we visit Olana, which was the Persian style home of artist Frederic Edwin Church. Glad we stopped! Even though the building was closed, the site was open and had beautiful views of the Hudson.
We continued north along US 9/ SR 9J along the Hudson River as the sun set.
We booked a Priceline hotel, and ended up with the west side of Schenectady.
As we crossed into Albany, I saw a neat theatre called the Palace that I had to test out the HDR camera on!
We made our way to the hotel and got some sleep. Tomorrow, on to Lake George!
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos. Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
[flickrslideshow acct_name=”roadtripmemories” id=”72157633513798365″ width=”600″]
May 13, 2013: Day 4 – East Bound and Down
1Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
We checked out of our hotel, which was across from the Mystic Aquarium and the shopping area called Olde Mystick Village, which has lots of nice little shops. One we enjoyed the past two years was a bakery and cheese shop called The Bleu Squid. They have very good cupcakes and for those who want to forego the cake, and get right to the good stuff, frosting shots! They didn’t have any this visit, as they ran out of cups, but here’s a photo from a previous visit:
We hadn’t eaten yet, so we decided to share a grilled cheese sandwich. They have alot of good varieties, not standard issue grilled cheese. We opted for the cheddar chicken grilled cheese, which was extra sharp Cheddar cheese with grilled chicken breast and sauteed apples on multi grain bread. VERY good! We followed it with a cupcake each for dessert, Pat going with vanilla and I selected salted caramel:
We continued to peruse the shops here, there is a nice variety for everyone, and many dining choices as well. The grounds are kept really nice, it has an old village feel to it, hence the name, Olde Mystick Village. There is also a tourist office at one end to assist with any area tourism questions or information travelers may have.
We went downtown to check out the shops, in case more were opened during the day. We had fun checking out Mystical Toys, a shop I used to take my daughter when she was little. Hard to believe I’m here shopping for my grandson now.
It was a gorgeous day – here’s a view looking up the Mystic River from Main Street:
After finishing up here, we decided to head to New Haven. To my delight, Pat suggested visiting New York City (as long as we would take the train!). When I lived in Connecticut, I hung out in New York most weekends, and since moving, have tried to visit as often as I could. I didn’t make it to New York last year, so I was thrilled to go. I had even thought about it a few days ago, but before the change in plans, we wouldn’t have had time. I certainly wouldn’t have suggested it to Pat.
So, since we would take the train and it was a weekday, I thought New Haven would be a good choice to take the train, since it has more parking than most of the other smaller stations along the line, which fill up quickly with commuters. I got a Priceline in downtown New Haven for a really good deal – $208 for two nights at the Omni Hotel New Haven. We checked in, then took a quick walk around a few blocks surrounding the hotel.
There was a Radio Shack open around the corner, and I was thinking about previous trips to new York where my phone’s battery would quickly deplete. I always carried an extra battery, but of course, the iPhone’s battery is not user-accessible. So I checked out some battery charging/power solutions, and decided to get the Enercell 3000mAh Portable Power Bank to help keep us connected with plenty of power for our iPhones.
We looked around at a few restaurants for dinner before choosing a place called the Shake Shack, just around the corner from the hotel. We ordered our food to go, and brought it back to the hotel.
After dinner, we headed to bed to rest up for our big day in the Big Apple.
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos. Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
[flickrslideshow acct_name=”roadtripmemories” id=”72157633538899434″ width=”600″]
May 12, 2013: Day 3 – East Bound and Down
1Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
After my daughter’s change of plans, I decided to make a few contact to see if anyone could meet early Sunday, enabling Pat and me to freely travel the area later in the week, less scheduled.
We started out from Danbury and headed back to Waterbury. At 9:00, I met my longtime friend Joann, and had loads of fun and laughs reminiscing:
And more laughs visiting with my cousin Diana:
And some good Margherita pizza at Bertucci’s:
Aftermeeting with Diana, we decided to visit the PEZ Candy Museum. We saw signs for this museum last year, but didn’t have a chance to stop. Pat and I now had the time, so we meandered toward Orange. What a cool place the PEZ museum is! You don’t have to like PEZ candy to appreciate the museum, but it helps! LOL
The dispensers are fun, and they have loads of them on display. Here are just a few below. To see more, see the slideshow at the bottom of the page for all of the photos from today or click over here directly to my Flickr set.
It’s not just a museum, they actually make the PEZ candy here too!
I commented to Pat that I bet the show “Unwrapped” would have visited here and sure enough, the show popped on a TV in the lobby. LOL
After the PEZ Museum, we decided to go toward Mystic, Connecticut. We again had some great fried clams for dinner at the Sea View Snack bar, along the Mystic River.
We went to downtown Mystic and walked around at sunset, catching a nice view over the Mystic River and the Drawbridge that carries US-1 traffic:
We walked along Main Street (US-1) through downtown Mystic. Still slightly offseason, not all shops were open, but the Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream Shop was open, so we each enjoyed a little.
We also ventured over to Mystic Pizza and not thinking the two of us would be able to handle a whole pizza, had a slice of pizza each and a sparkling, crisp Coca-Cola.
We walked back along Main Street, then back to the hotel to relax, have a drink and continue to plan the remainder of our wide-open week!
Until tomorrow…
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos.
Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
[flickrslideshow acct_name=”roadtripmemories” id=”72157633538853888″ width=”600″]
May 2013: East Bound and Down – Prelude
1Above is the track for our trip, which I have planned using the Trimble Outdoors website
Next month, we’ll be hitting the road for the East Coast. This will be mine & Pat’s final trip east for a while. For the past few years while my daughter’s been in school, I’ve been taking her and my grandson east to visit family, but with this being her final year of school, next year, she can venture out on her own if she likes. Pat and I will thereafter be focusing our attention on pretty much every other direction of the country. We’ve talked about places we wanted to visit, like South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore), some National Parks, like Bryce Canyon, Zion, etc. Another 66 trip would be great, and in a couple of years, we’d like to do 66 with our grandson and go to Disneyland (most specifically, Cars Land).
But back to the current trip. We’ll be pretty much slabbing on the Evil I to Connecticut on Friday and Saturday, likely from I-70 to Columbus, then I-71 to I-80 and 81 to 84. could do that in my sleep, which isn’t hard to do, given how awfully boring that route is. I prefer the southern route, but not feeling like paying tolls with two cars!
From Sunday through Tuesday or Wednesday, Pat and I will be venturing from Connecticut for a drive through western Connecticut on US 7, north into Massachusetts and Vermont. I’d like to visit a diner a coworker recommended called the Blue Benn Diner, which is said to have really good “crunchberry pancakes.” That sounds good to me! We might take a bit of a route called the Molly Stark Trail, then after Bennington, head to a favorite vacation spot from my teen years, Lake George, NY. I haven’t been there since the early 80’s, when Gaslight Village was open. I remember the Cavalcade of Cars exhibit was pretty cool, featuring the Munster Koach, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bob Hope’s golf cart, and loads of other famous cars (I think it had some of custom George Barris cars too). I always enjoyed the area, so it’ll be fun to head back there for a day or so.
After that, we’ll meander west toward Cooperstown, NY and take in some of the baseball history there. Then probably cruise US 20 to US 9, and probably a bit on 9J along the Hudson, before going back east to Connecticut. As a side note, I don’t know what kind of bird creature it really looks like, but to Pat and me, the 3 day loop resembles some sort of bird. Even though a buzzard doesn’t have a pointy head, in lieu of anything else, we have dubbed our trip “The Buzzard Route.” LOL
Wednesday I’ll be catching up with friends, and Thursday – Saturday, we’ll venture to southeast Connecticut/Mystic/Rhode Island, then start heading back to Indiana on Saturday.
Other than having a basic route to follow, nothing is planned. Timing, lodging, dining, nothing! I have some notes on things that we might enjoy doing, but otherwise, I’ll simply have my iPhone handy and search for what we want to do on the fly without strict plans in place. I definitely like having a general plan, a little information handy and definitely having Internet access available to help find things when we arrive someplace. But overall, I much prefer to “wing it” rather than be strict and methodical on most of our trips. The irony of that is that I am very organized and methodical in my life and job. If we’re going to do filming locations or really want to see specific things or are in a place where we feel more comfortable with a plan, we will – but just letting things unfold is far more fun and exciting!
For this trip and future ones, I’m planning on posting trip logs and photos faster, hopefully nightly. With my new Sony NEX-6 and iPad Mini, I have a workflow in place that I will be “road testing,” as well as recording the trip using the Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app. As I said earlier, I used the Trimble website plus their My Topo app to plan the route, and the iPhone app will track where we travel, helping me to geotag my photos on my iPad Mini.
So stay tuned!
Holy Land U.S.A. – Waterbury, Connecticut
0The creation of John Baptist Greco, situated on Pine Hill in Waterbury, Connecticut, Holy Land U.S.A. was a place for education of the Bible and the life of Christ. It was not a shrine or a place of worship. It was dedicated in 1958 as “Bethlehem Village” and later became Holy Land U.S.A. The vision of a local Waterbury lawyer named John Greco and built with the help of Waterbury Italian volunteers, Holy Land was a tourist destination for years, sometimes drawing 44,000 visitors per year.
I lived in Connecticut for most of my first 33 years, and when I was young, in the 1970’s, my father brought me to Holy Land U.S.A. I have some VERY vague memories of Holy Land, just mainly just an image of it being on a hill (quite a climb for a youngster!), and the miniature buildings. But the best memory is just being with my father and having him share Bible stories with me as I explored the tiny buildings.
The park was open until 1984, two years prior to John Greco’s death. It had been declining in the years prior to his death, and afterward quickly spiraled downhill, the victim of neglect, weather, and vandals. Despite numerous efforts to raise funds to restore Holy Land, none have been successful. Sadly, Holy Land U.S.A. is currently in a very bad state of disrepair and the area surrounding it is pretty bad. I thought about it recently (now that I live in the Midwest) and realized I had not given Holy Land U.S.A. a second thought at all while I lived there, despite having been by there a thousand times. During a trip back to Connecticut in 2005, I thought I’d go to see it after all these years, and see if I could take some photos.
However, what was really exciting, was when I returned to Indiana – what I was to find in the huge box of slides my mom brought back from Connecticut during her trip about a month before mine. The slides were taken by her uncle, Donald Lucian, back in the 50’s and 60’s, and among them were some photos of Holy Land U.S.A. when it was new, and some during its construction! I hadn’t found ANY photos on the Internet of Holy Land U.S.A. back in its heyday, so I added scans of the slides for your enjoyment…it is nice to see Holy Land U.S.A. depicted as it was new, not as decrepit ruins.
In 2006, I again returned to visit and take more photos. I thought that Holy Land might make a good subject for AMERICAN ROAD Magazine, dedicated to America’s two lane roads and US highways. Thomas Repp, owner / editor, agreed and gave me the go-ahead to proceed with my first feature article. That article was published in AMERICAN ROAD’s Autumn 2008 issue. Click here for a link to the article.
In 2008, the 56-foot tall illuminated Peace Cross was replaced with a new stainless steel cross (perhaps harkening back to the original Cross?). I headed back to Connecticut at the end of August 2008 and visited Holy Land again, and added a photo of the new cross.
UPDATE – AUGUST 2011: Holy Land USA is currently for sale. Click here for a story by Connecticut news station WFSB (with video).
I also have some postcards of Holy Land, courtesy of Ron Guerrera of Mattatuck Antiques & Collectibles in Waterbury. Ron was kind enough to allow me to photograph the postcards (I didn’t bring a scanner with me on the trip!).
Here are a few photos of Holy Land U.S.A. “Now and Then.” For more photos, click the link to my Flickr site at the bottom of this post.
The entrance to Holy Land (postcard)
Crèche (postcard)
Herod’s Palace (Slide taken by my great-uncle Don)
“There came wise men from the East” – in the background, you can see Waterbury and the old Scovill factory. (Slide taken by my great-uncle Don)
In this photo, you cannot see through all the overgrowth.
Replica of Calvary (postcard)
The original “Peace Cross” atop Pine Hill – 1958 – 1968 (Slides taken by my great-uncle Don)
The 2nd Cross, which stood from 1968 – 2008
The 3rd Cross – 2008
For many more photos and postcards of Holy Land U.S.A., click here to visit my Flickr site: Holy Land U.S.A. – Waterbury, Connecticut
Also, here are some links to other sites or photo galleries about Holy Land U.S.A.
- Holy Land USA at Roadside America
- Holy Land USA
- Holy Land
- A Photo Study of Holy Land USA
- Holy Land USA – Institute of Urban Speleologic Studies & Archeology
- Onward Christian Tourists
- Holy Land U.S.A. at This is Connecticut
- Holy Land photos by Shaun O’Boyle
- Holy Land – Fallout Urban Explorer
- The Holiest Land at Connecticut Museum Quest
- Holy Land USA at CreepyConnecticut
- Holy Land USA – TonyLembo.com
Here are a couple of videos from You Tube about Holy Land
Mystic Pizza Filming Locations
24This was probably the most fun we’ve had doing movie filming locations. I (Jennifer) grew up in Connecticut, in the west-central part of the state, but southeast Connecticut (especially Mystic) and the Rhode Island shoreline, have always been a special place to visit. I’d been going there ever since I was a teenager, and took my daughter when she was a little girl. I’m looking forward to taking my grandson some day! We’d had Mystic Pizza many times, and at the time when it was a tiny pizza parlor as it was in “Mystic Pizza.” After the movie came out, but prior to the restaurant’s expansion and renovation, I was there and couldn’t help but comment to our waitress that she really resembled Lili Taylor (or vice versa), who played Jojo Barboza in the movie. She said that they hired Ms. Taylor specifically due to their resemblance. I’m not sure if that’s true, but that’s her story and it’s very cool in my opinion!!
Pat and I only started this movie filming locations hobby fairly recently, but I did take a photo of one place I managed to hunt down in Paris, France from a movie called “A Little Romance,” back in 1996. However, despite having lived my first 33 years in Connecticut, I never did take photos of any of the locations in Mystic Pizza, filmed in late 1987. Before digital cameras, before the Internet of today…but now, anticipating a vacation back to Connecticut to visit my family with my new baby grandson, Pat and I decided to photograph filming locations for one of my favorite films, Mystic Pizza.
Some of the places were easy and obvious to anyone who has even briefly been to Mystic – and I knew them without thinking. The iconic Mystic River Bascule Bridge and Main Street are featured in the film, but since the entire movie was filmed on location in the area, we wanted to try to find every location possible. There are a few docks and some close shots we didn’t look for, but for the most part, we managed to find every major location. Pat’s most awesome work was finding all of these locations using Google Street View and satellite images.
We present these locations as we always do, with a screenshot from the film, a brief explanation of the scene, and then our photograph of the actual location with a description. We didn’t put these in sequential order from the movie, but rather grouped them according to location. That way, several scenes filmed in the same town are together.
Enjoy!
Jennifer and Pat
Groton, Connecticut
78 Front Street
In the opening scene of the film, Mystic Pizza waitress Jojo Barboza (Lili Taylor) is getting married to a local fisherman named Bill (Vincent D’Onofrio). Jojo suffers from an anxiety attack due to a fear of commitment and passes out at the altar. The exterior of the church (depicted as St. Mary’s in the film) shown below, is located at 78 Front Street in Groton. It used to be St. Joseph’s Church, but it appears to be a private residence now. The interior church scenes were filmed at St. Peter and Paul’s Church, at 730 State Pier Road, New London (not shown).
The building now appears to be a residence.
Stonington, Connecticut
70 Water Street
The location for the real restaurant Mystic Pizza is in the village of Mystic, Connecticut at 56 West Main Street. At the time of the filming, the restaurant appeared very similar to its depiction in the film. Today, the actual restaurant has expanded into the adjoining space, and was heavily renovated and updated. They have lots of photographs, movie posters, and televisions playing the movie over and over.
In order to film the movie, it was not possible to shut down the actual restaurant for such a long period of time. Space was rented in a building in nearby Stonington, Connecticut at 70 Water Street and a set was built to simulate (though not replicate) the actual restaurant’s interior at the time. Many, many thanks to the kindness of the current tenants, the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club (SHYC) Sailing Foundation, who let us take a few photos inside (below) and gave us some information about the building. It was never actually a restaurant, it was a set used for the interior restaurant scenes. In the movie, the front entrance to the building was facing directly to the street, but the building was renovated and the entrance was put on the corner of the building. This was done to prevent any damage to the building from trucks exiting from the rear of the building (the driveway is very narrow and the building close to the edge of the drive).
In the scene below, Jojo apologizes to Bill for passing out at the wedding and for her jitters, but is still not ready to make a commitment to get married.
In this scene, Kat Arujo (Annabeth Gish) leaves the restaurant to deliver pizza to her mother and then on to an interview for a babysitting job. We were told that during a screening of the film, local residents gasped as Kat turned left here, as it’s a one way street to the right. Notice here the front door faces the street.
Today, the entrance has been angled to prevent building damage from trucks exiting the driveway.
Jojo enters the back of Mystic Pizza.
This location is actually behind the fictional Mystic Pizza location of 70 Water Street in Stonington; however, the building that Jojo enters is different today. Without getting into too much cumbersome detail, the building with the stairs that she enters (to the left) is different now, or has been drastically altered from the film. In addition, it is a separate building from the Water Street building which served as the restaurant. However, as can be seen below, regardless of the building that Jojo enters, we were in the right spot where this scene was filmed.
After Bill breaks up with her, Jojo is back at Mystic Pizza explaining to everyone that she broke up with him.
Again, big thanks to the kind folks at SHYC for letting us in and indulging in our geeky hobby a bit. Despite the renovations to the building interior, it was obvious this was the location of the restaurant set. In the movie, buildings across the street are visible, and some details inside were evident, like the windows here.
At the end of the movie, Tim (William R. Moses) brings Phoebe to say goodbye to Kat. They are coming up the stairway to the pizzeria.
This is the remodeled entryway (angled):
A brief scene across the street from the fictional Mystic Pizza on Water Street.
Cannon Square
According to the website, Stonington-Mystic Patch, “Cannon Square located on Water Street in Stonington Borough is a memorial to “the defenders of the fort.” In 1814 the residents of Stonington Borough fought and defeated the British Royal Navy in the Battle of Stonington. The small square honors that victory and includes two cannons from 1814 that the town used to defeat the British.”
This scene is just seconds after the one above where Kat is driving to her mom’s work to deliver pizza. In reality, this location is in the opposite direction as Kat turned from the pizza parlor, but that is the fun of movie magic! She passes by Cannon Square in Stonington in the following two shots.
Church Street
This location is the home of the wealthy Windsor family, whose son Charlie (Adam Storke) falls for poor waitress Daisy Arujo (Julia Roberts).
Zack’s Bar & Grill, 201 North Main Street
Two scenes depict the characters hanging out at the Peg Leg Pub. After a couple of ownership changes and renovations, the location is Zack’s Bar & Grill as of April 2011.
We would have liked to try it, but they were closed Mondays.
North Main Street (just south of CT State Road 234)
During Daisy and Charlie’s first date, Charlie’s Porsche gets a flat tire. When Daisy suggests Charlie “get out the spare,” he laughs and explains, “that was the spare.”
Many of the trees along this stretch of road were cut down, but a few of the more distinctive ones remain as of April 2011, like the one below, which can be seen behind Daisy in the screen capture above (in the distance).
Without a spare (and no cell phones back in the old days!), they decide to hitchhike a ride. First Daisy…
Then Charlie…
The big stone in the wall next to the post was easy to locate, where there was a break in the wall.
Charlie and Daisy catch a ride!
The tree branches are another giveaway on this location (all within the same couple hundred of feet).
Noank, Connecticut
Ford’s Lobsters – 15 Riverview Avenue
Noank is a village located within Groton, Connecticut. The images from the scene below depict the fictional Ferriera Lobster, where Daisy and Kat’s mother works.
Watch Hill – Westerly, Rhode Island
Kat then heads over to an interview for a babysitting job for architect Tim Travers’ (William R. Moses) 4 year old daughter Phoebe (Porscha Radcliffe). Tim’s house is located on Breen Road in the village of Watch Hill in Westerly, Rhode Island.
Tim’s purpose for being in Mystic is the renovation of a client’s home, actually located at 4 Water’s Edge Road.
This is the back side of the renovation house.
The view from the film above would have only been possible by trespassing on private property, and not being criminals, we instead took this very bad photo through the trees from the road. But it’s “good enough” to see the details of the house above and verify it is the correct location.
The Misquamicut Club, 60 Ocean View Highway
After Charlie tells Daisy he is busy visiting his grandmother in Greenwich, Daisy, Kat and Jojo hang out together and decide to sneak over to the country club. This location is The Misquamicut Club, in Watch Hill, Westerly, Rhode Island.
Charlie leaves the country club with his sister Serena (Lauren O’Brien) to find Daisy (mistaking Serena for a date), dumping two barrels of fish into Charlie’s Porsche.
Mystic, Connecticut
Despite what you have heard, the actual Mystic Pizza location IS seen in the film, albeit very tiny, very far away! Look to the lower left corner of the rear view mirror. That little tiny red spot is a Coca-Cola sign for the restaurant. Here is a photo of the real Mystic Pizza before the remodeling: http://www.flickr.com/photos/comtrag/53397019/ (thanks to Flickr user comtrag).
Our photo is taken a bit closer than the screenshot, and a bit blurry, but close enough…
The next scene features a hilarious confrontation between Jojo and Bill, and was filmed on Main Street in Mystic by the Mystic River Bascule Bridge. First, the three main characters are shown rounding the corner at Cottrell and Main Streets. The building at this corner was Noyes Dry Goods at the time, but later became (and still is) a great toy store called Mystical Toys that I used to take my daughter to when she was little.
The girls head west on Main Street toward the bridge.
Bill in his fishing boat, renamed as a joke toward Jojo, cruising north up the Mystic River toward the drawbridge. Taken from the south side of Main Street, east side of the bridge. As a side note, here’s some meaningless info, based upon this location: hopefully Bill is done fishing for the day and heading home, because he is heading away from open waters and north on the Mystic River.
Jojo addresses the crowd that gathered after her tirade against Bill for his joke. Taken along the north side of Main Street, east side of the bridge.
The Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream Shoppe is visible in the background (which I highly recommend, by the way).
The crowd cheering for Jojo. Taken along the north side of Main Street, east side of the bridge.
Pawcatuck, Connecticut
185 and 187 Mechanic Street / Pawcatuck River
This area served as the location for the Arujo and Barboza homes. Kat & Daisy lived with their mom (Joanna Merlin) at 187 Mechanic Street, and Jojo lived with her parents next door at 185 Mechanic Street.
Daisy and Charlie leave 187 Mechanic Street, with the fence and Pawcatuck River visible in the background.
Jojo’s house at 185 Mechanic Street.
The following two scenes basically show the same location, the first at the Arujo house, the second at the Barboza house.
Daisy arriving home from work to find Charlie waiting at her home.
Jojo going to talk to Bill about their issues.
Looking down Mechanic Street.
Jojo crosses Mechanic Street to head toward the Pawcatuck River.
December 2008: Connecticut
0Slideshow of All Photos
For more details about a particular photo, click on it in the slideshow and it will open in my Flickr site.
[flickrslideshow acct_name=”roadtripmemories” id=”72157612014755162″ width=”500″]
July 2006: Road Trip to Connecticut
0Slideshow of All Photos
For more details about a particular photo, click on it in the slideshow and it will open in my Flickr site.
[flickrslideshow acct_name=”roadtripmemories” id=”72157600277130879″ width=”500″]
April 2004: Connecticut & Rhode Island
0Slideshow of All Photos
For more details about a particular photo, click on it in the slideshow and it will open in my Flickr site.
[flickrslideshow acct_name=”roadtripmemories” id=”72157611345998843″ width=”500″]