THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING - A VISIT 7 YEARS IN THE MAKING

The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING in New York City is undoubtedly the most famous building in the world, thanks to its iconic shape and a little help from hundreds of movies and TV shows.

On our last visit to New York in summer 2017, we ran out of time and dollars to go up to the Empire State Building’s observation platform. That turned out to be a good thing as since then a $165 million redevelopment project had been successfully completed, creating a new and improved visitor attraction. 

 

We visited on Sunday July 28th 2024 and found the whole experience to be slick, right from buying the passes online through to entering the designated observatory entrance and then once inside navigating through the interactive visitor exhibitions and up in the elevators to the 80th, 86th and 102nd floors. 

We arrived early on W. 34th Street for our 9am admission and were pleased to discover that we were allowed to bring drinks in with us, for we had picked up a couple of much-needed coffees from Starbucks Reserve, a tenant of the Empire State Building on the first floor. 

The attraction staff were extremely friendly and communication was very good; they worked the lines checking you were in the right place and letting you know what to expect as you moved forwards. You were left with no questions or worries. It all worked smoothly. 

Upon entering the building we went through airport style security, then you were on your way, walking through the exhibitions and displays which succinctly gave you the building’s history and heritage in a very visual and easy to digest way. 

The highlight for us, other than the breathtaking views of New York of course, was the segment where King Kong breaks through the window and you can take a selfie while in his massive hand as the biplanes fly around outside!

Speaking of photographs, we’d had our pic taken with a blue screen at the beginning of the visit and we decided to purchase copies on our way out. There was a big selection of digitally manipulated versions to buy, but we chose the two image package for $30 and got printed and digital copies of us superimposed on a colorful view of the Empire State Building and also with King Kong behind us. We later found this allowed us to download all the versions digitally, so was quite good value. That said, who wants 15 fake photographs of themselves at the Empire State Building?!

There had been a pressure at the kiosks to buy the higher priced package - a countdown even came on screen making you aware that if you wanted a discount you only had 40 seconds or so to decide. 

Our passes were purchased online from the official ESBNYC website and cost as follows:

🏙️ Top Deck 102nd + 86th x 2 = $172.00

😮 Booking fee = $5.00

🥲 Tax = $15.70

💰 Total = $192.70

We had paid extra for an access to the 102nd floor - almost at the very tip of the Empire State Building - and we are glad we did, for the views were even better from up there.

This is a lot of money and our whole visit lasted around 2 1/2 hours, as we took our time to enjoy the exhibits and the stunning views from the observation decks. 

But this is the iconic Empire State Building: a once in a lifetime experience at the most famous building in the world - and it was worth every cent!

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING FACTS

🏙️ Constructed: 1930-1931

🏙️ Building opened: 1931

🏙️ King Kong incident: 1933

🏙️ Height of 101st floor: 1250 ft

🏙️ Height of 86th floor: 1050 ft 

🏙️ Seventh tallest building in New York City 

🏙️ 86 flights of stairs (which we weren’t allowed to walk down on the way out)

🏙️ 4 million visitors per year 

"WHO YA GONNA VISIT?": HOOK & LADDER FIREHOUSE!

When we arrived in New York City for a brief visit on July 24 2024 while en route to Vermont, we quickly ditched our bags and cases in the Hard Rock Hotel at Times Square and headed downtown on the subway to Tribeca, hunting out the iconic ‘haunt-quarters’ of the Ghostbusters - the HOOK & LADDER COMPANY'S #8 FIREHOUSE. 

In summer 2017, our first visit to the FDNY firehouse was long before the release of the movies Ghostbusters Afterlife and Frozen Empire, when the core franchise had been dormant since 1989’s Ghostbusters 2, so there was us and nobody else on the street (read about it HERE). 

Furthermore, the firehouse exterior didn’t look like it did in the old movies - it was covered in scaffolding and black mesh, while the frontage was blocked by traffic barricades and reflective traffic drums.

Since then the firehouse, which dates from 1903 and was originally twice the size, had undergone a $6.5 million dollar restoration project and was looking great for it. It even had the illuminated Ghostbusters sign hanging out front!

The building was now being given a lot of attention: Ghostheads were photographing the firehouse in the summer sunshine, posing for selfies and chatting with the friendly NYFD firefighters. It was great to see, particularly in this the original movie’s 40th anniversary year. 

In that first Ghostbusters movie, the firehouse interior was a blend of a Hollywood set and a disused fire station in Downtown Los Angeles. Inside now, there was no sign of Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore or Janine Melnitz. 

Instead, parked up, there was a gleaming fire truck and one of the walls was adorned with Ghostbusters novelties: a giant Ghostbusters 2 sign, a few other props and collectibles, patches from GhostCorps fan clubs around the world, but of more interest to us: Hook & Ladder merchandise for sale. 

Another visitor purchased a t-shirt, which looked great, but we bought a Hook & Ladder 8 patch for only $5.00. The patch was similar to the two painted ‘NO GHOSTS’ Hook & Ladder logos on the sidewalk which we noticed had been redesigned and re-painted since our 2017 visit. 

The guys at Hook & Ladder 8 have our respect for the way they have embraced the visiting Ghostbuster fans from around the world. It can’t be easy operating a working firehouse with tourists popping up, but as Ghostbuster fans we are grateful they let us visit. 

STEP INTO THE SUPERNATURAL: A VISIT TO HOOK & LADDER, HAUNT-QUARTERS OF THE GHOSTBUSTERS

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire is released on home media today, so we thought it would be a good time to look back on our visit to the headquarters of our ghost hunting heroes: the HOOK & LADDER FIREHOUSE in New York City!

 

It seems crazy to us now but in summer 2017 we went on a 14 mile trek around Manhattan to visit famous landmarks and noteworthy locations without an internet enabled cell phone!  We plotted it all in our Times Square hotel room using a printed guide book and a laminated map of New York City and we set off early one sunny morning for the subway with a handwritten list of the places to visit and a prayer that there’d be Wi-Fi to help us along the way!

Our route included many of the obvious New York spots but we’d also added in a small and obscure street called North Moore St., in the lower part of Manhattan, in a district known as Tribeca.  As every fan of Ghostbusters knows, North Moore St. is home to the FDNY’s historic Hook & Ladder Company #8’s firehouse, the exterior filming location of the Ghostbusters’ iconic headquarters. 

There was something strange in this neighborhood: when we stepped onto North Moore St. we expected it to be packed with ghostheads eager to photograph the hangout of Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore and Janine Melnitz. But there wasn’t a soul about (perhaps they were all locked up in the Containment Unit?!). 

 

Of course our visit on August 2nd 2017 was long before the release of the movies Afterlife and Frozen Empire, when the core franchise had been dormant since 1989’s Ghostbusters 2, so there was us and nobody else on the street. 

 

The firehouse didn’t look like it did in the movie. 

Not because in reality things never look the same same as they are on the big screen, but because the firehouse was covered in scaffolding and black mesh, while the frontage was blocked by traffic barricades and reflective traffic drums.

We could just make out the familiar shape of the building behind the mesh. The design of Hook & Ladder’s firehouse is of course recognisable to anybody brought up in the 1980s. Not only did it play a big part in the Ghostbusters movies and cartoons, but Kenner’s toy firehouse even appeared in the finale of Roald Dahl’s The Witches movie in 1990: during the last scene, protagonist Luke is unexpectedly transformed back from a mouse into a child by a friendly witch as he sleeps in the firehouse playset. As the spell is cast, Luke bursts out of the toy, growing in size and smashing the firehouse to bits! 

 

In the Ghostbusters universe, their firehouse headquarters was badly damaged during the events of the first movie when the Containment Unit exploded. By Ghostbusters 2 it was repaired, but that was fiction and here was the actual firehouse building looking like it had gone ten rounds with a poltergeist! What was going on?  There was only one way to find out!

 

We crossed the street and peeked inside the open doors of Hook & Ladder.  The bay inside the firehouse was packed full of equipment, machinery, boxes, paint cans and ladders – but no sign of “any spores, molds or fungus!”

We heard a noise in the corner: a workman was sat on a chair having a break and must have got a fright as we suddenly appeared in the doorway.  He kindly consented to us taking a photograph of the interior, but there wasn’t much to see.  In the original Ghostbusters movie, the firehouse interior was a blend of a Hollywood set and a disused fire station in Downtown Los Angeles.

 

The New York fire station in front of us dated from 1903 and was originally twice the size - unusually not depicted as such in the 1904 flashback opening scene of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire - but was cut in half in 1913 to make room for expanding the neighboring Varick St.  

 

We didn’t know it at the time, but Hook & Ladder 8 were some of the first responders to the September 11th attacks. Sadly they lost a firefighter, Lieutenant Vincent Halloran, a 20 year veteran of the FDNY, in the line of duty while evacuating the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  Lt. Halloran was later commemorated when a portion of North Moore St. was renamed in his honor. 

 

In 2011 the Hook & Ladder firehouse was slated to close but was thankfully saved after New Yorkers and Ghostbusters fans alike were outraged at the news.  We arrived at Hook & Ladder as a $6.5 million dollar restoration project was well underway.  

We admired the two printed ‘NO GHOSTS’ Hook & Ladder logos on the sidewalk before we headed off for the rest of our adventure in New York City, and while we felt disappointed that the firehouse was hidden from our view and not looking its best, it was good to know that the historic building was being saved.

 

We are revisiting New York in summer 2024, some 7 years after our last visit, and while we are only ‘passing through’ on our way to New England, we plan to retrace our steps to North Moore St. and hopefully see the Hook & Ladder firehouse in all its restored glory (read about that visit HERE).  

We also hope to pick up one of the collectible FDNY patches which features a ‘NO GHOSTS’ element, much like the Ghostbusters’ logo!  Word is if the door is open and you ask nicely you might be given an informal tour of the firehouse by one of the firefighters – just don’t do a Walter Peck and forget to use the magic word!