Friday Photos: Rochester Starring as New York City in Spiderman 2

In New York City, witnessing a photo or film shoot was just part of the backdrop of daily life. From the years when I lived there, I can recall my fleeting brushes with the silver screen or glossy magazine stardom very clearly:

• I’d have my sandwich and yogurt on a bench in Central Park during a summer lunch break and just a stone’s throw away, there they were: statuesque models standing before enormous photography umbrellas modeling fur coats and hats for a winter fashion shoot. It was 90 degrees. I felt no sympathy for them whatsoever.
• On my afternoon commute one day, half of Grand Central Station was blocked off to commuters. Why? A scene with Matthew Broderick and the late Marlon Brando was being filmed for the 1990 movie, “The Freshman.”
• As I made the commute home from an upper east side job one dark, wintry afternoon, blocks of 5th avenue were brightly illuminated, fake snow flew through the air, and were blocked to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Why? Can you recall a certain movie franchise in the 1990’s with a cute child star who was always left alone?
• My grandfather, who worked the night shift at the New York Daily News, took his own pictures in the late 1970s of the filming of the remake of King Kong. Somewhere, in a box of photos, is my grandfather, standing outside his office building at 3 a.m.and grinning in front of King Kong’s giant hand
• And the Superman movies of the 1970’s and 80’s? My grandfather also got to catch glimpses of them filming those. (The Daily Planet? It was really filmed on scene at the Daily News.)

On the silver screen, do any other cities exist other than New York City? Or maybe, Los Angeles?

But sometimes, New York City needs a stunt double. That’s where, this week Rochester steps in.

And from the news coverage it is getting here in the ROC city (we are talking six column headlines here, folks), you would think that Spiderman really exists. And it is making daily downtown workers, not used to living in the limelight with the cameras, car chases and major headaches of blocked streets, as mad as the Incredible Hulk.

Thanks to a friend of mine who is watching, and photographing, the filming right out of her downtown office, I can present you with the following pictures. So, when you go to the cinema next summer to catch Spiderman 2, don’t be fooled. Those street scenes of NYC you are watching were really filmed in Rochester, NY.

The place that used to make Kodak film.

Have you ever seen a scene from a movie being filmed in your home town? 

Exchange St. in Rochester turned into 8th Ave. We don’t have enough streets downtown for there to be an 8th Ave.