NYC Films

As part of the whole "tour guide" thing, I watch a lot of NYC movies. I love seeing familiar spots from my life here on film just as much as movie buffs love seeing the real-life spots they're accustomed to only seeing on the screen.

Some of the recent tea-related scenes I've spotted were in the Lower East Side (PBS's series New York shows a tea merchant's exterior in a photo of the neighborhood), The Russian Tea Room (in Woody Allen's Manhattan, his character (I say this as if he ever REALLY plays anyone besides himself!) visits with his son), in an Upper East Side apartment building (Breakfast at Tiffany's, in which Mickey Rooney performs a matcha ceremony as part of a racist portayal of a Japanese man), and in a Bronx police station (in Serpico, Officer Serpico offers a corrupt cop some tea, which the corrupt cop briskly declines).

Though I find these scenes to be entertaining because of the tea factor, it's not what I'm looking for in the films. I watch them to tap into the collective idea of what NYC is all about so I can share that concept with my tour groups more effectively. New York has such a rich history and so many diverse cultures and sub-cultures-- you could study it your whole life and never know enough! Though I don't intend to devote my life to the study of this city, when I'm not studying tea, I'm really enjoying learning all about New York!