Ever see something in a movie or TV which somehow coincidently you can relate to? Example: In the movie “Miss Congeniality,” the characters are drinking beer and eating pizza in a gym area at a hotel that they are staying at. The odd thing is that two weeks prior to seeing the movie, I was in Austin, drinking beer and eating pizza in the exact same spot as the characters were in the movie. It was a strange feeling.
Both Weird Al Yankovic’s UHF and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders had scenes shot at this apartment house, where I once lived.
I stopped for lunch at a pizzeria on Amsterdam & W. 82nd Street (name was some combination of ‘Famous’ ‘Ray’ & ‘pizza’). While waiting for my slice to heat up, I glanced at the TV, which was showing a re-run of “Law & Order” in which Briscoe & Green are following a lead and questioning the owner of - surprise! - a pizzeria! Set on…Amsterdam & w. 82nd St!
Another customer remarked about it, and the RL manager/owner beamed proudly and said “That’s paying for my retirement house in Ft. Lauderdale!” (I guess he moved down there - that pizzeria closed and is now a pet store or something.)
I don’t remember what season of The Real World it was, but as I was watching it The Black Guy[sup]TM[/sup] was walking down a Brooklyn city street, going to visit his grandmother.
The longer I watched, the more I came to realize he was walking along the main shopping street which was right around the corner from my house. As he continued along, commenting on the stores along the way, he passed the brownstone I live in, which is one house off the corner.
His destination was the fish and chip shop his family owned, which was right around the corner and a place I frequented often. I recognized his gramma when he when he went in and “visited” with her.