In the bustling streets of NYC, where the ordinary often brushes shoulders with the extraordinary, stands a building with a dual identity. Firefighters call it Hook and Ladder 8. Moviegoers, pop culture enthusiasts, and anyone who's ever been afraid of no ghost know it as something else: the home of the Ghostbusters.
Armed with a GoPro and an iPhone, I set out to capture this iconic piece of cinema history. These tools, discreet and unassuming, allow me to blend into the city's chaos, to observe without intruding, to tell a story without becoming a part of it.
The Ghostbusters' Firehouse, with its beaux-arts style exterior, wasn't chosen by accident. Rumor has it that an early draft of the script envisioned the Ghostbusters as a public service, akin to the fire department. But the truth? Writer Dan Aykroyd simply knew the area and liked the building.
But here's where Hollywood pulls a fast one on you. While the exterior of the Firehouse served as the face of the Ghostbusters' base, the interior was a different story altogether. Thanks to the magic of movie-making, the inside scenes were shot in a Los Angeles studio and in Fire Station 23, a decommissioned Los Angeles firehouse.
So there it stands, Hook and Ladder 8, a working firehouse and a piece of pop culture history, all in one. A building that tells a story, that holds a secret. And thanks to a GoPro, an iPhone, and a love for the stories hidden in plain sight, I got to tell that story.
