Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Top 5 Fictional Apartments

To the grandeur of the castle we may oppose the miniateur of the apartment.  Below we find the 5 fictional apartments that may simply be described as top.  There are a slew of apartments from earlier ages of the screen that many may reproach this blogger for not including.  Those living quarters include ones from The Honeymooners, The Odd Couple, and other things of that ilk.  Since this author is ungrateful for the contributions made to, and the sacrifices made for, this country by the members of The Greatest Generation, many of them he does not make part of the list.


5.  W 67th St New York, NY; home of C. C. Baxter; from the Academy Award winning picture, The Apartment




The writer confesses he has not seen the movie.  But this list would regret the exclusion of the residence Jack Lemmon lent to his dissolute managers.  And at the time the film came out, “Movie-wise, there ha[d] never been anything like ‘The Apartment’ ”.

Pros:
Since it’s in New York, it’s probably one of the greatest apartments in the world.

Cons:
Judgmental neighbors.


Elements we shall include in our castle:
Elevator operators.  And may they possess the alluring countenance and penetrating clairvoyance of a young Shirley MacLaine.


4.  Prague, Austria-Hungary; The Samsa Residence; from The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka



It played setting to one of the most imaginative works of European literature.

Pros:
Central European simplicity.

Cons:
Burdensome sense of WWI-era ennui.

Elements we shall include in our castle:
Musical entertainment for guests.  Grete Samsa entertains the family lodgers with her artistry on the violin, creating a beautiful atmosphere, which draws even the horrifying and alienated Gregor to the party.


3.  Greenwich Village, Manhattan; home of L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries; from Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Rear Window



Perhaps no work evokes the alone-in-a-crowd nature of apartment-based living better than Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

Pros:
Adjacent to homes of eclectic co-tenants.

Cons:
Homicidal neighbors.

Elements we shall include in our castle:
Courtyard?  When chair-bound, the activity of the courtyard appears to serve as a lovely, and even dangerous, diversion.

2. Upper West Side, Manhattan; home of Jerry Seinfeld; from the NBC comedy, Seinfeld



This is likely the most iconic apartment in television to the contemporary viewer.  It was the location of many famous moments in 1990s TV, including Poppie peeing on the couch and Jean-Paul oversleeping on the morning of the New York City Marathon.

Pros:
Pretty much everything seems to be in one place.

Cons:
Exterior shot was actually of a Los Angeles apartment building.

Elements we shall include in our castle:
Klein bicycle.


1. 221B Baker Street, London, England; home of Sherlock Holmes; from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories



This is perhaps the most famous address in the world of fictional apartments.  Home to the aloof sleuth Sherlock and his ready roommate, John H. Watson, M.D.

Pros:
Surrounded by a motley group of street urchins and dogs, whose acquaintance can prove highly useful.

Cons:
Seemingly cluttered, its contents only able to be effectively navigated by Holmes.

Elements we shall include in our castle:
A large, airy sitting room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows.

2 comments:

  1. Dammit. I lost my whole Comment in a typical porn/blog tags multitasking mishap.
    I don't know if my original passion will come through on a rewrite, but here I go.
    When I discovered this list, my heart screamed for Baker street to be number 1. And now I can sleep like a hamster tonight (i'm told they sleep 18 hours a day). I couldn't agree more with the top 3. And the fourth one educates and inspires us to remember that books aren't just loose first drafts for movies.
    I think next time we get together, we should watch the Apartment, so we can see if it deserves to be on here. If not, I have a few suggestions, but I will save them for a post, because I think I have 5.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dude how is the treehouse apartment in "Chip and Dales: Rescue Rangers" not listed on here?

    ReplyDelete