You may have read our earlier post about the filming in front of our apartment. That same evening, a buyer was scheduled to come by our place and pick up the drafting table we were selling on Craigslist. The scene was set for quite a furniture-moving tale...
Filming meant that streets were closed around our entire block for a one-block radius. No minivan was going to be able to simply pull up to our front door, load up and go. So when the proud new owner of our drafting table arrived with her mandatory male friend/heavy-lifter in tow, we all pitched in to make the move. They had had to park several blocks away due to filming and there was no way this 5'x3' steel-and-solid-wood beast was going to be carried the full distance.
So, we hatched a plan to carry the table to the nearest street corner where traffic was permitted. After a long haul down three flights of winding stairs, we were promptly stopped by the film crew as we struggled out of our front door. Seems we would have to remain absolutely quiet and go out and around all of the trucks and equipment in order to get down the street. Shh! But not yet - filming was in session. We waited for "CUT!" then shuffled, vintage drafting table in tow, down the block. When we lapped back, going out around the commotion as instructed, we were stopped again for filming before permitted to schlep on to our destination. Whew!
What struck us as we sent our new friend off in a minivan with the desk was our own story of moving the same drafting table when we purchased it off Craigslist five years ago. When we called to inquire about it, we were told it was at the Queens Theater in the Park. Fair enough. Being Brooklynites, we weren't familiar with the theater but innocently headed there to pick up our great find. On arrival, this is what we found:
Okay, fine. We'll just go in, pay the seller, and carry the desk out the front door. Well, not so fast. Turns out the desk was being stored "backstage". At this theater-on-the-round, "backstage" is actually a narrow circular hallway that wraps the perimeter of the round building. We were led down the curving hallway to the drafting desk, which was situated right by the back door.
Perfect, this is going to be easy. It's right by the door. We lifted the heavy monstrosity and inched forward the three-foot-wide desk, turning it a bit all the while to keep the circular path of the just-over-three-foot-wide hallway. Good thing we wouldn't have to move the desk very far before reaching the door! Then, BANG!. We hit a vertical pipe near the door. It limited our width and try as we might we could not get the desk past the pipe. After much (MUCH!) struggle and contemplation, it became apparent that our only way out with the desk was the loooong way. Yes, we inched the desk around the dark and cluttered perimeter hallway of the theater-on-the-round at Queens Theater in the Park.
It felt like days passed before we circled all the way around the building to the door, loaded up our treasure, and headed home. But we loved the desk that much more for it. We hope its new owner loves it too, in part because of her own desk-moving tale of turmoil and triumph!
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Why not just ask the filmmakers when their work would end for the day and ask the buyers to come by then?
view bepsf's profile
bepsf, why let the air out of a fun story? (considering it all happened already, so the good tip not really is one anymore …)
also, film peole do not always can say precisely when they re finished. nor are they always willing to do so …
i love stories about moving furniture :-P paricularly when i am not involved :-D
view maike's profile
Believe me, we would have postponed it if we could have, but filming went very late and the buyer didn't even arrive until 9!
view regina's profile
A few of the grips would have done the schlepping FOR me, or else the movie crew would have found that the noise level was a bit out of control.
view LBhirise's profile
I don't think they can control your daily lives just because they are shooting a movie-you have rights.
Our neighbour in the burbs rented out their house for a film over a weekend, and they tried to impose rules on us, such as no noise etc..we were in the middle of reno's inside and out, and they paid our crew to stay home plus they paid us about a $1000 for our co-operation.
view montreal modern's profile
I hope you shared your desk story to the new owners, to keep the history going!
view RoxiGirl's profile
Wow, you were remarkably cooperative. I have marched straight through more than one film shoot in Manhattan. Don't tell me I can't access my own front door because it's in the middle of your set.
view LizzardtheBlizzard's profile
That's YOUR desk?? I saw it on Craigslist! Should have known such a nice piece would belong to an ATer.
view christine_z's profile
I once had a drafting desk like that, maybe a bit bigger, because it was a beast. Seriously. I had to take it apart just to get it inside my house. It was wider than my largest door. Of course, i had to disassemble it again to get it out of my house when I gave it away.
But when I had it, it was great to have such a big, clear working surface. I used it for crafting and cutting out patterns for sewing.
My worst furniture moving moment was the time that this computer armoire we were moving upstairs got stuck in the stairway and we could move it neither up nor down. It was truly a Dirk Gently moment. We ended up taking it apart mid stairway.
view RoseCampion's profile
i really, really applaud your patience and understanding, regina. and now you have a great finale for the drafting table chronicles. maybe at should start a post for people to tell their best craigslist moving stories? could be entertaining!
btw, the grips have to be ready for anything and everything if the camera's rolling, so they're not really free to schlep. and the producer must have had city permits for the block to be able to film there. they really don't have any obligations to the people living on the street except to be cooperative...which they were, even though it was a pain in the butt! (if you're in the middle of a renovation, totally different story.)
view tralala's profile
RoseCampion, you are the best for referencing Dirk Gently.
view Mlle Kate's profile
What is it about this drafting table?! The other year I purchased MINE from a thrift shop for a steal . I had a small pickup truck then; no problemo there. Back home under the carport I realized we were in for some serious Pro Wresting, the sort where you begin to experience a panic attack!
I refreshed mine with a couple cans of Rust-Oleum hammered metal spray paint, and gave it a new 3/4" cut to fit particle board top. Including the table, maybe I spent $40 on the entire project.
I enjoyed your story very much, Regina. Everything in our homes should be so lucky to have such a rich tale attached!
view Vincent B.'s profile