Post War Park Avenue on Film, Virtual Tour

PARK AVENUE; The name conjures a series of glamorous images in the popular imagination. To the historian, Park Avenue represents a series of mutable stages in New York City’s architectural development. For the film buff, the transformation of Midtown Manhattan’s Park Avenue from a Beaux Arts boulevard of masonry clad apartments and hotels into the premier office district of Modernist glass towers is captured in a number of films following the Second World War.  

We’ll analyze scenes and film stills, LIVE, from four films, shot on location, which dramatically chronicle the Post War architectural transformation of Park Avenue. Mark Hellinger’s ground breaking ‘Film Noir’, “The Naked City” (1948), Jean Negulesco’s” lush melodrama,” The Best ,  Everything" (1959), Blake Edward’s poignant "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" (1961), David Swift’s comedic musical parody “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (1967). 

For these four directors, the very newness of the buildings, the process of architectural transformation of this swath of Midtown Manhattan itself, was used as a visual short hand to convey personal aspiration, success, intrigue, drama and romance.