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| This scene would have taken place at the San Jose Rose Garden, for example |
It was earlier this year that I begun to wonder if maybe, instead of something ambitious as a webseries, I turned it into a photography project? Instead of having to shoot and reshoot around tourists, I could snap photos and edit them in Photoshop? Art for art's sake, you know?
However, this still doesn't take care of the fact that I have neither time nor money to do so. I have equipment. I don't own a video camera or a boom mic or good editing software, but I own cameras and photoshop! But when I'm working to earn a living and saving for a cross-country move, I just can't afford to do a photography project all over Northern California.
So the solution that presented itself is obvious: If I ever do choose to do this (and that is a big IF), I'll have to do so in New York. Thus, I began the task of picking new locations to match the aesthetic I need...
(Photos included are either my own, or labeled for noncommercial reuse and used under creative commons license)
Location One: Alice's House/Where Alice first sees the White Rabbit.
"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister... So she was considering in her own mind whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her."
Where I originally picked? Behind my house. Honestly, I'd just chosen this first location because of convenience. It's literally right behind my house - that photo is my backyard. It's also quite beautiful in the springtime. (This time of year all that greenery has turn brown.) It looks like something out of a fairy tale, so it's a good place to film part of one, isn't it?
The New York location? If I were to do this as a photoshoot rather than a webseries, I think I'd like to start with a portrait of Alice underneath/with the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park. I feel like that would set the stage. I'd sit the model playing Alice on one of those smaller mushrooms, I might even have a second model as her sister reading a book to her (maybe even one of the Alice books) on the other smaller mushroom.
Location Two: The Rabbit Hole
"She came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!"
Where I originally picked? The last elevator in the row of elevators at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in downtown San Jose has a little tiny 'door' in it that was specifically meant to reference this scene in the Alice books. Naturally, I couldn't resist!
The New York Location? It entirely depends on the direction I want to go with it. If I go for a more urban/industrial look, I could have it be a subway entrance. That's very unapologetically New York, and I think I like that. The original project was kind of a love letter to the Bay Area, so it would make sense for this hypothetical new one to be the same thing for NYC. The one pictured is in the East Village I think, and is picturesque enough to capture that Wonderland whimsy while still giving off a New York feel. In a photo project aesthetic decisions like that are super important. The real question is how such a photo would be captured without disrupting people who actually need to use the subway.
Location Three: The Caucus Race
"First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ('the exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party was placed along the course, here and there. There was no 'One, two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over."
Where I originally picked? The ruins of the Sutro Baths, of course! What better location? It's perfect for this scene. It's got that cave/tunnel that would make it appear as if Alice is coming out of the rabbit hole. It's got a ledge that's perfect for walking/dancing on. It's even by the water as an homage to the novel having Alice cry a sea of tears. I don't know if New York has a location so perfect, that's the problem!
The New York location? I ended up picking the Isamu Noguchi-designed garden in the Chase Manhattan Plaza, but I'm not actually entirely satisfied with this choice. It's not as perfect. It's an entirely different mood all together. But it's incredibly odd looking, and for something as odd as a Caucus Race I guess that works?? But maybe once I'm there I'll find an even better location.
Location Four: The White Rabbit's House
"She came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name 'W. RABBIT' engraved upon it. She went in without knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and cloves."
Where I originally picked? Ainsley House. The Queen of Hearts was going to have a very Tudor-esque look. Or rather, she was going to have a "80s rockstar attends the Renaissance Fair" look. The most Tudoresque location in the Bay Area is, of course, Ainsley House. Since the White Rabbit is a loyal subject of that Queen, it would make sense for him to design his house to fit within her aesthetic.
The New York location? Hamilton Grange. Look, there's no real justification for this. I could pull a reason out of my ass about classical revival vs Tudor revival architecture, but really the whole idea for reviving this project came from the half-asleep musing of 'Alexander Hamilton as the White Rabbit...' Does that make sense? No. Of course it doesn't. My brain doesn't make sense even when fully awake, let alone half-asleep. Is the idea there to stay anyway? You betcha. Hamilton Grange as the White Rabbit's house.
Location Five: Alice Meets the Caterpillar
"The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence; at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice."
Where I originally picked? Rosicrucian Park. My line of thought with this one had been that since the caterpillar in the original story smoked a hookah and tried to come off as being wise, he needed an environment that reflected that. The Ancient Egyptian styling of Rosicrucian Park fit him very well for those reasons.
The New York location? The Cloisters. It's medieval rather than ancient, but either way we get the caterpillar taking advantage of an old-looking location to make itself look wise.
Location Six: The Duchess's House
"'You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact.'
Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark."
Where I originally picked? History Park. Honestly, it would have made more sense aesthetically to have the Duchess in Ainsley House and the Rabbit in History Park (since the Duchess proooobably outranks the rabbit), but this would have been more convenient to film since the cast would need to be sitting on the steps of a house and it's right next door to the next location since the Cheshire Cat needs to be in both, and it would have been easier to shoot in one day rather than two.
The New York location? Morris-Jumel mansion. It's big and fancy, befitting a duchess. But it's also a historical in-joke. See, this mansion, among other things, was once the home of Aaron Burr. Yes, that Aaron Burr, the one who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, whose home has been cast as the White Rabbit's home. Since the Duchess and the Rabbit are both members of the Queen of Hearts' court, it's an amusing little in-joke, isn't it?
Location Seven: Meeting the Cheshire Cat
"'Cheshire Puss,' she began rather timidly, as she did not know at all whether it would like the name; however, it only grinned a little wider. 'Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on, 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?'"
Where I originally picked? The Japanese Friendship Garden, right next to History Park. Again, this was mostly for convenience's sake.
The New York location? The Chinese Scholar's Garden. I actually want to stay within the theme of an Asian traditional-style garden for the Cheshire Cat. Cats just fit so well in locations such as these.
Location Eight: The Mad Tea Party
"A bright idea came into Alice's head. 'Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?' she asked.
'Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh; 'it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between the whiles.'"
Where I picked? Satori Tea in Downtown San Jose. (Which is no longer there but was still in business when I planned this. It's a shame, because I did like it there quite a lot.) And I mean, just looking at the picture you can probably see why I picked it. Look at that place. If any place in the world embodied the madness of the Mad Tea Party, it was Satori.
The New York location? Alice's Tea Cup. While New York City actually has a lot of tea places, this is the obvious choice simply because it has Alice right in the name, so I can't not include it.
Location Nine: The Red Queen's Castle
"The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, began screaming, 'Off with her head! Off-'
'Nonsense!' said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was silent."
Where I picked? The Winchester Mystery House. I planned this project waaaayyyy before I ever dreamed I'd one day work there. For the webseries, I was going to combine the two Alice novels into one, but rather than consolidate the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen from the second book into one character, I just renamed the Red Queen "The Black Queen" - her personality is too different from the Queen of Hearts, and so she deserved to be a character in her own right, but she's based on a chess piece, and chess sets are black and white, not red and white. Then the Queen of Hearts took the Red title, even though she's not the Red Queen from the book, she's the Queen of Hearts. Got it? Anyway, the Winchester House was perfect for her mansion, since its got towers and turrets and red roofs and it's big and fancy.
The New York location? Belvedere Castle. It's far more fairy-tale-esque. It actually looks more like something out of the Renaissance than the San Jose location did, so in a way I actually think this change worked out for the better. Shame that there aren't any red roofs, but that can be fixed in photoshop easily.
Location Ten: The Red Queen's Courtyard
Where I picked? The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. No one photo truly does this place justice. It's got literally thousands of roses in every possible shade. There are even white ones with red speckles, so they look like they've been recently painted red. And it's a public park, so it would have been easy to film the croquet and trial scenes in.
The New York location? The New York Botanic Garden (the one in the Bronx) actually includes a rose garden called the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. (But the trial, if I shot it, would take place in the Rose Room at the New York Public Library's main branch.)
Location Eleven: Alice Meets the Mock Turtle
"'Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,' Alice replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rather offended tone, 'Hm! No accounting for tastes! Sing her Turtle Soup, will you, old fellow?'
The Mock Turtle sighed deeply and began, in a voice sometimes choked with sobs, to sing."
Where I picked? Natural Bridges Beach in Santa Cruz. I wanted to pick somewhere beach-y since the Mock Turtle tells Alice all about life below the sea. And Natural Bridges is a beautiful beach, with cliffs filled with natural tidepools. It'd work well for a video.
The New York location? The Sea Glass carousel in Battery Park. It's a far cry from the natural look I'd originally chosen. But the more I look at it, the more I love it. It just looks so unique, and the whole point of this project had always been to showcase unique locations. This one works far better for a still photo than for a video format.
Location Twelve: The Flower Garden
"'There's one other flower in the garden that can move about like you,' said the Rose. 'I wonder how you do it-' ('You're always wondering,' said the Tiger-lily), 'but she's more bushy than you are.'"
Where I picked? The Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco. As I've said in a previous entry, the building itself reminds me very much of one of the original Wonderland illustrations. And inside there are lots of flowers that the actresses portraying the talking flowers could have sat right next to.
The New York location? The New York Botanical Garden also happens to have a building that works just as well as the SF building does. I've never seen the interior so I have no idea how I'd stage it, but the building itself looks beautiful, doesn't it?
Location Thirteen: The Black Queen's Castle
"'I don't know what you mean by your way,' said the Queen; 'all the ways about here belong to me - but why did you come out here at all?' she added in a kinder tone. 'Curtsey while you're thinking what to say. It saves time.'"
Where I picked? The tower at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. The Black Queen was going to be styled to look like a steampunk dominatrix, fitting her bossy personality, so she needed somewhere dark and industrial looking to match. This tower also has incredible views of the City, so she and Alice could actually look out over "Wonderland" while she told Alice how to advance to the other side of the chessboard and be crowned a queen.
The New York location? The Cooper Union Building. Again, this only works if this project is done as a photography project rather than a film project. The Cooper Union building is post-modern and dark and befitting of the Black Queen's darkly industrial aesthetic. But it is a business building underneath all of that, so we'd need to get the photo quick.
Location Fourteen: The Train Ride
"'Now then! Show your ticket, child!' the Guard went on, looking angrily at Alice. And a great many voices all said together ('like the chorus of a song,' thought Alice), 'Don't keep him waiting, child! Why, his time is worth a thousand pounds a minute!'
'I'm afraid I haven't got one,' Alice said in a frightened tone."
Where I picked? The F-Market MUNI Line in San Francisco. There are more old-school train options around here - Roaring Camp and the trolley in History Park come to mind - but I've always loved the F-Market line in San Francisco, which repurposes trolley cars from every country and decade you can imagine, from 20s Chicago to 60s Italy. It's magical.
The New York location? Bear with me here, because it's not the subway! Shock and disbelief, I know! No, I found out that New York actually has a restaurant designed to look like a train dining car from turn-of-the-century France, called Le Train Bleu. (It doesn't even look terribly expensive, so we could eat there, too.) Isn't that just the most in-your-face whimsical thing you ever heard of?
Location Fifteen: The Forgetful Forest
"'This must be the wood,' she said thoughtfully to herself, 'where things have no names. I wonder what'll become of my name when I go in? I shouldn't like to lose it at all - because then they'd have to give me another and it would be almost certain to be a ugly one.'"
Where I picked? Henry Cowell Forest in Felton. Listen. This is the most beautiful forest I've been to in my entire life. Walking into it feels like stepping into an enchanted forest from a fairy tale. I've even played a fairy in a friend's film project here when I was like 19, which unfortunately seems to have been deleted from the internet entirely. This forest is perfect for this scene.
The New York location? The forest trail at the New York Botanical Garden. New York City, being a huge metropolis, doesn't exactly have miles and miles of forests like California does. I've been spoiled with redwoods! But New York does have this option, which is pretty enough that I don't really care about the lack of redwoods. And again, since this hypothetical project has become a photo series, it only needs to have enough forest for one photo, which this definitely does.
Location Sixteen: Alice Meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum
"Alice did not shaking hands with either of them first, for fear of hurting the other one's feelings; so, as the best way out of the difficulty, she took hold of both hands at once; the next moment they were dancing round in a ring. This seemed quite natural."
Where I picked? The 16th Avenue Tiled Stairs in San Francisco. Alice was going to be walking up when she bumped into the twins as they walked down. I really wanted to showcase those beautiful mosaics on all the stairs.
The New York location? Mosaic House in Brooklyn. I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting such a perfect match, but this has everything I loved about the SF location and then some. It's colourful. It's over-the-top. It's a mosaic just like the other one. And it works so well for a photograph.
Location Seventeen: The White Queen's Palace
Where I picked? The Palace of Legion of Honour. I wanted something 18th-century-esque because I wanted the White Queen to have a powdered wig reminiscent of the Rococo era, to contrast the other two queens. And the Palace has a beautiful courtyard and is mostly white in colour, so it was perfect for her.
The New York location? The courtyard of the Frick Collection. It's white and fancy, just like the Palace. Even though it was built in the 1930s, it's got the beautiful neoclassical columns that were all the rage in the 18th century. It's exactly the type of courtyard the White Queen would design for herself.
Location Eighteen: The Knights' Joust
"'Well, we must fight for her, then,' said the Red Knight, as he took up his helmet (which hung from the saddle, and was something the shape of a horse's head), and put it on."
Where I picked? The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The joust between the knights was going to be repurposed as either bumper cars or a carnival game (such as the ring toss that the carousel here has), something perfectly whimsical and just a bit silly, something that would have been a lot of fun to film.
The New York location? Isn't it obvious? It's gotta be Coney Island. That's the New York equivalent, isn't it? I have absolutely no idea how I'd repurpose their joust into a singular photo here, but I've never been to Coney Island, so maybe once I visit the answer will slap me right in the face. Are there bumper cars here?
Location Nineteen: Walking with the White Knight
"'Thank you very much,' said Alice. 'May I help you off with your helmet?' It was evidently more than he could manage by himself; however she managed to shake him out of it at last."
Where I picked? Balmy Alley and Clarion Alley in the Mission. Two beautiful San Francisco alleys decorated up the wazoo with street art make the perfect backdrop to film a friendly stroll against.
The New York location? 5 Pointz, if it's still around. If not, New York isn't lacking in graffiti and street art!
Location Twenty: Alice's Palace (Where she's coronated)
"Well, this is grand!' said Alice. 'I never expected I should be a Queen so soon - and I'll tell you what it is, your Majesty,' she went on in a severe tone (she was always rather fond of scolding herself), 'it'll never do for you to be lolling about on the grass like that! Queens have to be dignified, you know!'"
Where I picked? The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. This monument was built for the 1915 World's Fair and is now part of a public park, as beautiful and opulent now as it was back then. For an entire coronation scene I needed something publicly accessible and beautiful, and this fit the bill perfectly, as well as Queen Alice's style.
The New York location? Serendipity 3. I had to include this somewhere, since the interior is very clearly something right out of Wonderland. Since this would be the last photo in the series, it would have to be somewhere perfect. I'm picturing Alice with a big crown on her head flanked by the three queens and some of the memorable characters, recreating Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" with a serving of this restaurant's famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate right in front of her.
All in all, this is a project that, if I'm being honest with myself, I am extremely unlikely to do. But it still has been a blast to plan, both times. I like seeking out unique locations no matter what city I'm in - it gives me more to look for once I'm already there.
~Nym~
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