I was in Elizabeth NJ this afternoon. Since it is only 5 minutes away from Staten Island and my camera was with me, guess where I wound up again? ;)This time was even better than the last. While I was there, the elderly owner of the house came out. At first I was nevrvous he'd think I was nut (not that I'm not for going back two days in a row), but he was nice as could be. I got to speak with him for about 5 minutes. He owned the house when the movie was made, and told me a few stories. Some of the interesting things he told me were:
The inside of the house was not used in the movie. Most of the interior scenes were shot in the house next to his, which was vacant at the time of the shooting. The rest was a "set".
Coppola shot over 18 hours of film on his property.
When they were done shooting, they didn't think the movie would even be released due to problems.
People still come by almost every day and take pictures.
Here's a few more pictures.....

This picture was taken from where the fake entrance to the Corleone Compound was. The house at the end of the street is 120 Longfellow Ave. It's most famous scene is Carlo's murder. Michael is seen walking from the entrance (left of the black BMW in the picture) over to 110 Longefellow.
Some sites claim that the garden the wedding was held in, is located at 120 Longfellow, but the garden is connected to 110 Longfellow.


This next picture is going on my wall! It's my Cadillac Eldorado (Paulie Walnuts Edition ) parked in front of the house.


These next two pictures are of the yard where the wedding took place.

Why you lucky dog you!!! How totally awesome!!! I envisioned the property a little more secluded or are the structures to the right of the picture part of the same property? I'll bet this trip made your weekend hu??? Let us know any more stories that the owner might have.


TIS

That place is great..........maybe the owner would take some money in exchange for letting me have a wedding there hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The property isn't secluded at all, other than the block is a dead end. I'm not sure what structures you mean, but if you're talking about the white building, it's not part of 110 Longfellow. One funny thing he told me was that when the movie is shown on TV, he gets a lot of "visitors".

Just Lou-

Thanks for making the trip to the house and posting the pic's for us. I bet your heart was beating out of control, I know mine would've been if I was there. When you talked to the owner did he tell you if he was allowed to stay at the house while they were filming? Could you imagine being able to see Brando,Pacino,Caan,Duvall and everyone else in person what a thrill that would have been. Thanks again

I've been to many famous places, but this was a very surreal experience. Part of it is being there all alone,with nobody around, and imagining what it was like during the movie... He said he was there for the shooting. I would imagnine he could stay there since they didn't use the interior of his house. I wish I could have talked to him longer, but it was about 20 degrees outside, and this gentleman was I'd estimate to be around 80 years old. He only came out to throw some garbabge out, so I didn't want to keep him. He was nice enough to give a few minutes of his time.

You mean you didn't even get a picture of yourself standing by the gate??? How do we really know that you were there???

BTW, a little off topic...I know you're a Sopranos fan. Did you ever go on the Sopranos tour???? (If you mentioned it, I don't remember)


TIS

so when are you purchasing tickets to go to Lake Tahoe?

Unfortunately, I was alone. No pictures of me. ...But I have a picture of my car! As for the Sopranos, there's no need for me to take the tour.
I live in Bergen County NJ, and it's filmed all around me. I've been to just about every Soprano site there is, just by living here. I even had my bachelor party at the "Bada Bing" (Satin Dolls) long before the Sopranos was on the air.

1) The quality and composition of your photographs is truly exceptional! Better than the home photos on most real estate sites!

2) The owner showed an admirable level of patience and restraint. Perhaps he's used to the attention...perhaps he's even a devoted fan of the movie....though he might be a little less restrained or patient if you actually tried to get on the property or into the house. Perhaps this doesn't happen as frequently as we think, and he might hve enjoyed the attention from someone who treated the moment as something special!

I can say that there are owners of Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes in Chicago who don't get it...they buy a home of historical significance in a Landmark District or Historical District, then can't understand why so much attention is lavished on the house by the public. (There are some amusing stories of homeowners finding complete strangers in their backyards and occasionally in their homes who thought all Wright homes in the historic district were public buildings!) Similarly, if your home is used in a movie, and the movie has some success, you have to believe it's going to get some attention on occasion. On the other hand, I can understand how John Q. Public might not necessarily be prepared for that.

3) There is a certain "suspension of disbelief" that has to go with the floor plan of the house. Not only does the "room" have to accomodate the actors in a particular manner, but also the lighting, cameras, and technical people and still provide space to truck/dolly/raise/lower the camera without adversly affecting the composition of the shot. It looks like a tudor revival style cottage in your pictures but plays like a much larger tudor mansion in the movie. No doubt the interior rooms in the real house would be much too small to accomodate the crowd of people during the wedding or the days immediately following Vito's shooting.

4) The homeowner would be a GREAT idea for a guest Golden Age of Gangsters convention in New York this year! Not sure if he's willing...nor do we know if he would have much to offer...but it would make for interesting conversation.

Thanks for the tour Just Lou! I feel like I was there!

tony b.

Great pictures! It must have been amazing to be there. If that yard could talk, huh?

No problem. I was just as excited to share them with your guys (and girls). The owner came out as I was about to leave. I was sitting in my car, in front of the gate, looking at the pictures on my camera. He was standing right next to my car, so I put the passenger window down and said with a little grin: "nice house". He didn't say a word and walked around to my driver's window. I didn't know what to expect, but I put my window down, and he just smiled and started talking to me. I'm glad he told me his house wasn't used for the interior shots, because I would have gotten out and begged him to let me inside and take pictures!

that's probably why he told you that

You could be right!

Just wait until I get ahold of the Chinese guy that owns "Genco Olive Oil Co." this summer! My next trip is going to be Downtown NYC.

Thanks for sharing those pics. They were awesome. Hopefully when the old guy dies, another friendly person will buy the place, so your camera doesnt end up like the lurking photographers

To echo the thoughts of others, great pictures and thanks for sharing. I'm going to show my friend those pics tomorrow at school.

What a great story!! I am so glad you put these pictures up - I was telling my friend at work about them and she said, oh the house in
Pasadena (Calif) - I was like no, the Corleone house in NY - so we got in this 5 minutes discussion and I brought her to my computer to see your pictures- she was in total amazement!
I guess years ago she went to on a tour and someone said the Corleone house was in Pasadena.

Pasadena?? I hope she didn't pay for that tour!

Many years ago I looked up his phone number and called him to ask if I could visit the house (on the outside) and take some pictures. He said it'd be no problem, and that many people drive up and do that. He WAS very pleasant.

Sadly, I never made it there....YET.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by SC:
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Sadly, I never made it there....YET.

I'm surprised this person has his phone number listed. I would have been sure he would be afraid of getting crank calls or something. Is this the original ownder who had it when the movie was made?

Nah. Most of the Tahoe site have been torn down and replaced with Condos. The only thing left is the boathouse.

Didn't you learn anything from POP about doing business over the phone?

Well no more excuses my friend, just let me know the day and the time!


Don Cardi

Just Lou-

How did you come to find out that was the house they used?

The address, 110 Longfellow Ave., is pretty well known if you're into Godfather history. All I had to do was look it up on Mapquest.com, and get directions how to get there. Luckily I only live about 20 or so miles away, and it was very easy to get there.