The "appears" building + bonus!!!

NeK Hamasaki · #1 15th April 2010, 12:51 AM

Hey guys!
It's pretty amazing what you can do using technology nowadays... I found the building where the appears PV was shot, without moving from my chair and without knowing NY

How I did it?
Well, I used Google Street View, the appears PV, and a LOT of free time!

So, check it out:

The PV starts showing a lot of panoramic shots of different buildings somewhere in NY.

But I noticed there's one in particular.
It has "NEW YORKER" written on it:

So I google'd it, and found out that it's a hotel at Times Square.
Then there are other buildings nearby that I could also look for:

Specially the one nearest, that has a particular cut:

OK, I had some pinpoints. Time to use Google Street View!!
Here's a view of The NEW YORKER

So the next step was try to figure out which side of the building is facing the camera on the PV, so after watching carefully the PV I found another special-looking building nearby:

So I looked for those corner figures on G.S.V and found that it's the James A. Farley Post Office, not far from the NEW YORKER

So based on that, I started "walking" the area and found another building:

And just in front of it I found this:

Which is the strange-cut building from pic 5...
SO the building in front HAD to be the building!!!!
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ENTER "THE APPEARS BUILDING":

You can see it has a water tank on top.
The water tanks can be seen briefly on the PV as well:

On G.S.V top view you can see the water tanks and the wooden platform where ayu stands:

Here's the pic that covers it all: The New Yorker, the wooden floor, and the building in front:

So there you have it!
I hope you've enjoyed it

- - - - - BONUS - - - - -
I found a couple of other things searching for this building...
Check out this pic:

It has "Daylight Studio" written on it... I did a little research and it turned out to be a Photography studio (well, they have 3 studios actually). Here are some pics from the studio:

Look at the view from the window, and then check this picture from the LOVEppears booklet:

So they used the studio for the photoshoot, and my guess is that they also used it in the PV for the shots where ayu is sitting on the couch:

Now...
The last shots of the PV are at night and you can see the (now gone

) Twin Towers behind ayu:

There are no other buildings blocking the view of the Towers, so I looked for a spot where you could see them clearly.
So using G.S.V I found that the better location for that had to be from the New Jersey harbour:

Then there was a hint... You can see some flags on the PV:

There's the USA flag, and I'm not 100% sure but the other looks like the New Jersey flag. In that case my guess could be right and thus ayu should be in one of those three the docks seen in the previous pic.
And looking at them, the one that looks like a "P" (or a "J", depending on how you look at it

) seems to have 3 flagstands:

And that's the end of my detective work

The only thing missing is the street where ayu is walking using 3 different outfits on the chorus:

But there are not enough pointers, so maybe some of you guys living in NY might give me a hand

It would be awesome if some of you could also go to Daylight Studio at the appears building, maybe they have access to the rooftop and you could take some pics!!
Here's a wider pic of the building so you can see the streets where it's located: (it's like 2 blocks away from the Madison Square Garden)

Thanks for reading my post and your feedback!
A world is one!

Bad Wolf · #2 15th April 2010, 12:56 AM

Whooooooooa. So much work~

I'VE WALKED PAST THIS BUILDING SO MANY TIMES AND HAD NO IDEA XD

eta: and ooh, a bonus? You spoil us :3

Lizzyboo · #3 15th April 2010, 01:00 AM

oh my goodness! such research :O thats awesome dude!

ren0210989 · #4 15th April 2010, 01:10 AM

... you really have too much free time...

Picaflor 7/4 · #5 15th April 2010, 01:30 AM

that's really cool. does google maps tell you a direct location? like what streets it's on? I want to walk by it some day. hehe

aura~ · #6 15th April 2010, 01:30 AM

hahahaha nice find!!!

AyuGAME · #7 15th April 2010, 01:31 AM

wow..nice observation...
thanks for sharing

JackieRos · #8 15th April 2010, 01:34 AM

this is the coolest thing ever
I should go there someday

Quote:

Originally Posted by Picaflor 7/4

that's really cool. does google maps tell you a
direct location? like what streets it's on? I want to walk by it some day. hehe

yes it can it also gives you what buses or trains you take to get there or
also it gives you directions if you want to drive there or walk there

**zoomzoom** · #9 15th April 2010, 01:59 AM

Yea it's on 10th Ave and 31st, right where the trains come in for Penn Station. I always think of appears when I see it. They probably rented the penthouse for it.