How To Get To Sesame Street

Last February, when I was visiting New York for the first time in several years, the event that made the most impression and certainly contributed to my decision to move here (as I figured a place that had something as creative and legendary as this was a place I wanted to be) was my visit to the set of Sesame Street, and the chance to meet Cookie Monster, Prairie Dawn, and one of my favorites (and a personal friend of mine of which I'm not ashamed to brag) Abby Cadabby.  Here's a video we shot at the time.

What I was not able to do at that time was share any photos of the new set, as it had not yet been made public.  Now that the set has been revealed I can show you a few shots taken from the street.  

Hooper's store is the same...

Although they have made some additions to the products on the shelves (all of which are made specifically for the show)


Also, Big Bird now has a little tree house area he sleeps in, with a picture of his best friend.  It appears I wasn't able to get a photo of the drawing of Mr Hooper framed nearby,  but rest assured it is there.

 Some new additions to the show include Abby's fairy garden...

There's also a news stand operated by the two headed monster...

There's the famed address...

And lil' ole me. 

As a kid of four, my mom, a single parent, went to work and I spent the day at Raggedy Ann Day Care.  Every day we would be gathered together for an hour and a half with a snack (usually a piece of orange and a cookie) and we'd sit in the darkness watching Grover demonstrate "near" and "far", learn that we could do more than we ever imagined from Maria and Luis, Bob, Susan and Gordon, and we'd watch as the clumsiest dessert chef ever standing stood at the top of a set of stairs from which he would inevitably tumble with a large number of chocolate cream pies.  Sitting in the darkness with all those kids, our eyes glued to the set, it felt like someone had created this special gift just for us, which is a major reason that "Sesame Street" will always hold a prominent spot in my heart.