On Thursday night Prospect Park South was transformed into the Hamptons, as CW's "Gossip Girl" took over 1306 Albemarle Road. Prop and wardrobe trucks lined Argyle Road and crafts service tables occupied Church Avenue. Neighborhood fans were there as early as 10 a.m. to uncover season 2 plots and get glimpses of their favorite television stars. Blake Lively, who stars as Serena van der Woodsen, and Leighton Meester, who plays best friend and resident mean girl Blair Waldorf, were on set, and the die-hard fans who waited in the rain until 9 p.m. were treated to a shouting and shoving match between the two characters on the front porch. 
We first arrived on set at 6:30 p.m. and found 9-10 teenagers waiting in the median across the street, huddled under shared umbrellas. A group of three girls told us excitedly that Blake and Leighton had just left their trailers on Church Avenue and walked past them into the house. The actresses were nice enough to take pictures with their star-struck fans.
Argyle Road at Albemarle.
Production crews took over the driveway and even the garage, setting up mini-snack centers to feed the hungry cast and crew. A bus full of extras was parked on Argyle for much of the day.
Spoiler Alert: Plot details that may or may not be important are about to be revealed. Consider yourself warned. Right before the porch scene began filming, one of the teenage fans who had spent the whole day around the set explained that this house was meant to be in the Hamptons, where much of season 2 supposedly takes place. Judging from the scene's dialogue and the extras who wore khaki pants, sweaters tied around their shoulders, and bow ties, Serena and Blair are at a party for students interested in Yale. As the girls fought on the porch, their shouts of "You shut up!" "No, you shut up!" rang out through the rainy night, causing one dog walker to comment sarcastically, "Great dialogue." Stand-ins for Blake and Leighton -- two girls who were dressed like the actresses and from a distance couldn't be told apart from Blake and Leighton -- were used for the more physically gruelling parts of the scene, including the part when Blair throws a purse at Serena. When Blake and Leighton filmed that part, Leighton threw the purse at Blake's feet. When the stand-ins were brought in, however, a crew member with good aim hit the Serena stand-in squarely in the back of the head with the purse. The stand-ins also acted out the fight scene. "Spank her again," encouraged the director. For grainy video (but decent audio) of Blake and Leighton duking it out, watch the video below.
Each time the girls grabbed each other's shoulders and began tusseling, we could hear the paparazzi's cameras clicking faster and faster.
Around 10:30, parents of the teenaged fans began showing up and attempting to drag their daughters away from the highlight of their summer vacations. Part of the thrill of the taping was watching neighbors interacting and sharing in the unusualness of seeing their stomping grounds turned into a Hollywood set.
For a peak inside this now historic home, check out Flatbush Gardener's collection of photos from the 2007 Victorian Flatbush House Tour.
Update: New York Magazine linked this post, but said the actors in the YouTube video above are Blake and Leighton's stand-ins. Actually, you're seeing the real Blake and Leighton in this video. Later on we did see the stand-ins fight, but they didn't utter any lines and they were certainly no Blake and Leighton.
Update Update: This episode actually took place in New Haven, Connecticut. 1306 Albemarle is supposed to be the home of the dean of Yale.
According to Flatbush Development Corporation's "Guide To Victorian Flatbush", the lamps outside 789 Rugby Road (left) and 754 Rugby Road (right) "are among the last survivors of the original lights that illuminated the streets of Flatbush until the mid-1960s, when they were replaced with more efficient sodium lamps." Check these out yourself by heading to Rugby Road between Foster Ave. and Avenue H.
While waiting in line at one of the stalls at the Farmer's Market on Cortelyou Road a few weeks ago, I overheard this conversation from two women standing in line behind me who looked like they were in their late sixties.
The folks from The Farm on Adderley are all set to open their new flower shop-by-day/bar-by-night establishment at 1118 Cortelyou by the end of the month, according to Brownstoner. The paperwork and permits appear to be in order, as seen in the photo to the right. The only thing still up in the air is the name. The best the owners have come up with so far is "Monkey's Wedding", a South African term for the rare occasion in which rain falls while the sun is shining. Something about that name sounds a little too pretentious for our tastes. I mean, let's not get ahead of ourselves here- it's sandwiched between a furniture store and a bodega. We just hope the owners consider some of the great suggestions from Brownstoner's commenters. We like the keep-it-simple suggestions like "Barflower" and "Stem", but we'd also be cool with telling our friends to meet us at "VineBar" or "Nectar". Commenter Tyler over on Ditmas Park Blog wants a return to ultra simplistic times with a name like "Cortelyou Flower Shop & Bar". What do you guys think? Vote for your favorite name in the poll at the right or add your own suggestion in the comments below.
Argyle Road at Albemarle. 
Spoiler Alert: Plot details that may or may not be important are about to be revealed. Consider yourself warned. Right before the porch scene began filming, one of the teenage fans who had spent the whole day around the set explained that this house was meant to be in the Hamptons, where much of season 2 supposedly takes place. Judging from the scene's dialogue and the extras who wore khaki pants, sweaters tied around their shoulders, and bow ties, Serena and Blair are at a party for students interested in Yale. As the girls fought on the porch, their shouts of "You shut up!" "No, you shut up!" rang out through the rainy night, causing one dog walker to comment sarcastically, "Great dialogue." Stand-ins for Blake and Leighton -- two girls who were dressed like the actresses and from a distance couldn't be told apart from Blake and Leighton -- were used for the more physically gruelling parts of the scene, including the part when Blair throws a purse at Serena. When Blake and Leighton filmed that part, Leighton threw the purse at Blake's feet. When the stand-ins were brought in, however, a crew member with good aim hit the Serena stand-in squarely in the back of the head with the purse. The stand-ins also acted out the fight scene. "Spank her again," encouraged the director. For grainy video (but decent audio) of Blake and Leighton duking it out, watch the video below.
Each time the girls grabbed each other's shoulders and began tusseling, we could hear the paparazzi's cameras clicking faster and faster. 
Around 10:30, parents of the teenaged fans began showing up and attempting to drag their daughters away from the highlight of their summer vacations. Part of the thrill of the taping was watching neighbors interacting and sharing in the unusualness of seeing their stomping grounds turned into a Hollywood set.
For a peak inside this now historic home, check out Flatbush Gardener's collection of photos from the 2007 Victorian Flatbush House Tour.
Thanks for checking out Victorian Flatbush's newest blog, FlatbushVegan.com. We plan to use this blog as a place to discuss happenings in the neighborhood, highlight places we like, and occasionally give you a glimpse into the wonderful, albeit selective, vegan and vegetarian options around here. For those of you who have no interest in the vegetarian lifestyle, don't worry- we'll do our best to cover just as much neighborhood news as we will vegan issues. We'll be focusing most of our attention on the area known as Ditmas Park, but we'll also take a look at greater Flatbush and Midwood from time to time. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions and come back often!
