Who could forget Meg Ryan’s charming brownstone from the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail? It was definitely one of the highlights of this romantic comedy for me, along with her character’s equally charming children’s bookstore. The movie reunited Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan five years after they first found love in Sleepless in Seattle.
In You’ve Got Mail, Ryan plays Kathleen Kelly, who runs The Shop Around the Corner. Hanks is her business rival Joe Fox, who runs the megastore Fox Books. Even though they’re both involved with someone else, they’re falling for each other anonymously, through daily e-mails.
Kathleen lives on the Upper West Side of NYC in a brownstone that the movie’s writer and director Nora Ephron says she believes was on West 89th Street, “But I could be wrong. Who remembers?”
During the opening credits, the camera pans up the brownstone and into Kathleen’s apartment:
I kept hoping for a better look into that bathroom she’s stepping out of, but this is pretty much all we see of it:
Greg Kinnear plays Kathleen’s boyfriend Frank. She watches him leave through the peephole to be sure he’s really gone before she checks her e-mail:
Watching to be sure he’s walking down the street. . .
And checking for messages from “NY152,” as Hanks calls himself online (she’s Shopgirl):
In the ’90s, when I was a new stay-at-home mom living out in the country and feeling very lonely and cut off from the world, my husband surprised me with an AOL e-mail account for Christmas. I got a kick out of seeing Meg Ryan checking her AOL e-mail. First are all of those noisy dial-up sounds that I had forgotten about. Then the little cartoon guy who looks like he’s running to fetch your messages. And the waiting and hoping that you’ll be told that you have mail.
In 1998, all of the e-mail talk and Starbucks visits in this movie seemed fresh and hip.
Her bedroom. I noticed that the furniture moves around a bit throughout the movie:
See? The bed is now angled off to the left:
The dining area, peeking into the kitchen:
With her boyfriend, played by the adorable Greg Kinnear:
In this shot you get a glimpse of the great woodwork in the hall, and the trim around the doors:
One of the few glimpses we get of her living room and sofa:
Look who I spotted behind the grocery store cash register — it’s Sara Ramirez, the actress who plays Dr. Callie Torres on Grey’s Anatomy! I looked it up on IMDb and sure enough, this was her first film role:
The Shop Around the Corner
“You’ve Got Mail” was a modern update of a 1940 romantic comedy called “The Shop Around the Corner,” starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. In the original, the shop was in Budapest and called Matuschek’s. Alfred (Stewart) and Klara (Margaret Sullavan) worked in the gift shop together and drove each other nuts, not realizing that they were actually secret pen pals who hoped to meet someday.
In a nod to the original, Meg’s independent bookstore was named The Shop Around the Corner:
Tom Hanks plays the owner of a new bookstore that has opened in the neighborhood called Fox Books. It’s one of those superstores that tends to put the independent ones out of business. Kathleen doesn’t know that’s who he is when he brings his father’s young children into the store one day. And he doesn’t know that Kathleen is the one he’s been e-mailing back and forth with for weeks.
The bookstore decorated for Christmas:
She can’t compete with Fox Books and soon goes out of business:
It still upsets me every time she has to close her shop. Do you ever secretly hope movies will end differently for once? Like, this time, she’ll find a way to keep it open?
Joe figures out that Kathleen is Shopgirl, and they manage to overcome all of the various plot complications–like how his store put hers out of business–to find love together in the end.
For more information:
- See the “cheese and antiques” shop that was used as the exterior for The Shop Around the corner, and read why it had to close in the NYT. (The interiors of the book shop were filmed on a soundstage.)
- See how the brownstone looks today here.
- Read more about the decorating at The Devine Home.
Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all of the others I’ve featured so far, from Nights in Rodanthe to The Notebook.
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I don’t watch a lot of movies and I typically don’t take notice of such things. THIS is probably the only house from a movie that I’ve remembered. Oh, I love……
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Ohhhhhhhhh thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thank you sooo much! This is one of my favorite movies,it was so exciting to read your post. I never knew it was an update of an old movie, thank you! Now one of my top priorities would be to watch it!
What I love the most about this film is the language, it’s so elegant and witty, you want to remember every word. The movie is perfect!
Thank you, Julia!
This is so funny you did a post on this and also Father of the Bride II recently — I just flipped through both of them (DVDs — they’re great!) yesterday to get ideas for updating my living room. The trends in both of them that I’m following are the slip-covered couch look, the many amounts of throw pillows that add lots of color to the room, and the “cottage”-style furniture that isn’t in perfect condition and yet fits in perfectly. I love both of these movies soo much, they’re my favorites. Thanks for the post!
Yay! I have been looking for these photos for so long, with no luck. I’m so grateful for this post, as I just love her place as well as her shop. Thanks!
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love love love that movie
Funny/sad story – My mother and I had a coffeehouse for 4 years that we loved beyond love. We had to close the shop Nov of 1998 due to too much competition & other factors of course. This movie came out around that time. To say we cried buckets of tears when we saw this movie is an understatement. It still brings up feelings of our coffeehouse and how much we loved it and the people and how much we hated to have to close. I still love the movie though – I’ve seen it several dozen times I’m sure.
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I loved your site…Iám from Brazil, and don´t speak english so well. |Thanks for share this amazing houses with us. Congrats, Flávia
Loooooooove it! This movie, the shop, and Kathleen’s brownstone all make me SO happy. I’d move in in a heartbeat!
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Thank you for this post. I am creating a bookstore atmosphere in my reading corner in my 3rd grade classroom and I have looked all over the internet for pictures to get ideas. I didn’t find anything very helpful until I came across this website. I have some great ideas now to entice my little readers! Thank you!!
Karen
can you please show photos of the restaurant they met in? it was so beautiful.
Love that movie…this makes me want to go downstairs and watch it all over again. One of my favorite things is how she has the desk right out in the center of the room…love that! It is kind of weird that they moved the bed.
Susan
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One of my favorite movies, thank you for all the shots from it! I too love the swan painting in her bedroom, does anyone have any info on it?!
xo
Jennifer
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This is one of my all time Favorite Movies I can watch it over and over again, I absolutely adored her Apartment and would live there in the blink of an eye also loved her cute little Shop.
Thank you
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I love the set decor in this movie! So cheerful & pretty!
Has anyone else noticed the stained glass window/door that links the bathroom to the living room? It’s at the opposite end of the bookshelf that lines the hallway, to the right of the front door. It’s a yellow/golden color–you can see it in the first scene, when Meg’s character looks out the peephole to watch Greg Kinnear leave. I can’t figure out if its meant to be a door to the apartment’s single bathroom (practical, so guests don’t need to go through the bedroom) or just a beautiful way to let in light! Can anyone guess?
Could you please ad Tom Hanks apartment too? I love the whole New York feel of the rooms!
Thanks so much for posting this! I just love her apt and the little bookstore. Thanks again!
Becky and Jennifer, I have come to this site late, but I believe the swan picture you both refer to is from the book, Swan Lake, by Mark Helprin illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. It is right in character that she would have a children’s book illustration on her wall. In fact, quite a few of the items that were in the book shop end up in her apartment once she closes it. As you can tell, this movie is one of my favorites as well. I would really like to see something done on another fabulous and charming apartment, the one in Green Card.
I am so sorry! I spoke too fast and was wrong about the swan painting. I must have been thinking of another movie because when I went back and looked once more, that was not picture I was thinking of. Not even the one by her front door. The painting over the bed is not shown very much; and I guess will have to remain a mystery, at least from this end. I will look before I leap next time!
You mentioned that her bed moved, that’s because she moved, didn’t she? It seemed like after her store closed she moved to a smaller apartment.
Thanks for all the stills! I use her apartment for inspiration in decorating my own.
Shannon–
No, she didn’t move as far as I know. I’m pretty sure it’s the same apartment. In that final photo I posted, you can see the same kitchen behind them that we saw earlier in the movie. -Julia
I am looking for the swan painting or print as well! I caught a few glimpses in the movie and it has stayed with me. I am still looking to see if I can find it online.. if anyone knows, please advise. Thanks!
I love love love the shabby chic look of this home. You’ve Got Mail is one of my favorite movies and just seeing these pics makes me want to watch the movie again…for the hundredth time!
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I’m not much a chick-flick kind of gal but, “You’ve Got Mail” is one of my few favs. I want everything in that movie, the Brownstone, the book shop, and Tom Hanks! LOL
The absolute favorite movie of mine…Tom Hanks and Meg in movies together are the best. Meg’s apartment, is so cozy, inviting & cheerful. I love that daisy’s are her favorite flower and you see them on the window coverings as she peeks out to watch frank leave the apartment building. The Bookstore, just adorable…..I wish we had more like them. Just a wonderful movie, my daughter and I watch it together every winter along with a few other favorites when we have our mother daughter getaway weekend. I love Meg’s characters upbeat spirit even when the shop closes and she has to face the reality of that chapter ending in her life…..but still believes “it will all work out”. “Go to the Mattresses!”
Would you please let me know the name of the Swan painting and/or the artist’s name shown in Kathleen Kelly’s bedroom. I would love to buy a print of this painting. Thanks, in advance, for your help!!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this film. If I wake up one Saturday morning and the weather is gloomy, I’m almost excited to have a reason to stay in bed a little while longer and watch You’ve Got Mail. I love, love, love her apartment! When the film came out I was 17 and wanted nothing more than to move to NYC and live in Kathleen Kelly’s apartment! (I also secretly wanted to be Meg Ryan -but, who didn’t?!) I noticed the bedroom furniture moving around too, and I think that it’s another reason why I think that Nora Ephron is a GOD. The furniture moves around after Kathleen breaks up with your boyfriend, and her bookstore closes. So, I like to think that she gets a little bored and antsy one day and decides to freshen up things a bit. Nora Ephron is so good at delicately making a film seem so real. I’m hooked on Hooked on Houses!!!
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“You’ve Got Mail” is such a great, cheerful movie and Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks chemistry is AMAZING.
Thanks for posting this, I’ve been wanting to decorate a place like this forever and was looking for some good photos obut couldn’t find any.
Also, the furniture in her room is moved so that she could make room for all the furniture from The Shop Around the Corner. You know she had to bring some furniture back from the closing of the store because a few scenes in you see her walking past an armoir/dresser/display thing that says “Shop Around the Corner” stenciled on it.
Thanks again!
Sarah R–
Good point! That makes sense. -Julia
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