You’ve Got Mail: A Romance in New York

The Story of You’ve Got Mail

• You’ve Got Mail hit theaters in 1998. The film was directed by Nora Ephron, who also wrote When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. Nora Ephron passed away in New York in 2012.
• The story pits Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan), owner of a small independent bookstore in the Upper West Side, against Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), head of the Fox Books chain, determined to crush the competition. Kathleen and Joe don’t know each other, but each despises the other.
• Yet online, they unknowingly strike up an increasingly regular correspondence. Kathleen hides behind the username “Shopgirl” while Joe chose “NY152,” a reference to his address at 152 Riverside Drive. Their messages grow more passionate until they finally meet…
• The film is inspired by a 1937 Hungarian play called “Parfumerie.” Back then, the internet wasn’t central to the plot!

New York in You’ve Got Mail

• You’ve Got Mail takes you on a tour of the Upper West Side. Start with Kathleen’s shop, “The Shop Around the Corner,” located at 106 West 69th Street, between Broadway and Columbus Avenue. Here’s the twist: the bookstore is actually a dry cleaner. In the film, only the dry cleaner’s storefront was used; the bookstore interior was recreated in a studio.
• The Fox and Sons Books megastore is purely fictional. It’s actually a facade at the corner of West 17th Street and 7th Avenue in Chelsea—nowhere near the Upper West Side, but cinema takes creative liberties!
• Head back to the Upper West Side for coffee at the Starbucks at 2252 Broadway, at West 81st Street. This is where Kathleen and Joe are regulars, each unaware of the other.
• The place where Kathleen and Joe meet is very real. It’s Café Lalo, at 201 West 83rd Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.
• Continue to Riverside Park, along the Hudson River. This is where Kathleen discovers NY152’s true identity…

The Trailer for You’ve Got Mail

The Movie Poster

The poster for You’ve Got Mail.