Stop Seven - Nakatomi Plaza

Google Map for this location

Next stop was one that I was really looking forward to, but turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the day.

A couple days before we left on vacation, I was talking to some co-workers about my trip, and I told them that we were going to see Nakatomi Plaza. Everyone I told that to knew what I was talking about, but in case you don't know, that's the fictional office building that is pretty much blown up in the movie Die Hard, one of Stephie's all-time favorite movies. We have a long-standing tradition of watching it every Christmas season.

I mentioned it to Chris on the phone when we were planning the trip. I said "We want to see Nakatomi Plaza. I realize that it's not called that in real life." Chris said "I don't know what it's called in real life. Everyone here calls it Nakatomi Plaza!" He also said it was not far from work.

So we drove over to see the building. It's kind of hard to get to, as you have to drive around and up a ramp, but next we found ourselves in the courtyard in front of the building! Since we were running late in the day, we told Chris to just pull over, and we would jump out and get some pictures. Stephie and I jump out with our cameras, and start to take pictures.

I snapped one picture and a voice behind me started yelling "No, no, you can't take pictures here!" A security guard approched us and told us that we were not allowed to take pictures of the building! I asked him why, since I thought it's only a building, albeit one that we see blown up every Christmas. He said it's always been policy that pictures were not allowed. "Always?" I asked. "Well, since September 11..." was the reply. Blasted terrorists keeping us from taking pictures of a building! We climbed in the Element and drove away, thankful that he didn't try to confiscate either of our cameras.

We drove around a bit to try to get a long shot, but the way the building is on a hill, we couldn't really get a good picture.

We decide to move on to our next stop. As we pull up to a stop light, Chris' cell phone rings. I glanced down the street, then grabbed my camera and basically ran out to the middle of the street to get our last shot of Nakatomi Plaza. I get back in the car, and Chris is telling Laura on the phone "I didn't know what he was doing. He just jumped out of the car and ran in the middle of the street! I figure we'll probably be arrested."

We weren't arrested.

On to the Next Stop