WHAT A DREAMBOAT
Kim, Pete, Colin make SI Ferry a haute spot
It’s no Miami superyacht, but with a little love from Kim Kardashian and two “Saturday Night Live” funnymen, the Staten Island Ferry is now considered “sexy.”
Fashion fotogs and Hollywood filmmakers have been swarming to secure city permits to shoot on the iconic, orange city-run ferries ever since Pete Davidson (inset top) and Colin Jost (inset bottom) bought a retired one on Jan. 19 with plans to convert it into a comedy club.
Trish Neve, a Manhattan-based photography agent, said she noticed an uptick in interest, especially among clients overseas, after the two Staten Island-born-and-bred comics purchased the defunct ferryboat John F. Kennedy, and Kardashian, Davidson’s girlfriend, began riding the ferries.
“Whatever Kim Kardashian does seems to light the world on fire,” Neve said. “I’ve had numerous conversations with clients recently about shooting in New York, and all of a sudden they want to shoot on the ferry.
“I guess the Staten Island Ferry is sexy again — or sexy for the first time.”
A rising tide
Kardashian last month raved about her love for the so-called forgotten borough and the boat.
“We take ferry rides everywhere,” she declared to ABC’s “Live with Kelly and Ryan” in April.
As of mid-May, the city’s Department of Transportation had approved 17 permit applications this year from photographers and videographers to shoot aboard the boats, putting it on pace to reach 38 by year’s end, records show. That would exceed last year’s total of 34.
Neve said the 17 permits are probably just the tip of the iceberg, since most outdoor shoots don’t happen until the summer.
Linda Gumus Gerritsen, fashion director of Vogue Netherlands, called the Staten Island Ferry a New York “icon” on par with Lady Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.
She said its sudden star power makes it attractive for businesses looking to promote their products.
“The combination of being on a boat with a view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline, combined with its celebrity status and the fact that [Davidson and Jost] want to open a club there makes it really magical,” said Gerritsen, who plans to secure ferry access for Vogue ads.
‘Obvious’ potential
Among the companies already tapping into the ferry’s surging popularity is the Dutch women’s clothing label Costes. Last week, Neve oversaw a Costes photo shoot featuring a model posing on one of the ferries as it steamed away from Manhattan.
Vincent Barone, spokesman for the DOT, which operates the ferry, boasted that the vessel’s “filming potential is obvious.”
“The Staten Island Ferry transports thousands of New Yorkers and visitors daily, offering beautiful views of the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty,” he said.