The holding area for Friday night’s Ugly Betty shoot was at Old First Church in the big room next to the sanctuary.

The pastor said that he was going to play a priest in a confession booth on the show and I believed him for a minute. Then caught the joke.

The holding area is where the extras and crew members hang out until they are needed. It was kind of a strange scene. Lots of people sitting at tables, reading, eating, talking on cell phones.

I asked the pastor how much the show paid the church and I was glad to hear that the cash-strapped church received a $1,600 rental fee.

Trailers, trucks, food stations, and equipment took up space on many blocks from Union Street up to Garfield on Seventh Avenues. It’s always fun to see the names on the trailer doors. There was one for Lucy and one for Desi.

We met a couple who were given a location fee by the show to shoot in front of their brownstone on President Street. They were asked to leave their lights on all night.

Hepcat and I walked to the President Street set at 9 pm and saw American Ferrara, the star of Ugly Betty, who is anything but ugly. She looks like a nice person as she was talking to park Slopers and signing autographs for a trio of young girls,who were very excited about the whole thing.

I took exactly one picture with my iPhone camera and Hepcat got a few.

It was a festive Slope scene. We brought OSFO with us at midnight or so because she was dying to see Ugly Betty. At that time, crew members asked us not to walk up President Street toward 8th Avenue.

"American went home after lunch," one of the crew members who was guarding President Street told us. Lunch on a night shoot is sometime around 10 p.m. OSFO was disappointed. We tried getting on President Street from 8th Avenue but were discouraged from walking down the street toward Seventh Avenue. (very nicely) by another crew member.

As consolation we bought OSFO a midnight slice of pizza at Pino’s. That may not have been as exciting as seeing American Ferrara but it was fun in its own way.