LARABEE INDUSTRIES Since 1954, reads a brass plaque on the outside of 30 Broad Street, just down the street from the New York Stock Exchange. Most passerby would probably assume it denotes a real company inside the office building. But it’s actually a nod to the 1954 Audrey Hepburn film, Sabrina, which also stars Humphrey Bogart and William Holden as the Larabee brothers competing for Hepburn. The developers, Tribeca Associates, likely added the plaque in the renovation of the building in 2016.
In Sabrina, Linus Larabee (played by Humphrey Bogart) is a no-fun corporate executive managing the family business in New York City. He’s often seen being driven in his car, using the early version of the car phone to do his work during the commute. At one point in the film, he tells the chauffeur, “Take me to 30 Broad.” Linus’ playboy younger brother, David (played by William Holden), exhibits no interest in the business. Sabrina, the daughter of the family chauffeur, has grown up on the Larabee estate on the Gold Coast of Long Island, but neither brother notices her until she returns from the cooking school Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Her chic new look first attracts the attention of David, who picks her up at the Glen Cove train station, not realizing who she is.
Sabrina (1954) studio publicity still. Public Domain photo, from Wikimedia Commons
David and Sabrina fall in love, but David is already engaged to the daughter of a Larabee business associate, and an important company merger is put at risk. At a fabulous party at the Larabee estate, Linus sets into motion a way to distance David and Sabrina. Taking Sabrina under his wing, he then inadvertently falls in love with her and she with him.
William Holden and Humphrey Bogart in the Larabee Industries office in Sabrina. Public Domain photo, from Wikimedia Commons
The corporate offices at 30 Broad Street is where Sabrina goes to confront Linus about the feelings she has for him, only to see them not returned. The offices are also where David finally accepts some responsibility and takes over his brother’s work duties as Linus goes after Sabrina before it is too late. The interiors were likely filmed on a set, as there are no balcony offices in the building that face the waterfront directly.
Fans of the 1954 version know the backstory of Sabrina, where William Holden and Audrey Hepburn fell in love for real on set. The chemistry between them is palpable, whereas the lack of chemistry between Hepburn and Bogart is as well. He is quoted to have said of her, “She’s disciplined, like all those ballet dames.”
Fans of the 1954 version are also generally equally not fans of the 1995 version starring Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear and Julia Ormond. In the 1995 version, the office is moved to Midtown on Park Avenue and 54th Street.
Hat tip to Tribeca Citizen for pointing out the plaque and linking to our article about the film locations of Sabrina (both versions!).
