By Kieran Loughney
Walking on West 12th Street about this time last spring, I was astonished to see a subway entrance at Greenwich Street that did not exist the day before. The ad for a 1960s Volkswagen on it further disoriented me until I looked between the iron railings, and saw no steps leading underground, heard no rumbling train below. Clearly a prop for a film shoot had appeared. Within a few days the subway stop had vanished.
This winter, while binge-watching the HBO series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I spotted the faux station providing the backdrop for Rachel Brosnahan’s title character. The West Village often seems as showbiz adjacent as Hollywood itself. My siblings in Idaho have never visited me here but they’ve become familiar with my neighborhood through its many onscreen appearances.
While on an errand last fall, I spotted a film crew on Perry Street. They were, as true fans of the TV series Sex and the City would know, filming a scene at Carrie Bradshaw’s brownstone. I snapped a few cell phone shots of the crew and cast in action. I returned home and reported the shoot in progress to my partner, Patti. She asked if I’d seen Michael Patrick King on the set. I hadn’t but while reviewing the pictures I’d just taken his face surfaced among the crew. King, the long-time writer-director of the series, grew up in Scranton, our hometown. Patti and he were classmates and as a kid I had once been in a play with him. His parents worked at the doughnut shop owned by Patti’s father. At Patti’s insistence we dashed back to Perry Street. King greeted us warmly on the set and briefly excused himself to direct a scene of Sarah Jessica Parker being carried up the brownstone’s steps by a beefy gent in a powder blue onesie. As soon as he finished, we continued our reunion. We would see a photo of that scene on the brownstone steps in an online article the next morning and watch the episode on TV a few months later.
It’s great fun seeing our neighborhood onscreen, but we apartment dwellers in the West Village regard our parks as suburbanites do their front yards. It’s a big ask to turn Abingdon Square into your set for days, film folks. Throw our local charities a bone, perhaps? Vintage cars and costumed extras turn the street back half a century for a while, but we must move our cars blocks away to make room for the occupying entertainers. A friend who lives across from Carrie Bradshaw’s house has griped for years about selfie-snapping tourists and limo-loads of bridesmaids invading her once quiet street. The series reboot hasn’t helped matters. We’ve endured truckloads of equipment, cranes and lighting rigs impeding traffic flow and sidewalk closures and electrical cables imperiling older and disabled pedestrians. Some local businesses have surely benefitted from the media exposure. Would so many tourists cue up for cupcakes outside Magnolia Bakery if Carrie Bradshaw and her friends hadn’t gone there? And being the setting for a pivotal scene in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel must be helping La Bonbonierre’s bottom line.
Many stars who work on projects in the West Village also have homes here. (An actor I loved in The Big Lebowski stood next to me as we waited to cross Bleecker Street one afternoon. A multi-Oscar nominated, instantly recognizable actress introduced herself to me at a local coffee shop. Just last week, an actor from the Princess Bride sat at a café table as I passed. Inconceivable!) This influx of the famous has caused a spike in housing costs. Restaurant prices seem more geared for folks stepping off the red carpet than for the average West Villager entering from West 4th street.
TV and film production teams come to the West Village to add atmosphere to their projects. Our streets and parks provide their shows and movies with authenticity and aesthetic appeal. We’re glad they think so highly of our neighborhood. Please respect our home when you visit, production personnel, so we can remain a place where art and creativity have always flourished.
