(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
Last week Page Six aired the grievances of some East Village residents who were none to pleased that Amazon’s new pilot, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, was shooting in their building. The building at 96 St. Marks Place isn’t exactly camera shy– you’ll find it on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and in the video for the Stones’ “Waiting on a Friend.” Nevertheless, East Villagers are East Villagers and residents responded to a posting about the shoot by telling the production team to “Fuck off.” Turns out filming isn’t just taking over one building: Today, it’s taking over the entire stretch of St. Marks Place between First Street and Avenue A, transforming the quiet block into 1950s Macdougal Street.
Crew members have transformed Under St. Marks into the legendary Gaslight Cafe, the coffeehouse where Dylan, Springsteen, Hendrix, Clapton, Mingus, and other legends played. But it seems Mrs. Maisel won’t focus on the Gaslight’s musical history like, say, Inside Llewyn Davis did. The Gaslight is also where Bill Cosby made a name for himself, and the Amazon show is about a woman (played by Rachel Brosnahan) who is “going from uptown housewife to a stand-up comic in a grungy club in the Village,” per Deadline. (The show also stars Michael Zegen of Boardwalk Empire and Tony Shalhoub of Monk.)
As you can see by comparing our photos to historical shots, set dressers have done a decent job of recreating the caricature gallery next to Gaslight (the Coen brothers opted to reproduce the cafe on East 9th Street). Reading poetry tonight: The East Village’s own Diane di Prima.
Amusingly, East Village Books has become Macdougal Bookstore:
Those glorious Checker and De Soto cabs are dotting the block:
Oh, and the East Village just gained back a (faux) shoe repair shop, to make up for all of the ones that have closed recently.
Postings indicate the show will be filming today and tomorrow from noon to 4am.