Either a group of very dedicated steampunk fans decided to carve out a piece of the Lower East Side as their own, or Cinemax was shooting a period drama this morning on the corner of Broome and Orchard Streets.
A crowd gathered to gawk at the straw-strewn streets, the old-timey signs and the army of costumed extras who took up residence.
Some lanyard-wearing members of the crew said the spectacle was for a scene in The Knick, Steven Soderbergh’s forthcoming miniseries starring Clive Owen, which tells the story of the famous Knickerbocker Hospital during the early 1900s.
Knickerbocker Hospital was actually farther uptown near the campus of Columbia University, but seeing how it’s now apartments, the LES is probably as good a place as any to film.