A Dose of The Deuce On East 2nd Street

If you walked down East 2nd Street today you may have noticed retro cops wandering around for the filming of the HBO show Deuce, but unfortunately no sign of James Franco and his porn ‘stache. As with last week’s shoot, there were some pretty sweet vintage rides, though.

The street between First Avenue and Avenue A was lined with vintage cop cars (did you know they used to be green?), and this reporter was approached by more than a couple delighted older folks who needed to share with somebody, anybody, of a younger generation that they remember when the cars looked like that. 

According to Variety, the HBO drama, starring Franco, is about the porn industry in the ’70s and ’80s, “looking into the rough-and-tumble world of midtown Manhattan until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market all ended the bawdy turbulence.”

It’s directed by Michelle MacLaren of Breaking Bad and also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal. Of course we were hoping to peep some polyester steez, if not the stars themselves, but all the actors were holed up in the Cardinal Spellman Center (137 East 2nd Street) while we were there.

Maybe the project got a tip from Martin Scorsese that the neighborhood makes for a pretty convincing retro facade-the director shot scenes for his new HBO show in Alphabet City back in June, when a sea of delicious disco-era fashion spilled onto the sidewalks after filming inside Metropolitan Playhouse.