Images by Jenni Avins

I’ve always found my subway landing, the Hewes Street stop of the JMZ train in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to be somewhat cinematic. Its raised platform provides a birds-eye view of Hooper Street and music from Moto, a romantic little restaurant marked by a bicycle suspended outside, can often be heard as I descend the metal staircase to the sidewalk.

Last night, it was decidedly less picturesque. Moto was closed, spotlights glared harshly on Broadway and thick wires coiled around the corner of Hooper, where I overheard “Tony Baloney,” a neighborhood fixture, tell a curious passerby that a Chanel ad was being filmed.

This morning, all traces of the camera crews and their equipment were gone—as was Tony Baloney.

Was it a dream? I called Billy Phelps, Moto’s owner, to find out. He told me the commercial was indeed for Chanel, and none other than Martin Scorsese was directing.

Cinematic, indeed.

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Moto

Hooper Street