Is that really DC? Spielberg film transforms Brooklyn neighborhood into ’14th Street’ (Photos)

The boxy sedans line the curbs of a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood designed to (loosely) mimic D.C.'s 14th Street in the 1970s for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about the Pentagon Papers. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)

WASHINGTON — You can spot a cavalcade of boxy Cadillacs lining the curb, and the street sign says 14th Street NW. But this isn’t actually D.C.’s famous strip in the 1970s.

It’s a New York City neighborhood temporarily sent through the time machine for an upcoming Steven Spielberg-directed movie.

The boxy sedans line the curbs of a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood designed to (loosely) mimic D.C.'s 14th Street in the 1970s for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about the Pentagon Papers. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
The boxy sedans line the curbs of a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood designed to (loosely) mimic D.C.’s 14th Street in the 1970s for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about the Pentagon Papers. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
The boxy sedans line the curbs of a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood designed to (loosely) mimic D.C.'s 14th Street in the 1970s for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about the Pentagon Papers. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
The boxy sedans line the curbs of a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood designed to (loosely) mimic D.C.’s 14th Street in the 1970s for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about the Pentagon Papers. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
Twitter user Jason Rabinowitz captured crew members preparing the street for shooting, even snapping a picture of one member of the crew hanging a green D.C. street sign up at the corner. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
Twitter user Jason Rabinowitz captured crew members preparing the street for shooting, even snapping a picture of one member of the crew hanging a green D.C. street sign up at the corner. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
(Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
(Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
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The boxy sedans line the curbs of a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood designed to (loosely) mimic D.C.'s 14th Street in the 1970s for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about the Pentagon Papers. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
The boxy sedans line the curbs of a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood designed to (loosely) mimic D.C.'s 14th Street in the 1970s for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about the Pentagon Papers. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)
Twitter user Jason Rabinowitz captured crew members preparing the street for shooting, even snapping a picture of one member of the crew hanging a green D.C. street sign up at the corner. (Courtesy Jason Rabinowitz)

The film “Nor’easter” is set to star Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep as legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Katherine Graham during the time the paper challenged the U.S. government for the right to publish the politically explosive Pentagon Papers in 1971.

Filming Tuesday took place in the upscale Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. Twitter user and neighborhood resident Jason Rabinowitz captured crew members preparing the street for shooting, even snapping a picture of one member of the crew hanging a green D.C. street sign up at the corner.

Additional filming is set to take place in D.C. A notice put out by SAG-AFTRA sought background performers and their pre-1971 automobiles for filming to take place in D.C. Thursday and Friday.

Of course, Spielberg’s team will probably work wonders in postproduction, but it’s worth noting 14th Street was a lot seedier than the tony neighborhood in which Tuesday’s filming took place.

The blog “Ghosts of DC” unearthed a 1970s newspaper article about the street’s reputation for “sleazy sex shops.”

Jack Moore

Jack Moore joined WTOP.com as a digital writer/editor in July 2016. Previous to his current role, he covered federal government management and technology as the news editor at Nextgov.com, part of Government Executive Media Group.

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