Jupiter 21 has a mini Jupiter in its lobby

[June 21]

Oh, over at the new Jupiter 21 residential building... a mini Jupiter hangs in in the lobby... serving as a ceiling lamp...



...which is probably better than, say, a mini Mars...

Revisiting 'Escape from New York'

John Carpenter's 1981 classic "Escape From New York" gets a one-week revival starting tonight at the IFC Center on Sixth Avenue... all your friends are back... Snake Plissken, Cabbie, The Duke, Hauk, Brain — all characters inside a derelict Manhattan that's serves as an unsupervised maximum-security prison. (It was actually filmed in St. Louis.)

The Wall Street Journal published a Q-and-A (subscription required) with Carpenter on Monday...

An excerpt:

Did the film reflect any of your real feelings about New York?

I'm a New Yorker at origin but I grew up in the South. New York was a wonderland for me when I was very young in the middle '50s and visited it for the first time because it had so many movie theaters. I just wanted to go to the movies there because I was in love with the movies at the time and still am. It's huge, it's immense, it's just unlike any other place and it has a vibe to it, especially when you don't live there. A strange vibe.

And now?

Well, the thing about "Escape From New York" is that none of it came true. They cleaned up New York. It's Disneyland now. It has nothing to do with a prison, there's almost no more drugs or X-rated movies in Times Square. It's just completely changed. I miss the old days, I really do. I kind of miss the violence and the scum.

Are you ready for some men's roller derby?

Free Public Roller Derby Exhibition! Tomorrow starting at 11 a.m., the New York Shock Exchange Men's Roller Derby league plays an exhibition in Tompkins Square Park. It's free, as it probably should be. I got $10 on Damage Squad. You?

Il Bagatto closing for summer break after Sunday

From the EVG inbox...



Closing for a summer break a little earlier than usual this summer... Meanwhile, we haven't heard any updates on their longtime future here... a listing for the Il Bagatto space (and that of its sister cafe next door, Il Posto Accanto) at 190-192 E. Second St. near Avenue B, showed up on the RKF site back in January ...

Sigmund Pretzel Shop (soft) reopens today

Back in early May, Sigmund Pretzel Shop on Avenue B closed for renovations... to transform from what they call a place for a "neighborhood snack" to more of a "neighborhood restaurant" ... they (soft) reopen today at 4 p.m. ...

Last night's moon

Meant to post these earlier...





By Bobby Williams.

A summer scene

East 13th Street and Avenue B

This elm is apparently coming down in Tompkins Square Park

After our earlier post today... we've heard from a handful of people who say that this entire Elm needs to be removed in the Park at the entrance on East Ninth Street and Avenue B...



...these photos by Bobby Williams show some hack marks at the base of the tree as well...




[EVG]

Mars Bar closed 2 years ago today

A reader just reminded me of that. Seems longer than two years... (Previously)

Reader report: Limbs coming down in Tompkins Square Park

Several readers have passed along word (and photos) that workers are removing limbs from the great Elm just off Avenue B on at the East Ninth Street entrance of the Park...





No word just yet on why the limbs are coming down... or how much more of the tree will need to be removed...

We'll check in with GammaBlog, who has created the Tompkins Square Park Tree Identification Map...