••• Great news for strippers and the people who lust for them: “NEW YORK DOLLS GRAND REOPENING FRIDAY 10/28 HALF PRICE DRINKS AND BUFFET SEE YOU THERE,” says Mel. And from Sarah: “Heard plan was for Cricketers Arms to become popular steakhouse? Can anyone confirm?” Walking down Murray this morning, I could only marvel at how the least two appealing buildings in that whole project are the ones that appear to be getting spared. Which brings up an interesting comment from James, who knows so much about these things: “All other considerations aside, the demolition clauses used to evict the retail tenants early likely required the demolition of the entire parcel to be filed with Department of Buildings. See e.g., WARREN MURRAY PROPERTY OWNER, LLC V. 59 MURRAY ENTERPRISES, INC, Supreme Court, NY County, Index Number 150344/2016.”

••• Terrific shot by Dimitri Mais. “Point of view changes everything,” as he said in his tweet.

••• Not long after the Department of Transportation built a “bus bulb”—an extension of the sidewalk out into the lane, so buses don’t have to block traffic by pulling over (?)—on Broadway between White and Franklin, the bulb was torn out to make way for vehicles involved in the construction of the 5 Franklin Place condo (371 Broadway). The building has been more or less done for quite a while, and the bus bulb has been more or less rebuilt—but it’s still a total eyesore, with construction fencing that has been known to fall into the street. So Troy Torrison contacted 311 and received a very illuminating response from the DOT’s Manhattan borough commissioner, Luis Sanchez. The developer, FYI, is El Ad.

••• There’s a new group show, The 1970s, up at Hal Bromm Gallery: “highlighting works from a seminal moment of New York Minimalism, includes works by nine artists: Robert Barry, Rosemarie Castoro, Linda Francis, Judith Murray, Richard Nonas, Jody Pinto, Lucio Pozzi, Susanna Tanger, and Robert Yasuda. On view are works created between the years 1970 and 1979, the decade in which Hal Bromm Gallery was founded in Tribeca. Working in various media, the artists featured explored the decade’s sensibility toward reductive work through painting, drawing and sculpting, often combining mediums to chart a new direction in their works.” Below: “Untitled” (1976) by Linda Francis, which I would like very much, except that I need a bigger wall. (It’s 64″ x 48″.)

••• The PR rep for the “Experience Mars” event at Canal and Varick sent over the press release. It’s open from noon to 7 p.m. through Saturday.

Inside “Experience Mars,” visitors will enter the year 2033, and “recruits” will be challenged to follow in the Martian pioneers’ footsteps as National Geographic seeks to identify the crew for the next spacecraft blasting off to settle the planet. Visitors onsite can:

—Take part in the first-ever commercial use of a cable robot virtual reality simulator, and experience the thrilling experience of traveling to and landing on Mars.
—Experience an authentic Fusion VR Martian surface walk in 38 percent gravity via the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill, where the world’s first and only treadmill using NASA based anti-gravity technology meets the most detailed and accurate Mars VR experience developed with real orbital and rover mission data.
—Race to complete seemingly simple tasks against the jarring resistance of working and building a human outpost on the Martian surface.
—Scope out scale models of authentic NASA Curiosity, Sojourner and Spirit & Opportunity Mars rovers
—Discover their own astronaut aptitude via mission control rocket landing and surface rover mission digital experiences.

Upon successful completion of all the recruiting tests, the new crew of the next manned mission to Mars will receive a special edition National Geographic “Mars” Magazine with fold-out wall map and a custom Cardboard VR Viewer to continue their digital experience from home.