FLAMBOYANT FEBRUARY MAGIC
6th ANNIVERSARY! YIPPEE!
PASSWORD: "DICK LEWIS IS WATCHING"
(also acceptable: "Newmark & Lewis, We Always Beat the Competition"

"Dick Lewis is watching, Newmark & Lewis, watchin the store, to save you so much more. Watchin' the price, given great advice. Newmark & Lewis, we always beat the competition. Dick Lewis is watching... " Metro NY appliance and electronics chain Newmark & Lewis closed in 1992 after 70 years in business. Is Dick Lewis still watching? That would be freaky.

Well folks, it's been a six year ride on the graffiti-less MAGIC GARDEN train. Think for a moment about how dramatically NYC has changed in just the past six years. What hasn't changed is that the MAGIC GARDEN continues to kick it old school. At the MAGIC birthday party we'll have drinks with 1980s prices, the unparalleled musical stylings of DJ SLY, and we'll be screening the 1982 classic hip hop movie, "Wild Style," starring subway artist Lee Quinones, Fab 5 Freddie, and many others. The "Be Nice Campaign" will be led by fitness guru Tim Haft (Birch Wathen), raising money for "Skip Rope Not School," which provides jump ropes to public schools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, as well as jump rope instruction. Ropes cost about $4 each so even a small donation makes a big difference. See more info about Tim's undertakings at: www.punkrope.com. Great prizes and a great cause.

To honor those of you who've been part of the MAGIC GARDEN festivities since its early days, I am doing somewhat of a "Best of" trivia contest from the first year. Back in the olden MAGIC days we had trivia contests every month at the party, with prizes galore for the first person to shout out the correct answer, as well as drunken banter and heckling. Ah, it was a sight to behold. So here are some oldies and goodies ... answers are posted here.

  1. Margaret Sanger Square on Bleecker Street, east of Lafayette, is named for the woman famous for founding what?
    a) Ms. Magazine b) The Sanger Sewing Machine Company c) Planned Parenthood d) The first sangeria bar
  2. Before Giuliani, who was the last Republican Mayor of NYC?
    a) John Lindsay b) Abe Beame c) Fiorello LaGuardia d) Mayor of Munchkin City
  3. Who is the Mayor of McDonaldland?
  4. In what year did Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island lose their 212 area code and adopt 718?
    a) 1980 b) 1984 c) 1988 d) 1992
  5. In 1976, what new service started on 60th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan?
  6. Who was the host of the cable TV show "Midnight Blue"?
  7. A statue of Ralph Kramden, Jackie Gleason's character on "The Honeymooners," stands proudly at Manhattan's Port Authority honoring Kramden's profession as a what?
    a) Vaudeville Showman b) Pimp c) Fake ID Issuer d) Bus driver
  8. "The Facts of Life" was a spinoff of "Diff'rent Strokes." Edna Garrett left the employ of the Drummond household to become the housemother at what school?
    a) Eastland Academy b) Polniaczek Prep c) Blaire Boarding School d) Tootie Technical Institute
  9. When you hear "The Central Park temperature is...," that temperature is being monitored by a U.S. Weather Service station in what location?
    a) The reservoir b) Belvedere Castle c) Tavern on the Green d) Grand Army Plaza
  10. 1970 marked the first Earth Day. It was also the first year for what monumental NYC athletic event, with 127 participants?
  11. Extra Credit for those who went to JHS 104 in the 70s and 80s (maybe the 90s too) ...
    Who was the woodshop teacher at JHS 104?