MAGNIFICENT MAY MAGIC
PASSWORD IS: LAMSTON'S

If any ladies (or cross dressers) want to return some of the makeup they stole from Lamston's in 6th grade (I have a 20 color lipgloss set), you'll get a free shot of "Wet N' Wild" - a glorious and colorful concoction that when improperly used will make you look like a clown.

The big news in this fair city - starting May 4, the MTA fare hike (scam) will raise the price of a ride to $2. A new $10 card will get you 6 rides for the price of 5. One day fun pass: $7. Weekly: $21. Monthly: $70. Cards purchased before May 4th have a grace period - a weekly will be valid until May 13; a monthly will be vaild until June 12. So stock up before the weekend is through. This is confusing, so go to: www.mta.info/mta/fares/nyct.html

Also, as of April 13th, tokens were no longer sold, and on May 4th, tokens will no longer be accepted in turnstiles. But get a load of this, the Roosevelt Island tram will still be using tokens. You can get them at the 59th and 2nd tram stop. And while you're at it, take a floaty ride on some cables.

To celebrate this freakish loophole, the MAY MAGIC GARDEN, in addition to serving the mighty fine signature beverages - Staten Island Fairy and Ghetto Blaster - will be debuting a new drink - the Roosevelt Island Tramp. All special drinks will be $4. Can't beat that with a stick.

Here's a little info on Roosevelt Island, the 147 acre ile in the middle of the East River:

  • Originally known by the Algonquin Indians as Minnahannock (loosely translated as "Long Island")
  • Purchased in 1637 by the Dutch governor of Nieuw Amsterdam, and renamed "Varckens Eylandt" (or Hog Island)
  • 1667, the British renamed it Perkens Island.
  • 1668, Captain John Manning, the Sheriff of New York, renamed the island after himself
  • 1686, the island was passed on to Manning's step-daughter, Mary Manningham, who renamed the island after her husband, Robert Blackwell
  • 1828 the City of New York purchased it and transformed it to an island for municipal institutions such as prisons, poor houses, and nursing homes
  • 1856, Smallpox Hospital opened, designed by James Renwick Jr., who designed Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and built by convict laborers
  • 1889, Chapel of the Good Shepherd opened, designed by British architect Frederick Clarke Withers, who designed Jefferson Market Courthouse on 6th Avenue in Manhattan
  • 1921, renamed Welfare Island
  • 1927, Mae West serves 10 days in Welfare Island jail, because of the indecency of her own first play, "Sex."
  • 1935, Riker's Island opens and Welfare Island's convicts are sent there
  • By the late 1960's, only two institutions remained: Goldwater Memorial Hospital and Bird S. Coler Memorial Hospital; the other institutions lay dormant or were demolished
  • 1968, New York City Mayor John Lindsay organized a committee to explore options for using Welfare Island, and in 1969 the New York State Urban Development Corporation signed a 99 year lease with New York City to develop the island as a mixed-income community of 20,000 people living in 5,000 units in a largely traffic free environment
  • 1973, renamed Roosevelt Island and the first residential complex opened in 1975
  • 1976, tram opened as a temporary means of transportation, until the completion of the subway stop
  • 1989, first subway station opens (F train) - 13 years late
  • Roosevelt Island uses the AVAC system (Automated Vacuum Collection System), which transports garbage through underground tunnels at 55 miles per hour, where it is compacted to 1/5 its size, sealed in containers, and carted away by the NYC sanitation department. It is the USA's only AVAC system serving a residential complex (Disney World uses it - not the Times Square Disney)
    Roosevelt Island is under the political jurisdiction of Manhattan, but it receives its police, sanitation and fire services from Queens
  • The State of New York holds a 99-year lease on the island, which will expire in 2068; ownership will then revert to the City.

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