Exeunt

How bitter to see ads for RENT plastered on the Barnes & Noble at Astor Place. You know, the one across from the new glass tower of luxury condos atop the Chase Bank?

The summer I moved to NYC marked the third anniversary of the Tompkins Square Riot, captured obliquely in the play. Freshmen were warned not venture east of Avenue A after dark. Now you can’t get a table there without a reservation.

Gentrification, squatters, art, AIDS, drugs, poverty, homelessness, riots, gender bending, love and death in the East Village — now a major Hollywood motion picture. Coming soon to the East Village.