Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Mars 2112 Floorplans

Here are floorplans for both levels of Mars 2112, the NYC theme restaurant that graced Times Square from 1998 to 2012. Click on images to enlarge.




The outer dimensions and location of columns are from the 1633 Broadway website. I filled in the interior walls and other features based on online photos and YouTube videos.

A quick walk-through (starting in the upper floorplan, top right):

You entered from an outdoor plaza, which was down a flight of steps from the street, and which contained a large UFO:


Once inside the lobby, you boarded a spaceship ride to Mars:



The ride exited to a dark, winding passage to the restaurant:


Along the way were a bar and an arcade:



You were then led down an open set of stairs into a vast, double-height dining room where costumed aliens roamed and danced, and videos played on a giant screen.


Sometimes you got seated in that open area--more often you got a table further back, under the overhang--which was still perfectly cool.


Mars 2112 in its brief heyday was the coolest restaurant in the galaxy--say from 1998 to around 2002. Slowly but surely, it began to wither: the exit transporter stopped working, the alien costumes became grungy, arcade games broke and weren't replaced, and eventually even the spaceship rides stopped working (though Mars 2112 continued to charge an "entertainment fee").

We choose to remember it in its prime.

Surprises and challenges when drafting the floorplans:

  • The double-height area seemed larger in real life; most of the dining area was actually single-height.
  • I'd forgotten how long and meandering the trip was from the spaceship ride to the restaurant.
  • I didn't remember the arcade being so large, but of course it was filled on all sides with machines.
  • I recalled the gift shop being larger than indicated in the floorplan, but...it can't be off by much--there's no room available.
  • I didn't note the fake rock in the floorplans, which literally covered every wall and added a few feet to the wall width.
  • There's a large room-sized area behind the bar that I don't think was part of the bar. There were no visible columns in photos or videos of the bar area other than the one in the center of the bar itself, which is why I think the wall ended as indicated in the plans. It's a mystery room.
  • I noted the general location of the lower-level restrooms, but I couldn't find a photo or video revealing their exact layout. (And I couldn't remember myself.) There may have been another set of restrooms upstairs near the bar, but again, I couldn't place them with precision.
  • Ditto for the kitchen--I was never in there, and I couldn't find any photos. There's also a very large "uncharted" area of the downstairs floorplan behind the kitchen than I am 75% confident was not part of the restaurant's space--the kitchen couldn't possibly have been that big, and it doesn't appear to have been public space either. I've simply indicated "unknown" for that area. Terra incognito.


If anyone who worked there or has access to other photos or videos has details that I missed, please leave a comment.

Long live Mars 2112!

1 comment: