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One gets the sense that the Apocalypse Lounge is meant to shock and astonish, but the whole thing comes off as more confused punk theme park than East Village "café artistes." Is it a dive bar, a college bar, or a trendy downtown club? Like some acid-inspired art project gone awry, floors are splattered with colorful paint and walls plastered with Polaroids, sparkles, and doll's heads—apparently there's even a Basquiat stuck somewhere in the muck. Owned by Fred Rothbell-Mista, a former Limelight fixture and MTV personality, the bar drew opening hype, but Page Six press can't save it from seeming a decade or two off: While the East Village is home to plenty of artists, these days they're neither starving nor hanging out at open-mike nights. Still, the formula works well enough with earnest college kids, and a downstairs space with a DJ setup has debaucherous potential. — Carla Spartos