There are a gazillion eateries surrounding New York’s theater district, but none of them have the distinctive ambiance of Joe Allen Restaurant. Said ambiance is delivered by The Flop Wall: A decades-old collection of theatrical posters from some of Broadway’s most spectacular/overhyped flops.

I’ll have to drop into Joe’s for lunch sometime, to see the wall art for myself. The online slideshow is fine, but not particularly user-friendly. It does include the poster for 1972′s “Via Galactica”, a seven-performance sci-fi musical flameout that seemed doomed from the start:

For a moment the show was to be called “Up,” but when posted next to the Uris [Theater] name on the marquee, it sent an unfortunate message. Once again, the title became “Via Galactica.”

Hopefully, Joe Allen’s has reserved some wall space for the next sure-bet addition to this rogues gallery, the body-count building spectacle that is “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark”.