In November 2017, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation celebrated the sculpture's 50th year anniversary of its installation. By May 2022, the New York City Department of Transportation, which was responsible for the sculpture's maintenance, determined that problems with spinning the structure could cause further damage. According to city engineers, the cube was in danger of tipping over if it continued to spin. The DOT consequently locked it in place with metal braces, at least until additional work on the pivot may eventually prove sufficient to permit it to spin freely again. Similar cubes Alamo is one of seven similar cubes created by Rosenthal. The identical Endover stands on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Rosenthal earned a bachelor of fine arts degree. The cube was donated by the class of 1965 and was installed in 1968. The Endover cube also rotates but its pivot is sunken into the ground, as opposed to the pivot of the Alamo, which is on a separate platform. Pranks In June 2003, the Cube was the subject of a prank played by the ATF squad (All Too Flat) in which it was turned into a giant Rubik's Cube. The cube stayed up for about 24 hours before NYC maintenance removed the painted cardboard panels from the sculpture. In March 2006, the Graffiti Research Lab distributed LED throwies to a group of people to throw onto and decorate the Cube. In April 2006, a tub of chalk was left by the Cube and passersby began to draw on it. Seven individuals were later arrested for vandalism. The chalk was washed off by NYC maintenance the following morning. In October 2011, the visual artist Olek (Agata Oleksiak) made a crochet covering with their signature camouflage pattern over the cube. On December 14, 2011, Caltech students covered the cube in a fitted cloth, making it resemble the Weighted Companion Cube from the video game Portal. In October 2013, a fake documentary video went viral claiming to show that a man lived inside the cube. For Halloween 2015, a man dressed up as The Cube and stood in its place. At the time Alamo was temporarily off-site because Astor Place was being rebuilt. See also 5 in 1 (1973–1974) References External links Tony Rosenthal 1967 establishments in New York City 1967 sculptures Cubic sculpture East Village, Manhattan Outdoor sculptures in Manhattan