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Bathrobe-Wearing 'Big Lebowski' Fans Roll Into Tompkins Square Park

By DNAinfo Staff on August 10, 2012 9:03am

By Stephanie Keith 

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

EAST VILLAGE — Hundreds of bowling ball-toting, bathrobe-wearing "Big Lebowski" fans flocked to Tompkins Square Park Thursday night for a screening of the cult classic.

The showing coincided with the 25th anniversary of Two Boots Pizza, the East Village-based pie purveyor that offered up free slices to help celebrate the national chain's quarter-century mark.

Two Boots owner Phil Hartman oversaw the event, with his two adult children opening the show by playing in a tribute band, “The Lebowski All-Stars," which performed songs from the film's soundtrack.

In keeping with the philosophy of the movie's main character, "The Dude" (played by Jeff Bridges), movie-goers donned his trademark bathrobe and brought replica rugs to the park — a nod to the carpeting infamously urinated on in the film's opening sequence.

"I aspire to be like The Dude," said Ted Schneider, 32, at the screening. "I wish I could live life like The Dude."

Phil Hartman's son, Leon, added that "The Big Lebowski" even provides life lessons to the most harried of New Yorkers.

“Life wraps you in it’s craziness, but not the Dude — he abides," he said. “All the Dude wanted was his rug back.”