Elevator-fixture manufacturer Monitor Controls Inc. is celebrating 50 years of service to the elevator industry in 2006. Since its founding as the Johansen Co., Inc. in 1956, Monitor has steadily built a reputation with elevator contractors. Monitor’s car stations, hall stations, lanterns and position indicators have come to grace a great many landmarks, including Trump Tower and the Empire State Building, the Pentagon and Reagan National Airport. The Johansen Co. later merged with Cooper Electronics, Inc. After being purchased by Ike Cohen in the late 1970s, the company gained its current name and continued for another 20 years providing fixtures primarily to the New York area, until it was purchased by Halma Holdings in 1995 and began its nationwide expansion from its current location in Hauppauge, New York. Monitor will commemorate the anniversary with a New York gala this fall.

According to The New Zealand Herald, Craig Plested's picture of the escalators in a movie theater took first prize in the nzherald.co.nz Auckland Architecture Week photo competition. His entry was one of more than 260 that were submitted. Architect Lindley Naismith, one of the judges in the competition, said of the photo, "The geometry and patterns of the architecture of this space have been captured in a painterly composition of texture and color that makes for a compelling image with a dynamic, urban feel." Architecture Week is sponsored by the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

News website nola.com recently reported that a man died as a result of injuries sustained when he fell down an elevator hoistway in a 17-story hotel in New Orleans on September 7. His body was found in the pit of the hoistway. According to the report, the man owned an elevator repair company. The incident is being investigated.