Open House New York -- historical and architectural sites throw doors open

And here's some extra good news on Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, New York City's first airport: Despite what it says on the OHNY site, no reservations are required to tour the control tower and passenger tunnels. "It's an open day," according to the National Park Service spokesperson who answered the "reservation" line today.

http://www.newyorkology.com/archives/2007/10/ohny_updates_hi_1.php

also
http://www.newyorkology.com/archives/2007/10/open_house_ny_r_2.php
and
http://www.newyorkology.com/archives/2007/10/a_couple_more_o.php

tomw, maybe Rock Ctr UK roof garden & Montauk Club

TS: Montauk Club v Litchfield Villa

The Roosevelt Isl Octagon was a total waste of time, except for the nice bike ride. It's been gutted and not restored to any approximation of the original, they simply modernized the whole interior and while it's not ugly, necessarily, I would never go out of my way to see it. Plus they use the tour to try and sell you on their pricey rental apartments which are unfortunately really poorly laid out and underwhelming in every way except the view of the river. Gross.

Haha, I'm glad I missed that one. The only one I had time for was the Encampment, which was very interesting. Walked past this spooky dark trail to the crumbing edifice of the smallpox hospital, then further along to the Southpoint field, which was set up with illuminated tents. I didn't really understand all of the exhibits within the tents--a lot of them you had to read stuff, but it was hard to read. I didn't want to make the time to actually crawl into each tent, so I just peered in. Great views of the Coca Cola sign, Chrysler and Empire State buliding, and bridges galore. Also took the tram there and back, which was a first for me. New York, why are you so loud when I am trying to sleep at night? I thought Ditmars was supposed to be quiet.

Oh bummer! I wanted to hit the smallpox hosp, you can sneak into the ruins without too much trouble, but when we got to the main gate at about 5pm it was locked up tight and you couldn't get into the south point at all.

Wish me luck and good directions, I'm going to try to bike to Floyd Bennett field. Should be interesting.

Oh my god, you guys, the airfield was so, so cool. It's an NYC Parks Dept holding now, and clearly there's not much money allocated for it cos the place is basically falling down, but there's still some v interesting stuff going on there. They were taking people up to the old control tower, even! Except I'm pretty sure the old man who was showing us around was a Nazi sympathizer of some stripe, b/c he was wearing an otherwise inexplicable giant skull ring. Weird day! I recommend the trip, it's open a few days a week and there's also a hanger where old aircraft are being restored that you can apparently tour (I missed that).

Interesting. I'm back in VA so couldn't do any more OHNY. Next year maybe. Laurel, I didn't know you could sneak into the smallpox hospital--how exciting. Yeah, they had it locked down until they opened it at 7 for the night viewing. I want to learn more about the history of Roosevelt Island--for instance, I didn't know that it used to be called Blackwell Island.

yesterday - control group as excuse to get into the woolworth building (hi mike!) was, as advertised, "well worth" it, even if the most exciting thing in the office was the collection of 1984 BYTE magazines. talk was reasonably good considering it was an IT dude (?). now i wanna see the pool. tour of the very new teardrop park, led by 20/30-something landscape architects, unbiddenly-aided by Paris Gellar-esque Stuy senior and perhaps more welcomely by local moms, wasn't high-call, but interesting to see what people your age are doing and the park's a really nice surprise. hit of the day was NY Academy of Sciences, inside 7 WTC (which I like more and more as time goes on). skipped the Kushner residence for other obligations. stopped by the Battery Park City thing instead while i grabbed some food, but woman turned up late and seemed lame. Project for Public Spaces was interesting-looking, but I got there at the end of a presentation and it was probably over 90 degrees inside. 163 Charles - cool building - was worth a look from outside on the way to the piers. Lilac wasn't a waste of time, but not terribly interesting either and i hope they've got liability insurance. didn't get to linger too long at the paul rudolph foundation, but it's nice design, and the sir-john-soane-lite-gone-modern collection was diverting, the transformers especially.

today - AM skipped the lighthouse and the harlem river boathouse for other obligs. afternoon, did the mt morris park tour, which was slow-paced (our improvising didn't help tho) and a little heavy on the neighborhood galleries and the architectural stuff wasn't terribly deep, but good local pov and zoning/planning content; worth it if you don't have to be somewhere the following hour (or two). the rest of the day didn't quite come off - rock ctr lines insane/prohibitive/replaced by overrated halal cart, prince george ballroom closed early - but a few minutes at the japan society at the end of the day redeemed it. (somehow i'd never been to dag hammarskjold plaza (across the street) before? at least, not as far as i can remember.) thought my day was done til i remembered the ukrainian institute - inside upstairs is moderately evocative old new york.

events/exhaustion eliminated southpoint.

Next Year in BK?

apparently my grandfather used to live near mt morris park, i guess in the 60s

The lighthouse could have been the highlight of your day. :( It was for me a couple of years ago.

I waited about 25 mins of line for the rooftop garden on the Brit Empire Bldg at Rock Center, which would've been worth it if no one else was there... Did get an aerial view there of the Polish parade on 5th and his Eminence in front of the Cathedral (wd've been better w/ a telescopic sight).

The Prince George Ballroom was nice, but familiar from other rooms of the period I've seen.

2008 guide in today's Times for )ct 4-5.

http://www.ohny.org/weekend/listings.cfm

I made a res for the Coney walk but don't know if I was in time.

woohoo, I got into the Louis Armstrong House! (which is always open anyway. They better show us an old spliff or something)

i generally eschew the places that are always open anyway, which doesn't necessarily make sense given that i don't go there any other time of the year either.

i signed up for 4 things last night but haven't heard back

I did get on the Coney walk's list, assuming I show up in time.

i got Grand Concourse, 7WTC lighting, Governor's Island and Morgan Library

I don't see anything about reservations for the Gov Island tours.

check the website - there are reservations for the tram tours of the Southern end of the island, though not for the walking tours of the northern end

http://www.newyorkology.com/archives/2008/09/ohny_additions.php

no Little Red Lighthouse?

"the NYC Urban Park Rangers told NewYorkology that the Little Red Lighthouse is not participating, despite its new addition listing."

I can't even find the Governors Island listing on the OHNY site.

OK, I got it.

the lighthouse is open

http://www.newyorkology.com/archives/2008/10/ohny_updates_re.php

bump

Gov Island is in a weird limbo, eh? Good Jamaican rice n' beans vendor near the dock tho.

Louis Armstrong House Museum was cool. He and Lucille sure were smallish; we could hardly get down the stairs and remain vertical.

i got onto a Masonic Lodge tour but bailed before we went inside because i had somewhere more interesting to be

This year's sked goes on website Thursday night (weekend is Oct 10-11).

http://www.ohny.org/weekend/listings.cfm

Print copy can be found in today's Metro daily.

anyone investigated the listings? what good stuff is filled up already?

Eh there's not that much I want to do this year, tho I only looked at Bklyn. I'm never going to remember early enough to get into the Gov Island tours or the closed-bits-of-Ellis Island tours or the MTA-substation tours.

Mostly I need a search fxn for the listings that filters out every single design studio or commercial enterprise. Fuck a "Brooklyn artists loft".

And churches. I don't really want to see any churches, either.

The tours of the MTA substation are only at 1pm and only 25 people per tour...but there's no RSVP info...???

All the track work this weekend is gonna make this harder. I may clomp around Red Hook tomorrow.

The 2010 OHNY Weekend event guide will be available tomorrow as an insert in Time Out New York's September 29 issue!

Full site and program listings will be available tonight on ohny.org at 9 pm, as well as in an easy-to-print PDF format. However, sites and programs that require advance reservations will start at 9 am on Wednesday, September 29.

anyone going to anything?

I want to do the Red Hook Sludge Boat, but there are no more spots. I will do the Digester Eggs at Newtown Creek and maybe the Chrysler Building.

Forgot about this until last min, as usual! But I can guarantee I won't be able to get F out of the house for anything on the list, so I'm not sure what my chances are of going.

Some events now open to reservations (and already gone):

http://www.ohny.eventbrite.com/

I am going to the Roosevelt House, Sat at noon.

Federally-operated sites scheduled to participate on OHNY Weekend will be closed this weekend. This includes the OHNY Weekend Information Hub, scheduled to be located at the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House/Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and now relocated to the Neighborhood Preservation Center, 232 East 11th Street at Second Avenue. The Information Hub will be open from 10 am-4 pm Saturday and Sunday. Stop by for questions, event guides, and other information.

http://blog.ohny.org/tag/2013-wknd-updates/

haven't investigated at all for this weekend, i assume all the shiny spots are filled up.

http://www.ohny.org/weekend/overview

well if they're REALLY going to let you climb the 149 steps up the Jefferson Market Library tower -- i went one year and it had been cancelled -- i'd be up for that. Going up the Grand Army arch was some scary shit.

pick something for me to do

http://www.ohny.org/weekend/overview

Working today but I'm thinking of doing Bronx Community College buildings Sunday.

it's reservation day

http://www.ohny.org/weekend/reservations

Got into Custom House tour and Edward Hopper studio.

advance res day

https://www.ohny.org/weekend/reservations