Open House New York

Here's a reminder that the 7th annual Open House New York is taking place this Saturday and Sunday (October 10-11). All programs are free and first-come-first-serve at the designated times (unless prior registration is required). Check out the schedule at www.ohny.org.

This is a once a year opportunity to gain access via guided tours at several participating historic buildings, landmarks, museums, churches, and even a few private offices, studios and residences! A few sites I've visited during past OHNYs include the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum on East 61st Street. Built in 1799 as a carriage house and then converted to a hotel in 1826, the old-timey structure is one of the oldest buildings in Manhattan and certainly stands out on the block it shares with modern buildings. The Grand Lodge of the Masons on West 23rd Street in Chelsea serves as the meeting place for the centuries-old organization, the Freemasons. The overly ornate rooms are a bit creepy-in-an-asylum-sort-of-way, and I kept expecting Homer Simpson and his fellow Stonecutters to barge in wearing robes and bellowing their theme song. The tour of sculptor Tom Otterness' Brooklyn Studio was great. The affable and welcoming Otterness himself leads the tours, and discusses his work and creative process, answers questions, and lets visitors see up-close his many cutesy sculptors spread out around his spacious studio (see some pics I took last year below).

If I wasn't so lazy and was willing to tolerate the crowds this year, I'd check out:

Fourth Arts Block at 61 E 4th Street @ 2nd Ave, Manhattan

Saturday at 12:00, 2:00 and a 3:00 talk - Reservations required. Learn about the artsy neighborhood's history with the area's master documenter, Clayton Patterson. The City of New York sold 8 properties on East 4th Street in 2005 for $8 (!) to arts groups and designated the block an official Cultural District.

Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn

Saturday and Sunday 12:00 and 3:30 tours - Cemetery open from 8-5. This 478-acre cemetery is the final resting place for several notable New Yorkers. "A dreaded sunny day, so I'll meet you at the cemetery gates..."

Illy Push Button House, Little West 12th Street/9th Ave, Meatpacking District

Saturday 10:00am-11:00pm, Sunday 10:00am-7:00pm / Saturday and Sunday open talk with Andrea Illy and architect Adam Kalkin at 10am. Built in 2007, The Push Button House is a shipping container, which at the push of a button, opens up to a fully furnished 5-room apartment! Sadly, something tells me one room in The Push Button House is probably larger than my entire shoe-box apartment.

MTA Substation, 225 West 53rd/Broadway, Manhattan

Saturday 11:00 and 1:00 - open dialogue/tour with Robert Lobenstein, the General Superintendent Power of Operations of NYC MTA Transit. Tour the MTA power station that opened in mid-town Manhattan in 1904. It might be fun (and a little nerdy) to see the massive infrastructure that is the source of my frequent tardiness and frustration.

From 2008 Tom Otterness OHNY tour