It’s time to take a peek into the core of the Big Apple.
The public will get a chance to see hidden places around New York City when the annual Open House New York festival returns Oct. 17-19, featuring a behind-the-scenes peek at more than 300 typically off-limits sites.
“New York never feels more generous than during Open House New York Weekend, when 1,400 volunteers show tens of thousands of visitors their corners of the city,” Kristin LaBuz, executive director of Open House New York, said in a statement.
The three-day fete will include tours of numerous interesting locations around the city, from the place where the MTA makes it signs in Maspeth, Queens, to a look inside the long-abandoned Bronx General Post Office, which features over a dozen New Deal-era murals.
The artworks in the 1937 structure include over a dozen murals of working-class New Yorkers inspired by Walt Whitman’s poetry, according to event organizers.
Other offerings include a Bronx soundstage with a life-size replica of a city street, a canoe tour of the sludge-filled Gowanus Canal and a trio of secluded rooftop gardens in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.
The three gardens — located at Rockefeller Plaza and Fifth Avenue — feature landscaped greenery, winding walking paths, sculptural plantings and even a reflective pool, all overlooking St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“From this elevated vantage point, visitors can take in one of the city’s most iconic urban juxtapositions,” the festival’s description of Rockefeller Center’s 610 Loft & Garden reads: “The neo-Gothic spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral rising directly across Fifth Avenue against the backdrop of Manhattan’s modern skyscrapers.”
Other guided tours will offer a rare glimpse into defunct business signage at the New York Sign Museum and the first grid map of Manhattan displayed at the Manhattan Borough President’s office.
Folks can also travel to Governor’s Island to get an inside look at the Billion Oysters Project, which is attempting to repopulate New York’s waters with the helpful mollusks.
“Step inside to explore interactive displays, a live oyster touch tank, hands-on activities for kids, and an art exhibit that highlights the connection between oysters, people, and the harbor,” the event said on its website.
While tickets have already sold out for the likes of the Advance Masonic Temple in Astoria, Queens; Con Edison’s East River Generating Station in the East Village; the Department of Transportation’s Maspeth sign shop and a bike tour of Floyd Bennett Field in Marine Park, New Yorkers can still “drop-in” on 160 sites.
The two-decade-old festival – which drew more than 50,000 visitors last year – was inspired by a London festival and started after the Sept. 11 attacks as an attempt to bring New Yorkers together.
“Open House New York Weekend is rooted in the simple but radical act of sharing the city,” LaBuz added. “This festival gives curious New Yorkers a hall pass to explore the people, projects, and places that make this the greatest city in the world.”
Tickets and respective tour hours can be found on the Open House NY Weekend website. Most of the tours are free.