Open House New York 2015
It was a crazy weekend (October 17-18) with so many openhousenewyork events and more!
The booking process
Booking my reservation-only sites on Oct. 7 was chaotic. I don't blame OHNY - any small-to-medium-sized operation would have the same technical issues that OHNY and Eventbrite do on reservation day. I was frustrated that I didn't get everything I wanted, but thankful that I did get some gems!
Reservation Day at OHNY | Blog OHNY
Saturday
Bright and early I headed to Queens for my first tour. This turned out to be my favorite. All workers were super nice and shared a slice of what they do every day with us. They were especially proud of their lab that tests emissions-reducing and efficiency-increasing strategies for their heavy-duty vehicles (garbage trucks, salt spreaders, etc.) This lab facility is super rare in that it has huge 72" diameter rollers in the floor to keep the truck still as it drives in place.
I wanted to go to the Manhattan Borough President's map display for several years. I think they display different map(s) each year, but this was the first time for this particular, 92-paneled, hand-drawn and hand-colored one. It was huge and an amazing representation of Manhattan at the time. I only wished the room's lighting didn't reflect so much on the plastic...
Here's another one I've wanted to visit for a while, Sunset Park Material Recovery facility. Beautiful views and architecture, as well as a secondary focus on educating the public.
Not openhousenewyork, but still seeing my city! Taking the sardine-can packed nostalgia "Train of Many Colors" (in honor of the Mets) to Main Street.
Sunday
After a busy Saturday, I decided it'd be wise to get some extra sleep on Sunday. My first event was an afternoon walking tour of internet infrastructure landmarks in lower Manhattan.
I didn't have much time to squeeze in another openhousenewyork event, so I headed to NYC's first new subway station to open in 26 years(!), 34th St.-Hudson Yards. Technically there was an openhousenewyork tour of this, and I'm going on a New York Transit Museum tour of it next month, so I feel the tie-in was appropriate! Everything was shiny, modernist, and pretty pristine.
And again, I caught the packed Train of Many Colors!