{"id":306526,"date":"2025-10-15T22:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306526\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T22:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:57:09","slug":"hundreds-of-off-limits-hidden-nyc-sites-to-open-for-public-tours-this-weekend-including-secret-gardens-abandoned-post-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306526\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of off-limits, hidden NYC sites to open for public tours this weekend \u2014 including secret gardens, abandoned post office"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to take a peek into the core of the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

The public will get a chance to see hidden places around New York City when the annual Open House New York festival<\/a> returns Oct. 17-19, featuring a behind-the-scenes peek at more than 300 typically off-limits sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York never feels more generous than during Open House New York Weekend, when 1,400\u00a0volunteers show tens of thousands of visitors their corners of the city,\u201d Kristin LaBuz, executive director of the event said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

620 Loft & Garden is one of three Midtown rooftop respites open to the public as part of Open House New York. Rockefeller Center<\/p>\n

The artworks in the 1937 structure include over a dozen murals of working-class New Yorkers inspired by Walt Whitman\u2019s poetry, according to event organizers.<\/p>\n

Other offerings include a Bronx soundstage with a life-size replica of a city street, a canoe tour of the sludge-filled Gowanus Canal<\/a> and a trio of secluded rooftop gardens in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. <\/p>\n

The three gardens \u2014 located at Rockefeller Plaza and Fifth Avenue \u2014 feature landscaped greenery, winding walking paths, sculptural plantings and even a reflective pool, all overlooking St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom this elevated vantage point, visitors can take in one of the city\u2019s most iconic urban juxtapositions,\u201d the festival\u2019s description of Rockefeller Center\u2019s 610 Loft & Garden reads: \u201cThe neo-Gothic spires of St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral rising directly across Fifth Avenue against the backdrop of Manhattan\u2019s modern skyscrapers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Festivalgoers can canoe on the Gowanus Canal with the Gowanus Dredgers. Nicole Vergalla<\/p>\n

The New York Sign Museum at Noble Signs is one of more than 160 \u201cdrop in\u201d sites. Tiffany Truong<\/p>\n

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\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Folks can also travel to Governor\u2019s Island to get an inside look at the Billion Oysters Project, which is attempting to repopulate New York\u2019s waters with the helpful mollusks. <\/p>\n

\u201cStep 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,\u201d the event said on its website. <\/p>\n

While tickets have already sold out for the likes of the Advance Masonic Temple in Astoria, Queens; Con Edison\u2019s East River Generating Station in the East Village; the Department of Transportation\u2019s Maspeth sign shop and a bike tour of Floyd Bennett Field in Marine Park, New Yorkers can still \u201cdrop-in\u201d on 160 sites.<\/p>\n

The two-decade-old festival \u2013 which drew more than 50,000 visitors last year \u2013 was inspired by a London festival and started after the Sept. 11 attacks as an attempt to bring New Yorkers together. <\/p>\n

\u201cOpen House New York Weekend is rooted in the simple but radical act of sharing the city,\u201d LaBuz added. \u201cThis festival gives curious New Yorkers a hall pass to explore the people, projects, and places that make this the greatest city in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets and respective tour hours can be found on the Open House NY Weekend website<\/a>. Most of the tours are free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to take a peek into the core of the Big Apple. The public will get a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":306527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1121,5249,5248,17833,405,403,7619,5226,5225,5228,5227,4413,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-306526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-manhattan","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-midtown","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-city-life","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-queens","21":"tag-things-to-do","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-us-news","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115380659429394374","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}