First half of Saturday

Open House NY is this weekend. I only heard about it yesterday via an email from T, who is very attuned to such coolness. This is an event in which many normally private buildings and places are open to the public; it’s often maddeningly crowded, but if you pick and choose carefully… Last year I got into the Marble Cemetery on 2nd Avenue but didn’t otherwise pursue the opportunities. This year, yesterday, I decided to hit a few more things. This morning I went to see the Grand Masonic Lodge on 23rd Street. Weird white guy fraternal order, with lots of high hokum, and heavily decorated lodge rooms. When I told T about it, she said it reminded her of the Flintstones, with Fred and Barney putting on the big horned hats. Anyway, I found these two on the wall, Astronomy and Arithmetic:

Then I returned to Brooklyn to take a look at Urban Glass. Gobs of molten glass were being worked. I want to take a class. Had a one-on-one tour, which was very good. Since I was in the neighborhood, I went into the Williamsburgh Savings Bank. The enormous banking floor is a time capsule. Fantastic mosaics, of which these two shots do no justice.