The NYC Audubon lectures have new digs, the High School for Environmental Studies on West 56th. The building turns out to be a minor Deco jem. It’s not listed in the AIA Guide, but the lobby and the 6th floor auditorium are sweet. It’s long been a contention of mine that Great Lobbies of NYC would make a smashing walking tour. There are some doozies out that, particularly downtown in Gotham City (as opposed to Midtown’s Metropolis). As in the long gone Pennsylvania Station, architects/designers and even developers were intent on making an entrance worthy of the name. Now, with square footage the only god, the boxes have security desks and banks of elevators, but wandering into some of the buildings around Wall Street from the 20s and 30s. Glorious!

Meanwhile, back at 444 W 56, I can't remember the last time I was in a high school: the security dames were no-nonsense cookies; six or so languages were posted on signs for parents; and, after hours, the Boys and Girls bathrooms were both padlocked, but not the neighboring Mens and Womens. Odder still were the enormous DOWNs painted in the stairwell, angled downward with an arrow pointing… uh, down.
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I have jury duty tomorrow at Kings Co. Civil Court. On the docket, Cupid is being sued by Psyche for alienation of affections. (Those arrows in the heart would be a criminal matter, I believe.)