Access Restricted

[Image: Inside the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, courtesy of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Access Restricted program].

If you're in New York, three more tours in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Access Restricted series await you. The general idea behind Access Restricted is amazing; it is "a free nomadic lecture series that opens rarely visited and often prohibited spaces in Manhattan to the general public. Once inside these unique interiors, the audience is treated to a site-specific lecture and discussion addressing a range of topics revolving around issues of architectural history and preservation, social justice, and urban development."

The mind boggles at the range of spaces that could be visited for such a thing, from historical urban waterworks to the city's food infrastructure, from top secret bank vaults to famous murder sites and the apartments of long-dead poets; this year, the LMCC is focusing on the heady couplet of "Law & Representation":

Even though Manhattan possesses one of the richest legal infrastructures in the country, the general public hardly ever interacts with these buildings and their use except for a few, very specified situations. In order to showcase this legal fabric, Access Restricted: Law & Representation hosts a series of talks by practicing lawyers and scholars in the palaces and parlors where law is practiced or discussed.

Check out the LMCC's site, linked above, for the complete schedule, and definitely consider supporting such a unique program.