Open House New York 21st Annual Weekend
Launched in 2003, Open House New York Weekend is an annual festival that opens hundreds of noteworthy or significant places across the five boroughs to foster discovery and delight for New Yorkers and visitors alike. On October 20-22, 2023, the 21st annual OHNY Weekend festival will offer a mix of in-person experiences, self-guided explorations, and digital content—inviting you to get an insider’s look at everything from single rooms, studios, factories, and public spaces to entire buildings, blocks, bike corridors, and waterways. Building on our expanded mission to promote citywide access to all New Yorkers, the festival is now 100% free to the public.
Floyd Bennett Field: Ryan Visitor Center
Ryan Visitor Center, 1 Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, NY 11234
Sunday, October 22nd, 2023 | 10:00am —2:00pm
In-Person Guided Tour, Self-Guided Tour
Experience the Golden Age of Aviation at Floyd Bennett Field! Now part of the National Park Service's Gateway National Recreation Area, Floyd Bennett Field served as New York City's first municipal airport beginning in 1931, quickly becoming the country's most technically sophisticated airport. The Ryan Visitor Center, formerly the administration building and glamorous terminal for the airport, has been restored by the National Park Service. The terminal was a modern marvel of its time, where well-heeled travelers enjoyed amenities including a restaurant, barbershop, and newsstand, as well as a cocktail bar with views looking out over the airport's runways. The terminal now houses a museum telling the story of Floyd Bennett Field and the famous aviators, Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes among them, who flew there. Visitors may tour the museum and take a peek at the tunnels underneath the runways, not generally open to the public, where airport staff transported travelers' luggage to their planes. Visitors can also enter the restored control tower, also not generally open to the public, offering panoramic views of Jamaica Bay and the airport's runways and grasslands. It's one of the best views in Brooklyn!
Rangers will also be available at Hangar B, on the shores of Jamaica Bay, approximately one mile east of the Ryan Visitor Center. Home of Floyd Bennett Field's Historic Aircraft Restoration Project (HARP), Hangar B contains dozens of restored and model aircraft, including a full-scale model of Wiley Post's Lockheed Vega, the "Winnie Mae,” in which he became the first aviator to fly solo around the world.
The majority of the tour will be ADA-accessible, but there are no elevators to the top of the air traffic control tower inside the Ryan Visitor Center.
Floyd Bennet Field: Hangars 1 & 2
Ticketed Event
Ryan Visitor Center, 1 Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, NY 11234
In-Person Guided Tour
Sunday, October 22nd, 2023 | 10:00am —11:00am | 11:00am —12:00pm | 12:00pm —1:00pm
Explore the rich history and promising future of Floyd Bennett Field—New York’s first municipal airport—on this tour of historic Hangar Row. Participants may visit a natural gas metering and regulation facility that provides energy to much of Brooklyn. The facility is located inside the iconic Art Deco Hangars 1 and 2, whose exquisite exteriors were painstakingly restored to their original 1930s condition in an award-winning act of historic preservation. Today these hangars are one of just four sites in New York City that together provide more than half of the city’s natural gas.
How can I get tickets? Entry to this location is free, but requires tickets distributed via lottery. The lottery opens Tuesday, October 10 at 9am. Participants will have 48 hours to submit their entries. All entries must be submitted by Thursday, October 12 at 9am. Winners will be selected in multiple draws from Thursday, October 12 to Monday, October 16.
Past Programs
Learn more about Floyd Bennett Field and Wright Brothers National Memorial in this moderated discussion that took place as part of Open House New York Weekend 2020.
Learn more about the history of Floyd Bennett Field below.