"Treasures of Sailors" at Snug Harbor Cultural Center The Snug Harbor Cultural Center, a bucolic spread of historic architecture on the north shore of Staten Island that includes a botanical garden and children's museum, began life in the early 19th century as a retirement home for sailors. Tucked in Building D, one of the glorious Greek Revival structures on the grounds, is the Noble Maritime Collection, among the city's distinctive and relatively unsung cultural institutions. On Sunday afternoon it will host a free reception for its exhibition "Treasures of Sailors" Snug Harbor." On display will be oil paintings and other objects from the collection, which is dedicated to reflecting and preserving the area's history as a seafaring community and a haven for old mariners. The centerpiece is the delightfully idiosyncratic houseboat studio of its namesake, John A. Noble, the mid-20th-century artist and seaman. From this floating perch Noble was able to capture in oil on canvas the twilight of an era in this New York harbor before wood and wind gave way to steel and oil. Also worth investigating is "Shopping Bag Intricacies," an exhibition at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, part of the gallery complex beginning in Building C on the Snug Harbor campus. It features the work of Gustavo Galvan, who has weaved plastic bottles, shopping bags and other found objects into prêt-à-porter fashion items. Admission to the museum is $5 for adults and $4 for students and those 65+; children under 12 are admitted free. The free Staten Island Ferry has always been one of the Miser's favorite ways to take in the harbor, and the bus ride to Snug Harbor is a short and pleasant swing through some quietly attractive residential areas. "Treasures of Sailors" Snug Harbor," Sunday, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.; "Shopping Bag Intricacies," Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; 1000 Richmond Terrace at Snug Harbor Road, Staten Island; 718-448-2500, snug-harbor.org. The Morgan Library & Museum isn't known for its film offerings, but this Friday night at 7, in conjunction with the show "Renaissance Venice: Drawings from the Morgan," you can catch "Death in Venice," Luchino Visconti's 1971 adaptation of Thomas Mann's classic high modernist novella. The story, which pivots on the ambiguous relationship between an aging artist and a boy he meets on the beach, is an elegy to aging, art and longing in a time of cholera, orchestrated so poignantly that you could call it operatic. Tickets to the screening are included with museum admission, which is normally $15 for adults. While the Miser cannot in good conscience recommend that you skip the undoubtedly edifying main exhibition in favor of the film, it does seem pertinent to point out that admission to the Morgan is free on Friday nights from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., a coincidence the Miser doesn't mind a bit. Friday at 7 p.m.; 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street; 212-685-0008; themorgan.org.