The National Arts Club, located on the south side of Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, is a hive that hums with culture. You may recognize the building from its appearance in movies—Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery and Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (both released, strangely enough, in 1993). The club is special and its lectures are varied and smart. The month of May features two talks on fashion—Richard Thompson speaking on the history of dress codes (May 6) and Amma Aboagye lecturing on wax print fabrics of Africa (May 20). On May 17, the artist and crime writer Jonathan Santlofer appears in conversation with the novelist Joyce Carol Oates: the subject is Santlofer’s recent book The Last Mona Lisa. May 23 sees Shana Farr and Jon Weber performing the songs we associate with Julie Andrews. And on May 27, the film historian Foster Hirsch discusses his biography Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King. These are just a few of many offerings, so check out the schedule. —Laura Jacobs