A History Lover's Guide to New York City by Alison Fortier

Author:Alison Fortier
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2016-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

YOUR GUIDE TO HISTORY

A vendor in Chinatown. Courtesy of James Maher.

THE TENEMENT MUSEUM

103 Orchard Street at Delancey Street • Manhattan/Lower East Side

877-975-3786 • www.tenement.org • Admission Fee

Purchase tickets in advance, either online or by telephone, or in person at the visitor center. The visit to the museum is by a guided tour only, which begins at the visitor center and then proceeds to the tenement building at 97 Orchard Street. The Tenement Museum tours last one to two hours. Each has a special focus—such as “Sweatshop Workers,” which includes a visit to the home where the Levine family had a garment workshop, or “Hard Times,” which involves a visit to the homes of the Gumpertz and Baldizzi families. Descriptions are on the museum website. In addition to the building tours, there are neighborhood walking tours. The Tenement Museum and the walking tours are mostly recommended for ages eight years and above. One tour is designed specifically for young children. There are also food tours that include a sampling of Lower East Side specialties.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is housed in a real tenement built in 1864. For seventy years, this building was home to countless numbers of immigrant families who struggled to make ends meet in New York City’s Lower East Side. Stricter housing codes resulted in the tenement closing in 1935. While there were shops on the lower level, the upper-floor apartments were boarded up. The entry hall of the tenement is basically in the condition in which it was found in the 1980s. The museum also offers visits to restored apartments with a re-creation of the lives of those who lived there in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century New York. Some tours include reenactors.

The story of each family who lived here at 97 Orchard Street is compelling. Widow Julia Langolar supported herself and her two children by taking in laundry. Nathalia Grumpertz worked as a dressmaker after her husband walked out on her and their four children. This was their world. The museum has made an impressive and successful effort to reach out to the descendants of those who lived at 97 Orchard Street to enrich further the history conveyed here. The museum shop hosts Tenement Talks, which focus on New York City. The museum offers extensive educational outreach for students. It is a National Historic Site.

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