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Lower East Side Tenement Museum Review

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Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Address: 108 Orchard St., between Delancey and Broome Sts., Lower East Side, New York, NY, 10002 | Map It
Phone: 212/982-8420
www.tenement.org

Category: Museums/Galleries
Location: New York City

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Fodor's Review:

Step back in time and into the partially restored 1863 tenement building at 97 Orchard Street, where you can squeeze through the preserved apartments of immigrants on one of five one-hour tours. This is America's first urban living-history museum dedicated to the life of immigrants—and one of the city's most underrated and overlooked. "Getting By" visits the homes of Natalie Gumpertz, a German-Jewish dressmaker (dating from 1878) and Adolph and Rosaria Baldizzi, Catholic immigrants from Sicily (1935). "Piecing it Together" visits the Levines' garment shop/apartment and the Rogarshevsky family from Eastern Europe (1918). The tour through the Confino family apartment is designed for children, who are greeted by a costumed interpreter playing Victoria Confino. Her family of Sephardic Jews came from Kastoria, Turkey, which is now part of Greece (1916). Another tour explores the life of the Moores, an Irish American family in the 1800s. Building tours are limited to 15 people so consider buying tickets in advance. Select tours are followed by free one-hour discussions with snacks provided. Walking tours of the neighborhood are also held regularly. The visitor information center and excellent gift shop displays a video with interviews of Lower East Side residents past and present. An antiques shop at 90 Orchard Street further benefits the museum.

Cost: Tenement and walking tours $35; Confino apartment tour $20
Open: Tours July-Aug. Fri.-Wed., 10-5, Thurs. 10-7:15; Sept.-June daily, 11:15-5; check Web site for full details. Visitor center and gift shop daily 10-6
Subway: B, D to Grand St.; F to Delancey St.; J, M, Z to Essex St.

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