The New York City Traveler

The Immigrant Experience at the Tenement Museum

by Heather on February 25th, 2008

For many immigrants to the United States, the first stop was Ellis Island and the second stop was Manhattan’s Lower East Side.  The unassuming building at 97 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side was home to an estimated 7,000 people from more than 20 countries between 1863 and 1935.  The building is now a designated National Historic Site and houses the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.  The museum offers tours of carefully restored apartments with the mission to promote better understanding of the lives of the immigrant working-class and poor that lived in this gateway to America.

The LES Tenement Museum offers three tours to choose from:

• “Getting By: Immigrants Weathering Hard Times”  Tour of the German Jewish Gimpertz apartment (1870s) as well as the Sicilian Catholic Baldizzi (1930s) family.
• “Piecing it Together: Immigrants in the Garnment Industry” Tour the Levine family apartment/garment shop (1897).  Then visit the Polish Rogarshevsky family apartment (1918) where they are mourning the loss of their father, Abraham, who died from tuberculosis. 
• “Confino Family Apartment” is a hands-on tour perfect for children that take you through the apartment of a Sephardic Jewish family (1916).  A costumed interpreter dressed as teenage Victoria Confino welcomes visitors as though they were newly arrived immigrants, teaching them how to adapt to America.

Location:  Tours begin at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum Visitors Center and Gift Shop, 108 Orchard Street (map),   212-982-8420

Subway:  F, J, M, Z to Essex-Delancey Street; B, D to Grand Street

Hours:  The Tenement Museum may be visited via guided tour only.  Open Tue-Fri, tours every 40 minutes starting at about 1pm; Sat-Sun, tours every 30 minutes starting at 11am.  All tours are one hour in length.  The museum is closed on Mondays.

Cost:  Adults $17, Students $13, Seniors $13

Photo credit: flickr

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POSTED IN: Lower East Side, Museums, Tours - Guided or Self-Guided