NEW YORK Museum reveals immigrant way of life

Tourists can experience tenement life through the eyes of the immigrants.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NEW YORK -- After visiting high-profile places such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, visitors to this city should consider touring a lesser known site -- the Lower East Side Tenement Museum -- to see the environment in which generations of immigrants lived, worked and pursued the American dream.
The museum is an authentic five-story walk-up tenement at 97 Orchard St. in Lower Manhattan, in which about 7,000 people from more than 20 nations resided in dark, crowded conditions between its construction in 1863 and 1935. The tenement, which is easily reached by numerous city subway and bus lines, is a National Historic Landmark and a National Trust for Historic Preservation site.
Because the landlord decided not to upgrade the building to comply with housing codes enacted in the 1930s, the building ceased to be used as a residence. The housing on the upper floors remained vacant and undisturbed for more than 50 years, but storefronts on the lower two floors continued to be occupied.
In the late 1980s, the museum bought the building in its early 20th Century configuration and kept it that way. Tourists see the two indoor flush toilets per floor, which replaced backyard privies in about 1905, and an airshaft and new windows that were added then to allow more air and light to penetrate the interior. There was no electricity until about 1924.
Guided tours
The museum, accessible only by guided tours, offers a well-researched and well-documented glimpse into the lives of some of the tenement's actual occupants as guides escort tourists through the apartments in which the immigrants resided. In one apartment, Census records from 1870 and 1900 are displayed, showing the names, ages, occupations and nationalities of some of the building's residents.
Tourists first arrive at the museum's storefront visitors' center and gift shop at 90 Orchard St., where they can purchase tour tickets at nominal fees and watch an introductory video concerning immigration and tenement life before taking their tour. Tours are also available in Spanish and American Sign Language.
Visitors can choose among tours titled, "Piecing it Together: Immigrants in the Garment Industry" and "Getting By: Weathering the Great Depressions of 1873 and 1929," both one-hour tours offered several times daily, Tuesday through Sunday, and the 45-minute Confino family apartment tour, which is offered hourly, noon to 3 p.m., on weekends.
Confino apartment tour
In the family-oriented Confino apartment tour, children and adults experience living history by meeting and talking to a costumed interpreter playing the role of the Sephardic Jewish teenager Victoria Confino, who resided in the tenement in 1916 after immigrating here from Turkey.
The museum also offers its 75-minute "Streets Where We Lived Walking Tour" of the historic neighborhood at 1 and 2:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays, April through December. The neighborhood tour is barrier-free, but the tenement is not handicapped-accessible.
XThe museum can be reached by calling (212) 431-0233 or on the Web at www.tenement.org.