Tenement Museum Relaunches Walking Tours, but Indoor Programs Still on Hold
While larger museums and cultural institutions around the city are reopening after a pandemic-induced sidelining, here on the Lower East Side, the Tenement Museum will remain dark.
No indoor programming at 97 Orchard Street for the foreseeable future. Historically appropriate, in a sense. Tenements were harbingers of disease throughout the generations due to overcrowding small spaces. Filling these same small spaces with tours revives those concerns.
“With the health and safety of our staff and visitors our first priority, we remain in the planning phase for a return to in-building visitation,” the museum said in a recent mailer.
In the meantime, the Tenement Museum will soon welcome visitors for the first time since last March. Through its slate of walking tours. These outdoor tours – beginning September 12 – are the first of the museum’s popular programs to relaunch, the first step in a larger plan to bring back visitors over the next year.
It’s not completely lost time, though. During this hiatus, the museum will embark on a stabilization project of its building at 97 Orchard Street.
Recent Stories
Subway Tribute to Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Baden Ginsburg
Less than 24 hours after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, the street memorials started popping up around the city. Indeed, the artist largely known for manipulating city-issued signage (e.g. Aretha Franklin) struck again Saturday afternoon with a tribute to the late justice. This time, at the 50th Street subway station on the Eighth […]
Get a Piece of Mission Chinese Food Before it Closes
Mission Chinese Food is permanently closing its flagship restaurant on the Lower East Side, as previously reported. It lasted nearly six years on East Broadway before coronavirus imposed the business, like so many others. And now Mission is selling off some of its furnishings and ephemera with a stoop sale today. Items include restaurant equipment and […]
‘Sour Mouse’ Game Hall Launches on Delancey Street Next Week
Six months delayed due to the coronavirus lockdown, a basement game hall is finally set to open on the Lower East Side. Headquartered beneath 110 Delancey Street (former home of discount retailer Rainbow), Sour Mouse relies on bar games with the hope of “revitalize community” in the neighborhood. To that end, the establishment boasts billiards, shuffleboard, […]
Celebrating Rosh Hashanah in the 1900s Lower East Side [PHOTOS]
Sundown tonight marks the beginning of the Jewish new year with the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. To celebrate, below is a small collection of photos, courtesy of the Library of Congress, illustrating how Jews of the early 1900s celebrated the holiest of days while living in the ghetto of the Lower East Side. You’ll notice […]
The New Museum Returns to the Bowery from Pandemic Sidelining
After being sidelined for six months, the New Museum is back. They reopened their doors earlier this week to the public at large. As previously noted, three new exhibits will grace the space and run through the remainder of 2020; “Peter Saul: Crime and Punishment,” “Jordan Casteel: Within Reach,” and “Daiga Grantina: What Eats Around […]
