Travel Back in Time in the Tenement Museum's Basement

The Tenement Museum on New York's lower east side is known for telling the stories of American immigrants through its preservation of an abandoned tenement building found over 30 years ago. What's less known is that the lower level of the building holds even more history thanks to the museum's trash collection. From old curry powder cans to a bagel that looks like it could've been thrown out yesterday, explore the history found under the floor boards.
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[@johnnychaos152]

I grew up in an apartment building much like this with my parents, grandmother, and older brother. It was a 4 story building that was old as could be with 6 identical apartments on each floor. The main room was about 20x15 and served as the living room/ kitchen/ dining room. There was a single bedroom which was 15x15 that my parents shared with my grandmother while my brother and I slept on a sofa in the main room. We were fortunate that we had running water however the bathroom was about the size of a broom closet and only had a toilet and sink. If we wanted to shower we had to go down the hall to the community shower room/ laundry. We didn't have a television but we did have a radio and a record player that we would all gather around in the evening while playing cards or a board game. We didn't have very much money but we were wealthy in so many other ways. I can honestly say that some of the happiest years of my life were spent there. I remember when my dad was finally able to buy us a house we were all kind of sad to leave that place behind. We made a ton of big, happy memories in that tiny little space.

[@diannefaith7866]

I love visiting this museum! I have visited a couple of times and try to bring family and friends!! My last visit was on October 2019 and saw the Puerto Rican apartment 🇵🇷