A Trip Through The Tenement Museum In New York City

Take a trip through the Tenement Museum in New York City. This video was originally produced as a Facebook Live segment.

Business Insider tells you all you need to know about business, finance, tech, science, retail, and more.

[migslist]

I love this guy. So passionate about what he does. That’s what being happy and rich is about, waking up with a smile on your face looking forward to what you do. ✌🏼

[diannefaith]

I love what Velazquez said about inviting the members of Congress to come to 103 Orchard Street!
I personally identify myself with with this museum. My father migrated from Puerto Rico in the 1940's when he was in his early 20's to live in New York City. My mother also migrated from Puerto Rico in the early 1950's to live with her family in Manhattan as well.
My brother and I were born in 133 West 89'th Street.
I have visited the Tenement Museum 3 times! Always bringing friends and family ! And will continue to do so!

[johnnychaos]

I grew up in a building much like this with my parents, grandma, and my older brother. The main room was about 20x15 and was the living room/ kitchen/ dining room and there was a single bedroom which was 15x15. My brother and I slept on a sofa. Fortunately we had running water but our bathroom was only about 6x6 and just had a toilet and sink. If we wanted to shower we had to go down the hall to the community shower room/laundry. It was a 4 story building with 6 identical apartments on each floor. Quite honestly those were some of the happiest years of my life. We didn't have a lot of money but we were wealthy as hell in so many other ways. I remember when my dad was finally able to buy us a house I actually hated to leave the old apartment behind! Tons of lovely memories in that tiny space!

[ShanikaB]

What a wonderful preservation and gift to the city. The tour guide is great too, you can tell he's passionate and really cares about these stories and has great reverence for the families that lived there. Well done. ❤

[japanvintagecamera]

As a kid I remember spending a month in an old city apartment. Narrow stairs, wood floors, no air conditioning, a Murphy bed, small table, and a couple chairs. The toilets and shower were shared by the 4 apartments on the floor. The plumbing was noisy, the toilets had pull handles on chains, the water for the shower was only lukewarm. It was old, dark, and, to me, coming to the big city from the empty middle-of-nowhere, too cool.

[JB-zoln]

Great tour. It is so amazing to go back in time through history and see how the original immigrants who helped build the nation up lived in such harsh conditions. Instead of having their hands out they created better lives for themselves and their future generations through hardwork, will power and by having gumption (as he stated). These people need to be celebrated for what they were able to do with little to nothing entering a new world in a big city. Its amazing to think of their perseverance.

[susique]

I absolutely love these videos. Especially learning how life back then was, it makes me so grateful for all that I have in my life now! Wow! And the "fresh water pump" next to the outhouse.

[bcaye]

Do they no longer teach 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'? It is the most eloquent literary description of this kind of life that I ever read. A masterpiece.

[DsB]

That museum is so so we'll put together and amazing. Will never forget the explorer tour where they gave out flashlights to check out all the nooks and crannies. Can't wait to go back. It's a place to discover and learn more with every visit. Cheers from Germany

[wendywoo]

Little Germany in Manhattan suffered a terrible blow in 1904 when around 1, 400 people, majority women and children, mostly from St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in the neighborhood, boarded the General Slocum sidewheel passenger steamboat for the annual church picnic. The ship caught fire while sailing up the East River. Over 1, 000 people died, the greatest loss of life in a single day in NY history until 9/11. This tragedy ripped apart the social fabric Kleindeutchland because so many people of the area died and a lot of survivors moved away.

I enjoyed the video, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorite books, I’ve never been anywhere near a tenement
& had to use my imagination when reading the novel (although Betty Smith described everything with such incredible detail), it’s nice to see what an actual tenement looked like.

[amyjungwirth-gq]

I found out about this exhibit perhaps two decades ago. It was a well kept secret so it was low key and we were the only visitors there. We really got to experience history. I really enjoyed learning about the people that built NYC

[elcosiampiro]

I took this tour and really really makes you have an understanding of migration and the struggle people went through when coming to America to pursuing freedom.a true history museum

[mizbethe]

That tour guide sure is charming - enjoying his talk kept me engaged. Thanks

[mfar]

What a treasure! It’s nothing short of a miracle that it managed to stay a perfectly preserved time capsule. I’ve been wanting to visit ever since I first learned of its existence! My grandmother came to this country, circa 1907 as a little girl & lived in a tenement on E14 st. They were fortunate enough to have indoor plumbing, but shared a bathroom with other tenants. She said her rent was $8.50 per month, the extra fifty cents was because they upgraded to a white countertop (as opposed to, probably butcher block).

[randysatarsky]

I have roots to the place. My grandmothers family was one of the first families living there. After the place was discovered in the 80s, and when they were putting together the history of families who lived there, our family was contacted, and we gave them some photos. Now our family will always be a part of the history at 97 Orchard Street.

[rozzaziobrown]

I really want to visit this place. The conditions these people lived in are heartbreaking but I'm glad that some of these places have been preserved so we can understand our predecessors' struggles

[chloekit]

This is where both sides of my family my ancestors came from 🇮🇪 Ireland and Italy 🇮🇹

[coreycox]

This is so well done, with different apartments of different people in different times.

[diannefaith]

I have come to this Museum 4 times now. I always bring family and friends from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 . I feel that I have stepped into another dimension!! Awesome!! Please keep up your excellent work of history 😊

[Seventeen_Syllables]

Imagine the aromas, all of those people cooking, working, and of course the ever-present privy. It was background then, but every sensation that we take for granted would be missing, replaced by utterly foreign ones.