(Photos from How the Other Half Lives, by James Riis)
Over the weekend I took a tour of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and was blown away at the idea of 70+ years of immigration history that passed through this one, 3-level tenement building on Orchard Street (at Delancey). When I moved to New York in 2004 my first apartment was a few blocks to the east on Clinton and Delancey, and a very similar tenement-style dwelling. It's fascinating and mind-blowing to think about who potentially passed through my apartment. Being a United States citizen, and a descendant of German, Irish, and Scottish immigrants, as well as Cherokee Indian, it's incredibly interesting to look at what my relatives experienced and think about how 6 generations later I possibly lived in the same apartment that they once passed through. After all, history does repeat itself.
Virtual Tour of the Building »
Photography of James Riis, How the Other Half Lives »
NPR on James Riis »
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