Louis Armstrong House Museum

The house of Louis Armstrong and his wife Lucille sits nestled in a tree lined neighborhood in Flushing, Queens near Corona Park. The simple brick facade of the three story home that was built in the early 1900s does not boast of being the home of a jazz legend. Upon moving closer to the home you can see that there is a sign on the sidewalk that denotes this home as the home of Louis Armstrong, jazz pioneer and trumpeter supreme. You will also see that the Armstrong's former garage is now the visitor's center to the museum. It is here that you enter the museum and you see postcards, red beans and rice recipes, and books about Satchmo. You purchase your admission at the small desk in the center and then make your way to the small exhibit area located in a small room next door. It is here that you get a glimpse of Louis and Lucille. He, the famous musician, and she his fourth wife, love of his life, and a former dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem. You will find clothing, pictures, gifts from heads of state, and of course one of the famous trumpets. After waiting for the tour which starts on the hour you will make your way through the front gate and up the stairs and into the foyer where Louis and Lucille welcomed their guests. Louis was on the road 300 days out of the year and when he had some time off he came home to a loving home created by his wife and filled with the things that they both loved their furnishings and their two little dogs. You walk through the rooms of the downstairs and upstairs and walk in the footsteps of Louis and Lucille. You see the things they held dear and you see the superb taste that Lucille had that reflected the styles of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. The crown jewel is being able to walk into Louis' den where he spent time listening to music and recording hours and hours of conversations. This man not only lived in the neighborhood but served as a "uncle" to the children there and even taught some of the neighborhood kids how to play a few notes on the trumpet like their "Uncle" Louis. You get to hear stories of how he interacted with the community and how after almost a life time of living on the road and in less than stellar conditions Louis finally had a place to call home and a place of his own when he needed some R & R. In addition to the home that you can visit there is also a Japanese garden almost completely hidden from the street by trees and a brick wall where surely Louis and Lucille enjoyed spring days and summer nights. During the summer there are actually jazz concerts there through August. This museum is truly a gem and although it is off the beaten path it is totally worth taking the ride out to Queens to see it. Coming in 2011 there will be a large visitor's center constructed across the street where school children, jazz fanatics, and curious passersby can learn and experience who Louis Armstrong was. The very genius of his music and his style are captured in the place that he called home. As Louis told the Pope when he was asked about not having children, "It's okay your holiness, we're still swinging!" And thanks to this museum we're still swinging to his music!

Louis Armstrong House Museum
34-56 107th Street
Corona, Queens, NY 11368
(718)478-8274
info@louisarmstronghouse.org
www.louisarmstronghouse.org
www.twitter.com/@ArmstrongHouse

Open Tues-Fri 10am-5pm
Sat-Sun 12pm-5pm

Last tour at 4pm

Admission: $8 (Adults), $6 (Students, seniors, children, group of 8 or more)
Free for members and children under 4

Take the F train from 42nd street (Manhattan) to 103rd (Queens). When you get off the train walk to the left on 103rd street until you get to 34th Ave. Cross to the other side of 34th Ave and walk up to 107th Street and 34th Ave. Turn left on
107th St and walk midway up the block and the museum is on the left!

Museum of the City of New York

One of the first museums I went to when I came to New York for the first time on my own was the Museum of the City of New York. Where else to better understand where you are than a museum that has dedicated itself to the preservation of the history of New York City. The museum's exhibitions however don't focus solely on the historical aspects of the city. There is a great exhibition on theater's evolution through vaudeville, burlesque, and the modern musical. There are original playbills and costumes from musicals such as RENT and Avenue Q. There is a huge collection of vintage toys and doll houses from the early 20th century. There is an exhibition chronicling the beginning of New York through the present in a video presentation that makes for a good beginning to your experience there. In addition to this there are exhibitions focusing on topics such as photographers, fashion designers, and the development of the fire department. The museum has an important relationship with the City's school children who compete in history day competitions and come to the museum on field trips.

This museum is definitely worth visiting and is close to Central Park and on the famed Museum Mile that includes El Museo del Barrio, Whitney Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, the Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

To get there take the to 103rd Street or the 2 or 3 to Central Park North.

Admission is $10 for adults or if you live in the East Harlem neighborhood you can provide proof of address and say "I'm a neighbor" for free admission!

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street
New York, New York 10029
(212) 534-1672
www.mcny.org

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History captures its audience's attention instantly when you enter its rotunda and come face to face with a gigantic reproduction of a dinosaur. This museum has one of the foremost collections of dinosaur fossils. In addition to the dinosaurs there are stuffed mammals from around the globe, an amazing planetarium, and numerous exhibitions that change frequently. The museum began in 1869 and has maintained a strong presence since them in New York, the United States, and around the globe.

This museum is huge! I would devote at least a couple of hours to seeing the exhibitions and being able to go through one of the feature exhibitions, IMAX shows, or the planetarium. The museum is frequented by families and tourists so there is always a crowd. On a nice day you can sit on the steps and take a break or head across the street to Central Park for a picnic or a walk.

Admission starts at $16 for adults and there are deals available that allow you to see various special exhibits too.

Take the B (weekdays) or C to 81 Street or the 1 to Broadway and West 79th Street.
You can enter on Central Park West and 79th Street or on 81st Street between Central Park West and Columbus Ave.

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, New York 10024
(212) 769-5100
www.amnh.org

After the museum you can grab a delicious burger or some Tex-Mex at Jackson Hole Burgers on W85th and Columbus Ave http://www.jacksonholeburgers.com/default.htm

Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Tenements were the first homes for many immigrants to the United States through Ellis Island. They were large buildings that had multiple families living in apartments on one floor. Often times the families' apartments consisted of about four rooms, not much space for a large family. Families often shared one bathroom on each floor and had to worry about fires, crime, and living in an environment where possbily few people spoke their language.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is an actual tenement building at 97 Orchard Street. The building was operational as a tenement from the 1860s to the 1950s, providing a home for over 7,000 families. The renovation began with the museum's founder, Ruth Abram, wanting to honor and preserve the memory of the nation's immigrantion population from the late 1800s and early 1900s. After several years of searching they found the tenement deteriorating behind an old store front. Reasearch began on this site and renovation began a few years later. The museum opened in 1992.
Over the course of its operation six apartments have been restored with a different family that actually lived in the apartment featured.

This museum is very unique because it is not set apart from other buildings around it. The building that you enter is a part of a very active Lower East Side street near 2nd Ave. You get the feeling walking into the narrow hallway, up narrow stairs and into small apartments what it felt like to have to be in this space for a long period of time. Small groups are taken on tours of their choosing by a museum guide who gives a talk related to the specific family and their experience. One of the most interesting things about the museum is that the researchers have actually found former residents of the tenement who gave their accounts of growing up there. They have also found pictures of the tenement from the early 20th century and have recovered artifacts buried at the site.

This is a small museum that does great things! I definitely recommend going and taking one of the tours of your choosing. There is a museum gift shop and also free talks and educational classes offered at the museum.

After going to the museum grab a classic deli sandwich at one of the oldest operating traditional deli restaurants, Katz's Delicatessen. www.katzdeli.com

Take the B or D to Grand Street, F to Delancey Street, J/M/Z to Essex Street walk two blocks away from the Williamsburg Bridge to Orchard Street, turn left and walk 1/2 block south.


Lower East Side Tenement Museum
108 Orchard Street
(212) 982-8420
www.tenement.org
http://tenement-museum.blogspot.com/
Follow on Twitter: @tenementtalks @tenementmuseum

Ellis Island

Ellis Island is located next to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. 12 million immigrants came through Ellis Island between 1892 to 1954. Forty percent of Americans have ancestors or relatives that came through the Ellis Island majorily from Europe. Have you seen The Godfather Part II? In the very beginning a young Vito Andolini, whose name was changed by an immigration official to Corleone, came to Ellis Island from Sicily and was put into the Ellis Island hospital before being released where he later settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Many Americans went through a perilous adventure on the sea to come to the United States with little or no money and not a clear indication of what would happen to them once they stepped off of the boat into America. The process of getting here was perilous but the waiting to be cleared to get through immigration was also. There were immigrants who were turned away because of illness (real or suspected), died after contracting diseases on the boat, or were young children or teens without anyone to rely on. Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty signified the beginning of the new lives that immigrants came searching for in America.

Interesting fact: The first immigrant to come through Ellis Island was 10 year old Annie Moore from Ireland.

Well-known immigrants: Frank Capra, Xavier Cugat, Max Factor, Bob Hope, Irving Berlin, and Rudolph  Valentino

Ellis Island was opened as a museum in 1990. Since that time they have developed a geneology center that helps visitors track their relatives through ship manifests and institution records. Visitors can gain a first hand account of what the rooms in Ellis Island were like, where immigrants stood waiting to be recorded in ledgers and checked out by physicians before being given the OK to go into Manhattan, and items from the period that were used by and for immigrants and the officials who managed the facility.

The museum is extremely vast and they have so much information to take in that I would suggest donating the better part of a day to going there if you don't have young children who might be bored after an hour or more. It truly is amazing to think of how many people came through Ellis Island and all the trials they went through to get to America.

Tickets for Ellis Island are also sold at Castle Clinton in Battery Square Park along with the tickets to get to the Statue of Liberty. They begin at $12.00 for adults.

Ellis Island

New York, New York 10004

(212) 363-3200

http://www.nps.gov/

http://www.ellisisland.org/

Take the 1 to South Ferry Station, the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green Station or the R/W to Whitehall Station

You can also get to both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey by the New Jersey Ferry. Purchase tickets for the New Jersey Ferry from Central Railroad Terminal Building and Museum in Liberty State Park.

Also be sure to have a sweater or jacket in late spring or fall because the boat ride can get really chilly! If you want to draw some connections between the immigration to America and the next stop for many in their new country check out the Lower East Side Tenement Museum!

The Statue of Liberty

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." - Emma Lazarus

For me the Statue of Liberty is the iconic symbol of New York. I never get tired of seeing it. It is just as much a symbol of New York as it is for the United States. The statue was completed in July 1884 as a present from Edouard de Laboulaye who commissioned the statue to be designed by artist Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. The statue was given to the United States to celebrate the democracy that existed from the time of the American Revolution when France and the new country had formed an alliance. The French supplied the statue and the Americans supplied the pedastal she would stand on. Liberty officially arrived to the United States in June 1885 and was placed on Bedloe's Island which became Liberty Island in 1956. The statue was dedicated in October 1886.

The Statue of Liberty is located near Battery Park. The tickets to take the ferry to the statue are sold in the park at Castle Clinton. They start at $12.00 for adults. If you are taking the ferry in early spring or late fall be sure to take a jacket or sweater because it can be very chilly on the ferry during those times of the year. If you are wondering what else to do while you are in the area there are plenty of places to see. You will be near Wall Street, the World Trade Center site, the United Nations, the Staten Island Ferry, Ellis Island (accessible by ferry as well), Southside Seaport, the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan's only grocery store with a parking lot, Trinity Church, Boss Tweed Couthouse, City Hall, and Smithsonian Instituiton's Museum of the American Indian.

To get to the Statue of Liberty take the 1 train to South Ferry Station, 4 or 5 to the Bowling Green Station, or R/W to the Whitehall Street Station.

National Park Service
Statue of Liberty, Liberty Island
New York, New York 10004
(212) 363-3200
http://www.nps.gov/

Apollo Theater

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. The theater is located on 125th Street and designated by its famous yellow sign with the red letters. The theater seats little more than 1,500 people but had an ornate early twentieth century design with red velevet covered seats and two balconies. The tour guide for the theater is Billy Mitchell, who is just as much a part of the Apollo's history as the building itself. He has worked in many capacities with the theater since 1964 and has witnessed much of the history of the venue itself as he will tell you. The Apollo still hosts concerts, musicals, and its most famous event Amateur Night. The television show that most people are familiar with ended two years ago. The Apollo is definitely a must see if you are visiting New York or taking a trip up to Harlem. In this day and age where many buildings are torn down too quickly and then memorialized with a marker, the Apollo has survived thankfully due to the foresight from those who treasured its history and importance to the community and to American music and culture. This is the place that launched the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, James Brown, The Jackson 5, Jimi Hendrix, Dionne Warwick, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and many others. This year in particular is a special year because the Apollo celebrates it's 75th anniversary! And it's still going strong!

After you go to the Apollo go have some soul food at famed restaurant Sylvia's just a block and a half north to the left on Lenox Ave (Malcolm X Blvd).

To get there just take the 2 or 3 going Uptown and get off at 125th Street or take the 1 get off at 72nd Street and switch to the 2 or 3.

Don't forget to rub the Tree of Hope for good luck!

Apollo Theater
253 125th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues
(212) 531-5300
http://www.apollotheater.org/