How they lived

Dave's ancestors arrived in America at the turn of the century. Like many immigrants fleeing religious intolerance and violence in Russian and Slavic states, they entered through historic Ellis Island. Then they settled with their own in one of the most populated places in the world, the Lower East Side.

The area is still crammed with immigrants, but today they are mostly Chinese and Asian and the overall numbers don't climb nearly as high as they once did. You can visit and learn about the immigrant experience at the new Tenement Museum. (They wouldn't allow inside pictures)

I like museums, but I think this is one anyone can appreciate. The building opened in the 1880s, and was condemned as a living residence in 1935. The owners only rented out the storefront, and in 1988, a person looking for a place for a tenement museum found one that hadn't been touched in more than 50 years. That's pretty amazing in most any town, but in New York I'd say it's near miraculous. The building shows apartments that are dark, cramped and very stuffy. It's hard to believe people thought they were actually bettering their lives in a foreign country by moving into such a tight, wretched space...and then working alongside your family day and night sewing garments in that tight, wretched space.

(Of course all spaces in New York City are pretty tight, but at least you have air, running water, and hopefully, not 8 of your relatives living with you.)

It is easy to see why immigrants packed up and headed to the clean air state of Minnesota, which was being advertised as a "bug-free, healthy 'open-air hospital' with a moderate climate, to boot."

There's been alot of buzz about this museum in New England, and in the museum world. It's 17-bucks a ticket for a tour (and they offer several) but it's worth it.