The New York City Fire Museum in Soho
Over the summer, many kids go away to camp. As we get older and older, less and less camps allow you to go. So what can you do all summer to make sure you do not rot at home all summer.
The NYC iSchool is located in SoHo, a very fun neighborhood with tons of things to do over the summer. Not only are there plenty of museums to visit, but there are also lots of stores to shop in, programs to participate in, and even job opportunities in the area.
Some of these museums include the Drawing Center, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, the New York City Fire Museum, and several others scattered all around the neighborhood.
The Drawing Center is a nonprofit organization where the focus is only on drawings, both contemporary and historical. Works often push the envelope on what’s considered a drawing, and many projects are commissioned. It is located on 35 Wooster St., between Broome and Grand Streets.
The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, located at 594 Broadway between West Houston and Prince Streets, is a great small museum in the neighborhood, featuring smartly curated artist spotlights and genre exhibits.
At the New York City Fire Museum, retired firefighters volunteer their time to answer visitors’ questions. The collection of firefighting tools from the 18th century to the present includes hand-pulled and horse-drawn engines, speaking trumpets, pumps, and uniforms. A memorial exhibit with photos, paintings, children’s artwork, and found objects relating to the September 11 attacks is also on view. The museum is two subway stops north of the Ground Zero site on the E train, located at 278 Spring St., between Hudson and Varick Streets.
SoHo as a specifically-zoned neighborhood is bounded roughly by Houston Street on the northern side,Lafayette Street and Centre Street on the east, Canal Street on the south, and West Broadway on the west. After World War II, the textile industry largely moved to the TSouth, leaving many large buildings in the district unoccupied. In some buildings they were replaced by warehouses and printing plants, and other buildings were torn down to be replaced by gas stations, auto repair shops and parking lots and garages. By the 1950s, the area had become known as Hell’s Hundred Acres, an industrial wasteland, full of sweatshops and small factories in the daytime, but empty at night. It would not be until the 1960s, when artists began to be interested in the tall ceilings and many windows of the empty manufacturing lofts, that the character of the neighborhood began to change again.
