The Strange Building in Bowery

Have you ever had a dream where you see a crazy looking building that is jutting out from all edges, you know something out of the ordinary? Okay, maybe you haven't. But now that I've got you thinking about it, don't you think it'd be weird to see a building like this in real life, or even be inside a building like this?

Well, if you happen to be on Bowery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, you're welcome to experience this strange place for yourself! This interesting place is called The New Museum and always has unique exhibits to match the exterior of the building. The building appears to be stacked on itself and constantly has different things on the outside of it. For a while, they used to have the words "Hell yeah!" in rainbow font, but have now switched it to being a pirate ship!

Image from wikipedia

Now I know what you might be thinking... "that does not look like a hole-in-the-wall kind of place!" Maybe it doesn't look like one, but I promise it is. Before I went inside, I hadn't even given the place a second glance on a walk down the street. Honestly, I thought it was some hipster building since they're constantly popping up around Manhattan. I'm so thankful I went in here, though, because it is definitely my favorite Museum in all of Manhattan.

The New Museum has been around for decades, but has only been at it's current location on Bowery since 2007. This building is extremely different from every other building surrounding it and causes the museum to stand out to anyone passing by from blocks away. The iconic design is one of the most amazing things about this place, beside the view that you can get in the building on that is absolutely breathtaking. I'll go more into that view a little later on, though.

The first time I ever went to The New Museum was an interesting experience. It was the first time I couldn't directly find a piece of artwork to connect with, but I had found everything so much more interesting than most art galleries. I took the time to read about each and every exhibit that was there and found myself engrossed in the weirdness that is this museum. Something that stands out to me was an odd video that was shown in a very dark room of people up close. Someone in the room was playing saxophone, but in a way that portrayed this video as people being stressed since the sax sounded so strained. It was definitely fascinating, to say the least.

On Saturdays and Sundays, those that go to The New Museum are in for a real treat. This treat is known as the Sky Deck and is only opened on the weekends. The Sky Deck is an room lined with windows, almost like a sunroom, and allows people to exit onto the large balcony outside. This view is my absolute favorite view of the Lower East Side and is one of the main reasons why this building is truly great. From seeing everything downtown to the skyline of the city, it is gorgeous.

Honestly, this place is pretty great. I encourage anyone going into the city to go check out whatever weird exhibit is now in this museum! It's also cheap, too! Half off students if you bring your ID, so enjoy!