December 16

New York is a city filled with niche museums and even a tireless visitor would be hard pressed to visit more than a handful of them during their stay. To name just a few, there is the American Folk Art Museum, the Fisher Landau Center, the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, The Cloisters (highly recommended), the American Numismatic Society, the New York Hysterical Society (ooops… I mean Historical Society), the National Museum of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History, and, last but definitely not least, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum opened its doors, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on the 16th in 1899. Being a resident of the finest of New York’s five boroughs, Brooklyn, whose official slogan is ‘Brooklyn, where the weak are killed and eaten’, I paid a visit to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum one afternoon recently. The museum was expanded, beginning in 1930, with the aid of hundreds of artists and artisans courtesy of the Works Progress Administration; the site is really quite impressive. There are over 27,000 items on display. Overall, however, I must admit that I was rather disappointed because in the entire place not a single child was on exhibit, not even a little one. It took a little time and a great deal of energy but I was eventually able to get the price of admission that I paid refunded.