Our First Site Visit

No, not a web site -- we're looking at Bar Mitzvah party sites.

There's an astonishing museum in our city designed and built in an abandoned warehouse by a madman who apparently never outgrew playing with Legos.  It opened about ten years ago with a kind of indoor playground that resembles what I imagine a Dungeons & Dragons set might look like (not that I have the vaguest idea what Dungeons & Dragons is like -- I was a different kind of nerd.)

There are fountains and hollow trees and haunted caves and rope ladders, all made from discarded building and restaurant and factory components and decorated with wondrous mosaics made from broken dishes and glassware.  There's a slide made from the closely spaced rotating thingies on conveyor belts, kind of like these, except without the wimpy padding and each one painted with abstract designs:

They have a small train circling one of the floors, a one-ring circus, and rotating exhibits involving things like atrocious bridesmaid dresses or a collection of extravagant vintage evening bags.  The building is decorated with reclaimed architectural features like columns and gargoyles.  When the place opened my family was convinced it would close within a year; nobody, we were certain, would want to schlep all the way downtown just to play in a warehouse filled with entertainments made from junk.

How wrong we were!  The museum is thriving, adding new attractions and features all the time, and has become a destination for weddings, parties and celebrations.  What a fantastic location for a bar mitzvah party, huh?  We wouldn't have to decorate much, as the building sort of speaks for itself, and as long as none of the guests loses a limb we'll be in good shape.

Robespierre and Cleo and I are taking a tour next week.

Read more about our Bar Mitzvah hunt.

What are those conveyor belt thingies called?

Visit FeeFiFoto for personalized Bar Mitzvah party favors.  Put photos of the guests on ceramic tiles for a great commemorative gift.

Comments

[Haney]

haha...my nephew would love to slide down that!

[kim]

My kids would have a blast at this location.

[feefifoto]

Everyone has a blast there. I'm debating the wisdom of allowing a bunch of 13-year-olds to run around unsupervised, or whether I should bring in entertainments like gambling or something to keep them in one place. Bringing entertainments into a place like this seems redundant and pretentious, so I'm still on the fence.