The Lower East Side Tenement Museum can only be accessed by guided tour. The gift shop is where tickets are purchased and where you can view a 1/2 hour long video about the history of the Lower East Side, which was very interesting.
There are a few different tours available and we took the "Getting By: Weathering the Great Depressions of 1873 and 1929" tour. The guide was very informative and easy to listen to. The tour takes you through two of the apartments. One is modelled to look like the family apartment in the 1870's and the other in the 1930's. You also get a glimpse of what the building looked like in the 1980's when it was discovered empty and was subsequently made into the museum. The tour and tenement are a great glimpse into the life of New York immigrants over the years. The tour costs $10 per adult.