The Morbid Anatomy Library and Gift Shop

A quaint little space within Industry City. I enjoyed my visit to the Morbid Anatomy Library. There's a few small displays of morbid anatomy. Overall this space is mostly a library and a gift shop, but that's nice. I got to visit Japan Village nearby, and then visit this place and quietly read some interesting books. The people that work there are nice and helpful. The library isn't just anatomy books, but also books regarding psychology and the occult. I wound up buying a book I never heard of before. I will say that I wish they had a larger tarot collection, but they did have some interesting decks to look at. They also have online events that I will look into.

From the oddities spread out throughout the space and the very curated selection of rare books. It's my favorite place to cozy up with a good book next to wet specimen, squirrel taxidermy, and a few "haunted" dolls, amongst many more things. If you like the strange and unusual, add this stop to your NYC itinerary!

The space is on the second floor, take the elevator or the stairs up and follow the signs. I never visited the original location prior to visiting this location inside of Industry City so I can't compare. It's a small space inside a room amongst other artist and creator studios in the renovated warehouse buildings of Industry City. If you are a fan of anything macabre, it's a neat place to visit with an interesting selection of library books you may peruse whilst visiting, but cannot remove from the space. There is also a small selection of gifts purchase. At this time there is a number of Krampus postcards and there will be a Krampus market coming up in a larger space nearby. Lectures and talks are sometimes hosted and to hear about them I was told to sign up for the newsletter. I'm glad this space exists as at times it can be difficult to find something so niche, even in NYC where you can find almost anything.

Tybalt was incredibly helpful in navigating the bizarre doorbell system, and also welcoming me to the space on my first solo visit, but also on bringing my partner and several others that had confessed to having struggled to find the space in and making us feel welcomed. They’re an incredible asset to the space, which is the most well-curated library room I’ve ever entered and a space I plan to make weekly visits to, and I straight up don’t know how I’d even manage to get into it without them. (Given the weird doorbell nonsense)

This is a must-visit for those with quirkier interests or if you have friends in town looking for random attractions. The $10 admission to the exhibit upstairs is a bit pricey (and no photos are allowed), so be sure you're into the exhibit before forking over the money. Otherwise, you can get lost in the library downstairs, checking out various pieces of taxidermy, cool books and chatting with the person at the register. They also offer taxidermy classes in the basement which are not open to being observed by the public, but I was told they sell out very quickly.

There is very little to see here for the 10$ admission fee. You're greeted by the one room that actually feels like a museum with very nice displays of various photographs and art pieces either depicting or inspired by death. The next room is smaller and contains many curios and oddities, this is the reading room. However nice things were it was in no way worth the money. Similarly the gift shop is filled with overpriced animal skeletons, books, and other things you can find online for much cheaper. If you're planning on going here make sure it's for an event they're having otherwise you might be let down by how little substance there is.

The only way to access the Anatomy library is through paid entrance fee for the museum. Lapin and I came here one Saturday as we found a Groupon discount and thought it would be a nice way to spend the day. We would been lucky to have spend more than 30 minutes at this museum. It was two small rooms [one is considered the exhibit room and the other is the library] that was filled with mostly photographs and here there hodge podge items. The most interesting thing was the persevered specimens but they weren't labelled. Honestly, this museum [if it should even be called that] was a waste of time and money. If you really wanted to read or see morbid anatomy, save yourselves the effort and time and just utilize Google.

Wow. No words can describe how cheated I felt after coming to the Morbid Anatomy Museum. I blame it on myself for not reading the Yelp reviews prior to my visit. Instead, I wasted 1.5 hours of my life, coming to Brooklyn from Manhattan, only to spend 10 minutes of my life (which I would have rather spent staring at the wall) in this so called museum. Now if you're still clamoring to come here and see what the fuss is about, the you can take the R Train down to 9th and walk a couple minutes to the Morbid Anatomy Museum. When approaching this spot, you'll realize that it definitely does not look like a museum. Instead, it appears to be half warehouse, half hipster coffee shop. Walk inside and you'll probably have the same reaction that I had once I arrived, confused and ready to be disappointed. The first floor of this museum is literally a hang out coffee shop. When I was there, there were around 3-4 other hipsters just hanging out and sipping on some coffee. Typical Brooklyn-ites right? Approach the register and he'll ask you to front $10 for admission to the museum. Shoot, for $10 I should have at least gotten a free coffee. Once you make your way upstairs, you'll see what is utterly disappointing about this place. There is literally one living room sized area, and a "library" towards the back where you can mosey around and check out random trinkets. What appalls me the most is the fact that this place is called the Morbid Anatomy Museum, but there is nothing remotely morbid nor anatomy-esque to be seen. Instead you'll find old portraits scattered along the wall. Now, I don't consider myself a huge museum buff, but I can spend a good 4-5 hours at the MoMA or a whole day at the Met. Here at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, I spent a grand total of 10 minutes, hating myself for letting me be tricked into spending $10 and a subway ride. Under no circumstances can I recommend coming to this place. If you want to see skeletons of animals, then just hop on the C Train and stop by Evolution in SoHo. It's free, larger, and hipster-free. Do not fall into this trap and get suckered for $10.