Houdini's NYC boyhood home today

Site of the Weiss home today.

A modern condo now stands at the site of 305 East 69th Street where the Weiss family lived while Houdini was a teen. How ironic that this neighborhood which was once a refuge for poor Jewish immigrates is today among the most expensive places to live in New York City. Oh to be a slum lord with foresight in 1880!

Just up the street is the site of Mrs. Leffler's boarding house at East 79th Street where the Weiss family first stayed upon their arrival in New York. Incredibly, the building still stands and would be recognizable to Houdini today.

Mrs. Leffler's boarding house.

This post originally appeared on www.houdini-lives.com.