It was a bum out that Hurricane Sandy damaged a whole bunch of Isamu Noguchi’s works in storage in Long Island City, but all the Googling about it made us discover that he was a total babe! The waterfront museum/sculpture garden has about 360 of the artist’s original sculptures, many of which were installed by Noguchi himself.

Noguchi bought an old photogravure plant in the 1970s and eventually turned it into the museum which opened in 1985. An old tree was on the property, and not wanting to disturb it, basically planned the museum around it. Unfortunately, it died in 2008, so the museum hired artist collective Tree of Heaven Woodshop, who made the tree a permanent fixture in the museum- as benches and sculptures.

Who: Isamu Noguchi

What: The Noguchi Museum

Where: 3237 Vernon Boulevard  Long Island City, NY 11106