Class Trips to the Holographic Studios

Visit the World’s Oldest Gallery of Holography

A class trip to the Holographic Studios is a unique experience. Visitors get to see amazing three dimensional images created in a subterranean laser laboratory located below the gallery. Imagine viewing images that appear fully three dimensional without wearing those funny 3D glasses. Its the magic of holography. Its like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

We begin your visit with an brief introductory talk by your host, Doctor Laser. He comes out dressed in a long white lab coat. Doctor Laser will tell the visitors all about the holograms they are looking at. After the group has had a chance to see the holograms, he begins his talk which is both informative and entertaining. Your group will learn all about how we see in three dimensions. Doctor Laser will ask people from the group to participate in a few simple demonstrations that never fail to bring a smile. After all, holography is a mixture of art and science, and we try to show how it is used in both ways. At the end of the talk Doctor Laser gives out free hologram stickers to all who attend, with the group leaders getting a special hologram. Follow up materials are available for group leaders to talk with the class about their experience back in the classroom. There is a one hundred dollar deposit required to book the tours. It is refundable up to 48 hours before the tour with written notice via email. The balance is due upon arrival.

The Tour – $299 per group (not to exceed 35 people at a time – larger groups can be split into two).

The gallery is about the size of a small boutique. There is a wide of variety of types of holograms on display. Your guide will give a brief talk about the holograms you see and explain how holography and 3D works. You will see: Images that jump right out of the hologram. Celebrity portraits including Andy Warhol, Phyllis Diller, Isaac Asimov among others. Holographic sculptures from Russian museums that look so real you will swear they are not holograms. The world’s largest collection of motion image holograms. Cylindrical holograms with fully moving images that are visible from all sides. Computer generated holograms. Holographic art. Multi-channel holograms that change from one image to another as you walk past them. Hologram stickers and novelties.

A group of from eight to ten people at a time is escorted down to the subterranean laboratory beneath the gallery where they get to see how holograms are made. The labs are an underground labyrinth illuminated in a dim green safe light. The brilliant primary color of the laser accents the holographic process.  The group gets to see some of the amazing qualities of laser light and how differently it appears when you see it close up.   It is a very surreal environment and an experience no one will ever forget. Principles of laser physics are demonstrated in an entertaining manner that borders on science fiction. Yet its all real.  Its an experience your group will never forget.

Directions to Holographic Studios

We are conveniently located in the heart of midtown Manhattan at storefront level on 240 East 26th Street, NY, NY 10010 between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

Driving:

The Holographic Studios are located at storefront level in a small brownstone on Manhattan’s East Side. The location is 240 East 26th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. There is both metered parking on the street as well as parking garages on every block in the area. Parking meters charge twenty five cents per ten minutes of parking time, so bring plenty of quarters if you plan to park on the street. Prices vary for the parking garages.
FDR Drive: Exit at 23rd Street and proceed west (its your only choice unless you want to drive into the East River). At 3rd Avenue make a right. In three blocks at 26th Street make the right and you are there.
Queens Midtown Tunnel:Get in the left lane. When you emerge in Manhattan make the left turn towards 2nd Avenue. You will get off on a side street and need to go right at the corner of 2nd Avenue a half block down. Continue on 2nd Avenue to 26th Street. You can park wherever you find a place, or you can make the right turn onto 25th Street. Then make the right at the first light (3rd Avenue) and go for a block and make a right again onto 26th Street. This is our block. Park at the first available spot.
West Side Highway:Exit at 23rd Street and go East until you reach 3rd Avenue. Make a left and go three blocks and turn right and you’re here.
Lincoln Tunnel:Get into the right most tube of the tunnel. Stay in the right lane and make the right turn when you exit the tunnel in Manhattan. This exit ramp will lead you South. Go as far south as you can and then follow the local road a half block West (left turn) to 9th Avenue. Turn right and go until you reach 26th Street. Turn left. Continue on 26th Street until you reach Third Avenue. Go straight through the intersection, we are on the right side of the block almost the whole way down just before you reach 2nd Avenue. Park your car wherever you can find a spot.

Subway:

The closest train line is the Lexington Avenue Local – the Number 6 train. You can take either the 23rd Street or 28th Street stations. You will be on Park Avenue. Head East. The next block you pass should be Lexington Avenue. (If you find yourself on Madison Avenue you have gone West by mistake, so in that event you should turn around and head the other way.) When you reach Third Avenue, walk over to 26th Street. We are located near the end of the block on the right (South) side a few building before 2nd Avenue.