Go-Go Gadgets

Illustration by Remie Geoffroi

Though it went on to become a proto-Skymall, Hammacher Schlemmer originally launched in 1848 as a Bowery hardware store. To mark its 165th anniversary, on November 22 the gizmo emporium will unveil the result of a yearlong renovation: Its midtown flagship (147 E. 57th St., at Lexington Ave.; 212-421-9002) now features a newly opened-up, easy-to-navigate floor plan thanks to blown-out walls and LED lighting. The geek bait is arranged by category: cleaning goods such as a robotic mop ($300); travel pieces like “the world’s lightest carry-on” suitcase, weighing just three and a half pounds ($140); grown-up toys like the motorized monocle shown here ($13,000). Smithsonian-scale items that were previously too big to display—­including a $90,000 watercraft shaped like a killer whale—are now suspended from the ceiling.

Go-Go Gadgets