Author: Harlem Shill

A fascinating 1968 cover of a paperback edition of the East Harlem classic Down These Mean Streets shows what the marketing team at Signet Non-Fiction thought was an image of hell. A black and white photo of the backyard view of two rows of tenements, with laundry lines strung from building to building. That same…

If you’re interested in engaging young people in an Earth Day activity, the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board is starting a zero waste effort in Harlem. This project will start with a fun Earth Day campaign/contest that includes asking students to draw signs that will be posted in tree beds. The signs will be directed…

Please mark your calendars. You are invited to attend the March HNBA community gathering next Tuesday, March 12th. We’ll meet at 2306 3rd Avenue (the Salvation Army building) at 7:00 PM, and yes, we’re expecting you. Starting at 7:00, we’ll have two presentations. First, we’ll meet Tapashi Narine, the new administrator for Harlem’s four historic…

The campaign is heating up. William Smith has entered the race for the New York State 68th Assembly District. Smith writes: I hope this message finds you well. I am excited to announce my candidacy for the New York State Assembly, representing the vibrant and diverse 68th District. As a lifelong resident of this district,…

Sunday Afternoon (March 3rd, 3:30 – 4:30 pm) at Elmendorf Church Everyone is welcome to join an amazing afternoon of jazz, gospel and blues at the historic home church of the Harlem African Burial Ground. Sunday Afternoon at Elmendorf An afternoon of jazz, gospel and blues at the historic home church of the Harlem African…

The building at 2201 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd is currently being converted from a residential building to another homeless shelter. Community push-back has been intense, and the organizers are hoping you’ll get involved in advocating that this building be used as permanent, affordable housing, and not another Harlem homeless shelter. In February, a tour…

If you’ve been along Park Avenue and seen the work the Park Avenue Viaduct team and contractor has been doing to replace the viaduct while it remains in operation, it’s clear that the MTA is putting incredible resources into this replacement. The main reason for the urgency of the work is simply that the steel…

Death is, of course, the worst health outcome. Many deaths are preventable. The map (below) of premature mortality lets us look at deaths before age 65. It can be a useful way to indicate the overall health of the population. See more, here: https://a816-dohbesp.nyc.gov/IndicatorPublic/beta/data-explorer/mortality/?id=2322#display=map Grandma’s Place on WNYC WNYC had a great piece on the…

For a few glimpses of Metro North’s 125th Street Station in the 1990’s, check out these stills from Marshall’s that were suggested by one of our readers. The grimy yellow brick commercial building between 130th and 131st Street (and Park Avenue) is and abandoned and gritty last view of East Harlem before the MTA train…

The asylum seekers’ influx into NYC will likely change this map profoundly in the coming years, but here is the current distribution of New Yorkers with limited English: Note that north-west Harlem and southern East Harlem have the highest density of Limited English speakers in our area. See more here: https://a816-dohbesp.nyc.gov/IndicatorPublic/beta/data-explorer/social-conditions/?id=2335#display=map Sidewalk Sheds + Art…

Maple Court is a 135-unit elevator building surrounding a landscaped courtyard in East Harlem, across from Marcus Garvey Park. Maple Courst was developed in the late 1990s as a publicly assisted limited-equity cooperative with additional medical office space, storage and on-site parking for 83 cars. When it was first brought online, Maple Court was East…