Category: Culture
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Good News For Marcus Garvey Park
Some great CONFIRMED news coming up for all of us at Marcus Garvey Park & there is more good stuff brewing. FUNDING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE 1. $12 million designated by Mayor Adams for stone repair and rat abatement / awaiting information on timeline as this was recently announced. 2. $1.7 million allocated by City Council Member Kristin…
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Free Tickets
YOU’RE INVITED Hello! Please be our very special guest this week for two of “the most anticipated plays of 2023!” (NY Mag, Vulture). Complimentary tickets for WICG friends & family are available for select performances, Tue – Sun, details via the RSVP links below. Redeem 1-2 tickets for yourself, and please share this link with…
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Asian Americans in East Harlem
Bloomberg has a report on the growing number of Asian Americans living in East Harlem: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-03/why-asian-americans-are-moving-to-nyc-s-east-harlem Two of our Harlem neighbors – Eva and Lilian – formed the Upper Manhattan Asian American Alliance to support this growing community and to celebrate its contribution to the beautiful diversity of Harlem. Get Stuff Done (On Your Block)…
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Harlem Ephemera
Ebay had a rare item of Harlem ephemera up for auction – a noisemaker from the original Cotton Club. Note the reference to Cab Callaway on the back. Today’s view of Lenox and 142nd Street: Musica De Camara Concert VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO PURCHASE TICKETS Musica de Camara1215 5th Ave, Suite 1BNew York NY 10029email: MusicadeCamara25@gmail.comwebsite: www.MusicadeCamara25.com
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Haarlem vs. Harlem
The oldest map that shows habitation in Harlem is the Manatus Map from 1639. You can see Staten Island, Hell Gate, the Hudson river, etc. It’s unclear who the cartographer was, and the original drawing is lost. As a result, the image above is one of two later 17th-century copies made in the same studio with…
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Community Harm Reduction
The Greater Harlem Coalition’s Response to the Supervised Injection Site’s Partial Data For Their First Year In Harlem New York’s Nonprofit Media has released some of OnPoint’s data for year one of operation in East Harlem and Washington Heights (November 2021 to 2022): The Greater Harlem Coalition firmly supports compassionate intervention and the goal of saving…
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Connie’s Inn
The nondescript apartment building on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. between 131 and 132 Streets (shown above) was (during the Harlem Renaissance) the home of Connie’s Inn, an entertainment hot-spot and comparator with the Cotton Club. As with the Cotton Club, Connie’s Inn featured Black performers but did not allow Black audience members – restricting its audience…
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Sundial. Not.
If you’ve ever been headed northbound on Madison Avenue and at 118th Street noticed the Subway and the curious ‘sculpture’ on the wall next to the restaurant, you may have been puzzled as to what’s going on with what looks like a sundial. You’re right to be confused because something clearly was messed up between…
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Caribbean Club
The Caribbean Club sounds (and looks) great at this time of the year. This photo (for sale on Ebay) was taken in June 1945. Note the wrap-around balcony, and the dance barriers to keep dancers and diners from bumping into one another too much. The location near 139/ACP is now given over to Harlem Discount,…
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$7,500 Comic Book (with a book thrown in)
Ebay has a classic comic book with one of the most memorable illustrations of vice and its threat to the youth of Harlem on sale for $7,500, complete with an accompanying book. Harlem of the South Overtown, Miami:
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Strange Victory
In 1948, Leo Hurwitz released a stunningly powerful film that examined the promises made to Black Americans and American servicemen in particular and contrasted that with their experience in this country after helping to secure victory over Japan and Nazi Germany. The film, which is considered one of the best documentaries of the 20th century,…
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Harlem and The Bronx
This image from the 1930’s from a high vantage point (likely from the towering 555 Edgecombe Avenue), shows Harlem in the foreground and The Bronx in the background. What is now Jackie Robinson Park is immediately below (in the foreground) and you can see the distinctive kiosk shown in another 1930’s photo and from Google…
