Category: Local Businesses
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Shoe Polish II
Back in April 2021 I posted this: If you’ve walked north on Madison from 125th Street you might have seen the faded ad on the side of an east-side building: Looking carefully, you’ll see it’s an ad for shoe polish. The brand of which I can’t make out: Shoe Polish Improves your Appearance Shoe Polish…
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Lasik? That’s from Harlem
The procedure known as Lasik Eye Surgery was developed and patented by the ophthalmologist Dr. Patricia Bath, who was born in Harlem in 1942. Bath was the first African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose and was also the founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in…
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Harlem > Chelsea
Forbes.com reported that Harlem Hops (the Black-owned and operated beer venue on ACP) has now opened its second location in a new food court – Market 57 at Pier 57 – in Chelsea. Kim Harris (a Harlem Hops co-owner) noted that years ago many Black people drank beer, but “we were inundated by malt liquor…
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(Un)Common Stock
This rather dull piece of Harlem ephemera – a 5 shares worth of stock in the Harlem Stock Exchange – doesn’t on it’s surface have much going for it. Almost the only thing of interest here is that of the $100,000 total amount of stock, a certain Julius D. Westmoreland owned 5 shares. And this…
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Izzi Spiller’s Band
A photo dated by an Ebay seller to 1936 of Harlem students in a percussion class. The drummer on the right has a drum with Izzie Spiller’s Band. Note the teacher, seated at the piano, and the white-faced drummer figure that is the focal point for the students’ gaze. Harlem Sign For $9,000 you can…
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Jobs Not Guns
Last month, Amsterdam News had a great article on how Uptown Grand Central is using $20,000 from the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, to fund clean-up around the Metro-North station and Northern East Harlem as a whole. “As part of our comprehensive gun violence strategy, we are focused on prevention efforts to keep young people engaged…
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The Fires
Most Harlem residents know about (or lived through) the era of disinvestment, redlining, and white-flight that disfigured Harlem in the second half of the 20th century. Many also know that this time was a time of countless fires that started from squalid living conditions, unmaintained building systems, apathy, simple arson, and calculated insurance fraud. The…
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Revisiting The 2020 Black Lives Matter Mural
The Next 60 Years for Sylvia’s Restaurant Sylvia’s Restaurant, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in August 2022, is a testament to the values instilled by the founder and matriarch, Sylvia Woods. She cultivated a strong community around her soul food restaurant in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood that has continued to thrive, even after her…
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Lenox and 116th Street
A few images from the intersection of Lenox and 116th Street. The first (above) shows the south facing view today. Below shows the same view from 1901 and the construction of what is now the 2/3 subway line: Looking northward, today’s view shows a building the is now a charter school on the north-west corner:…
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Under The Tracks
(from Uptown Grand Central’s newsletter) “The overhead lights in the back of a public plaza in East Harlem, mounted on a rusty viaduct that supports the Metro-North Railroad, were not working. And Carey King was panicking. Ms. King, who runs the plaza as the director of Uptown Grand Central, a nonprofit group formed by local…
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Omo Sade Skincare
Local businesswoman Sade Tyler started to sell her products on a table in front of the old Tower Records building in East Village, Manhattan. Also, back when corporate brands did not offer products for women of color, she was the first to set up a beauty kiosk in Allby Square mall in downtown Brooklyn. This…
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Mart 125
Here is your chance to have your say on what the future of Mart 125 should be: https://nycedc.formstack.com/forms/mart125 Found On The Street Sometimes the trash on the street catches your eye. This was seen blowing on the street last week
