I came across a photo of the street scene in front of the Apollo from 1963 – almost 60 years ago:
It was great to see Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and other amazing acts featured, but I was intrigued by the steak house next-door (east) called Harlem Embers.
In the 1940’s the NYC tax photos show this location as housing a very different business:
A Men’s Wear store.
Seawall
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing a seawall along the FDR to protect East Harlem from coastal flooding.
The image below shows a section of the FDR, with one of the towers on the 103rd Street bridge in the distance on the right:
And below, a view looking northward from atop the proposed seawall, with the northbound FDR on the left, and the 145th Street Bridge in the distance:
To watch a news piece on the proposal, see: