Welcome to Harlem’s Newsletter
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Blank Check
While the phrase ‘blank check’ may live on, increasing numbers of young people have very little experience with physical checks. When I saw this pristine blank check from the Harlem and Spuyten Duyvil Navigation Co. for sale on Ebay, I was taken by the partially prefilled-out date: “187_” The image on the left-hand side of…
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The Worst Subway Stations
The MTA’s customers have spoken. Harlem and East Harlem have some of the dirtiest stations, with the most open drug use on the platforms, and begging in the mezzanine. https://new.mta.info/document/95531 In the spring survey of MTA riders, Harlem riders expressed frustration that their departure stations looked so much worse than the ones they exited. Get…
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Terrorist Bombing in Harlem
In 1914, an otherwise non-descript tenement in East Harlem looked like this: The location is on Lexington Ave. near 103rd Street East, and remarkably, they repaired this damage – rather than tear down the building (admittedly, the building was only 4 years old at the time – it was built in 1910): At 9:16 a.m.…
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Lenox and 135th Street
This photo of a Harlem street scene is labeled Lenox and 135th Street, and is dated March 23, 1939: Where exactly was the photo taken? First of all, the metal structure on the left (note the rivets holding it together, showing that it’s a metal structure): is clearly a subway entrance: that has a newsstand…
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1936 Harlem’s ‘Voodoo Macbeth’
Before Citizen Kane and The War of the Worlds, leading Broadway actress Rose McClendon and producer John Houseman convince a gifted but untested 20-year-old Orson Welles to direct Shakespeare’s Macbeth with an all-Black cast in Harlem. Reimagined in a Haitian setting, this revolutionary 1936 production, which came to be known as “Voodoo Macbeth,” was fraught with cast/director clashes – particularly…
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THE 29TH ANNUAL HARLEM HOLIDAY LIGHTS
The traditional Harlem Holiday Lights celebration, a production coordinated by the 125th Street Business Improvement District (BID), in partnership with Manhattan Community Boards 9 and 10, as well as Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association, is focusing on a call for Unity and Peace in the Community, as the theme of the 29th year of…
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Holiday Saturdays in East Harlem
The Harlem Night Market is back this holiday season! So mark your calendar for three weekends of fun, food & winter shopping at the historic La Marqueta. Come through to support local entrepreneurs and go home with some of the best eats, drinks & gifts in the neighborhood. D.J.s Stormin’ Norman and Ted Smooth will be bringing us back to the…
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Young People On The Move
The census has a great site, Migration Patterns – https://migrationpatterns.org/ – that looks at where young people moving to New York and moving out of New York, are coming/going from/to. First of all, where are young people who leave NYC going? While 79% of young people stayed in NYC, the rest headed to the counties…
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Harlem Garlic Pepper
Enhance all your recipes from pasta, rice and veggies to meat, poultry and fish with Badia Harlem Garlic Pepper, a zesty blend of black pepper and granulated garlic with just a touch of salt for added flavor. How to Give Back (for free) HarlemWorld has a great article on how to give back to the…
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Shams De Barron – Harlem Housing Activist
Newsy offers an in-depth look at the homelessness crisis on America’s streets through the eyes of Shams DaBaron (AKA “Da Homeless Hero“) and others experiencing homelessness. Shams puts forth his ambitious “housing-first” program as a solution to the city’s homelessness crisis and a national model for housing those in need. https://www.newsy.com/stories/in-real-life-homeless-hero/ As Seen In Harlem
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Uptowner Reports on CB11 and DSNY
Jessica Elliott, chair of the environment, open spaces and parks committee for Community Board 11 in East Harlem, argues that the neighborhood is oversaturated with sanitation facilities. It also hosts a garage for Manhattan District 10, the Manhattan Cleaning Lot and various parking lots. The lot on East 123rd Street is taking up land that the city…
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7th Avenue
Ephemeral New York highlighted a postcard recently that featured a broad, earthen boulevard, stately apartment buildings, and horses and carriages. The postcard clearly states it was taken on 7th Avenue, but where? Ephemeral New York suggested that the regularity of buildings on view would suggest it’s uptown, in Harlem. Taking a careful look at the…
