Welcome to Harlem’s Newsletter

  • Denuded
    Denuded

    This photo from the Museum of the City of New York shows how denuded of trees Highbridge Park in Washington Heights was in 1960. The photo was taken by Gary Winogrand. Proposed New Women’s Jail To Be Located in Harlem Nick Garber, from Patch.com, is reporting that activists for the incarcerated are pushing the city…

  • Happy 4th of July
    Happy 4th of July

    1619 On this independence day, take a moment to listen to Nikole Hannah-Jones talk about her journey to bring the 1619 Project to fruition, its impact, and where she wants to go from here. Codeswitch – The 1619 Project What stories do we learn about the history of the United States? Who dreamed up those…

  • HCCI Coops Coming to Harlem
    HCCI Coops Coming to Harlem

    A new public-private development partnership led by Exact Capital will create two new affordable cooperative buildings in West Harlem, Manhattan. The new buildings will be built on vacant parcels at 207-209 West 140 Street and 304 West 150 Street, and create a total of 52 homes. The taller property at 304 West 150 Street will top out at 12 stories with…

  • Cantilever
    Cantilever

    I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but in the last decade, the number of cantilever buildings (exploiting air rights, mostly) seems to have exploded. This proposed building (for lower Manhattan) is particularly dramatic: But uptown is not without cantilever buildings, even if the extra engineering costs rarely justify the design. Perhaps the best known…

  • Marcus Garvey

    An audio recording of Marcus Garvey as he outlines the goals of the Universal Negro Improvement Association made in New York in July 1921, and adapted from his longer speech “A Membership Appeal from Marcus Garvey to the Negro Citizens of New York Jamaica’s National Hero was born in St. Ann’s Bay, St. Ann, on…

  • Children and Family-Focused Block Party Coming to East 126th Street
    Children and Family-Focused Block Party Coming to East 126th Street

    The 2041 5th Ave Co-Op on the corner of 126/5th will be hosting a children and family-focused block party on Saturday, July 23rd. The block party will be held on East 126th Street between Madison and 5th. The event is being held to celebrate the children in the community and everyone who is young at…

  • All Saints
    All Saints

    The large former Catholic Church of All Saints at the corner of East 129th Street and Madison Avenue is currently under massive renovation – all in preparation for serving as a school in 2023. This scene, from the film Cotton Comes to Harlem, shows the church and the block in 1969 Note the relatively treeless…

  • Vote Today!
    Vote Today!

    Make sure to head to the polls today to vote for Governor and State Assembly (among others). Church > Synagogue > Shake Shack On the north-west corner of 5th and 125th Street, the lot occupied by Shake Shack and the check cashing business was, at one point the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church of Harlem. In…

  • Harlem Hellfighters Honored 104 Years Ago Today
    Harlem Hellfighters Honored 104 Years Ago Today

    The Canadian Observer, was a newspaper and the voice of the Black community in Toronto, published by J.R.B Whitney from 1914 to 1919. The paper was rooted in the descendants of former American slaves who traveled the Underground Railroad to Canada – the Underground Railroad and the quest for freedom in Canada is a central…

  • Morningside Park View
    Morningside Park View

    Ebay has a great postcard (sent with a 1 cent stamp to Newark, NJ) that looks down from Morningside Park to… Focusing on a very distinctive complex that takes up an entire block with white massed stonework on the lower two floors, and brickwork above: It’s possible to identify this building as being between 118th…

  • Black Cop
    Black Cop

    From 1969, a black and white report on the complexities of being a Black cop and the questions of allegiances – to the community (Central Harlem) or to the NYPD. In 1969 only 6% of the NYPD were Black officers. Kent Garrett produced this piece. You can see the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd…

  • City Council Districts to be Redrawn
    City Council Districts to be Redrawn

    Here’s How to Have Your Say in the Process: Here are all the slides from the HNBA power point presentation on redistricting of City Council seats. Here is the Redistricting Commission website – The website will have the most up to date information on the process, as it unfolds. The Staff memorandum has a good overview of why they chose…