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 slight differences.
When zoomed in, note what Harlem ‘looked like’ in the mid 17th century (see the houses marked 18 and 19 as being around 2nd Avenue and 103rd street:
Recently, in Boston, I spotted a Haarlem town hall painting from the Museum of Fine Arts, which depicted Haarlem at almost the exact same time (1630), across the Atlantic:
The work is by Pieter Saenredam and commemorates the entry of the Prince of Orange into Haarlem. Pieter Post painted the figures while Pieter Saenredam painted the townscape.
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 the designer and the installer. The sundial is upside down:
The photo (above) was taken around 8 in the morning, yet seems to be indicating that it’s 9 pm at night.
What has happened is the gnomon has been mounted upside down, and as a consequence, the numbers and their position make no sense.
Take a look at the image below, with a gnomon correctly aligned on a downward 45 degree slope:
If you’d like to try making one yourself, here’s a great place to start:
7:00 – [email protected] – Join to learn how Kristin Jordan – a candidate for City Council district 9 – will address the burden that our part of the district bears with 2 sanitation garages, the M35 Bus, numerous homeless shelters, and the Lee Building’s infamous role as a regional methadone megacenter.)
7:30 – rankthevotenyc – Nicole from Rank The Vote NYC will lead us through the maze of Ranked Choice Voting and how it works.
8:00 – Mark Levine: Mark will introduce himself and his candidacy for Manhattan Borough President. We will open the 1/2 hour up for HNBA members to talk to Mark and learn more about his thoughts on the burden that our part of the district bears with 2 sanitation garages, the M35 Bus, numerous homeless shelters, and the Lee Building’s infamous role as a regional methadone megacenter.
This amazing film takes footage shot in Marcus Garvey Park (Mount Morris Park at the time) during a multi-week music festival – The Harlem Cultural Festival – in 1969.
While (whiter) Woodstock etched itself in the minds of a generation, The Harlem Cultural Festival thrilled Black New York but was largely ignored during the summer of 1969 (and afterwards) in mainstream America. Questlove worked to secure access to the incredbly rich audio and video of the festival and has combined this 1969 material with additional footage from the 1960’s and contemporary interviews with people who attended or performed at the festival.
The stage was setup in the north-west corner of the park, and with no swimming pool at the time, the audience filled the park south of the stage, and up onto the rocks of that now bolster the pool.
The line-up was a catholic gathering of a wide range of music of the time – gospel, blues, jazz, salsa, rock, pop, spoken word, and more.
The film is simply amazing. Keep this jewel on your radar and make sure to see it when it is released to the public.
