A series of images for sale on Ebay from June 1945 and a Harlem Blues nightclub named: Elks Rendezvous.
The club was located at 133 and Lenox Ave, and featured distinctive ‘target’ tables.
The Smithsonian’s collection in Washington DC includes a table knocker from the Elks Rendezvous in the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Vicki Gold Levi
An Elk’s Rendezvous cabaret table knocker in the shape of a small mallet. The head is a small wooden cylinder with several incised lines running around the circumference. The head is painted red. The handle, a simple straight stick, has the words “Elks Rendezvous / Harlem’s Foremost Cabaret / 133rd St. & Lenox Ave. NYC / 3 Shows Nightly AU -8111” is stamped lengthways along it. Stamped on either side of the text is a geometric pattern in orange ink.
Gambling and entertainment in Harlem’s finest casino.
Built in 1889, this was the place to be seen in the late Victorian era.
And this is the view, today:
A fascinating transformation.
Ballot Initiatives
The election is coming up and we need to flip the ballot!
“People hear me saying all the time: Flip the ballot. Flip it, or you’ll miss it,” said Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and chair of the 11-member Racial Justice Commission that crafted the questions. “Because we have an opportunity – a historic opportunity – to shape the future of our city.”
The three ballot questions – on the back side of the Nov. 8 ballot – would require the city to abide by new sweeping equity goals, create an agency and commission overseeing a new racial equity goal-setting process, and annually measure a new “true cost of living” metric to inform policy decisions.
For the first time in the United States, racial justice is on the ballot:
All New Yorkers, regardless of citizenship, status, will have a say in how to spend $5 million of mayoral expense funding to address local community needs. All residents are invited to participate in the first phase of the process, idea generation, and all residents aged 11 and older will be eligible to vote. The People’s Money builds on the foundation laid by the Civic Engagement Commission’s 2021 local process, which engaged residents of the 33 neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19 in a $1.3 million participatory budgeting process.
The People’s Money, with funding from the Mayor’s office, will go exclusively to expense projects, programs and services that directly help residents in their day to day lives.
A view of Zip Code 10035 from the 2020 Census. You can see that over the last 30 years, the percentage of Asian residents increased from 1% to 6%.
In this map of northern Manhattan (above) you can see the grayer areas where the percentage of Asian New Yorkers went down, and the green areas, where the percentage of Asians increased.
You can watch them run up 1st Avenue, or down 5th Avenue, in either case, it’s an exciting and inspirational view. So many people putting so much effort into pushing themselves farther and farther.
Bring a bell, a horn, a pot, or a great pair of lungs and cheer on everyone who makes this race so inspirational.
