The culture, music, art, people, food, and spirited overall vibe of uptown New York City’s Harlem neighbourhood are beckoning the attentions and affections of not only New Yorkers, but of the rest of the world. Harlem has by no means laid inert before now; the area was in the vanguard of its eponymous renaissance – the epitome of musical, artistic, literary, theatrical, creative, cultural, sartorial, intellectual and social shifts of the 1920s African-American populated metropolis, begetting loads of memorable icons like W E B Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, and paving the way for the sensational icons that would follow in their footsteps; stars like Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Stevie Wonder would later launch their careers at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater.
Not to be overlooked, the restaurant scene in Harlem has exploded in the last few years. Amy Ruth’s, Sylvia’s, Corner Social, Patsy’s Pizza, and Red Rooster can be found staking claim on the east side, with Harlem Public, Lido, Minton’s, and Vinatería holding down the west. Not that all of these are newbies to the neighbourhood – Sylvia’s soul food joint, to name just one, is a staple institution, and has been exemplifying the culinary culture of Harlem for decades, only to recently have found itself at the forefront of epicurean recognition the neighbourhood’s been long due for.
The Apollo Theater
Though the food, the art and culture and music, the parks, the museums, the religious institutions, the cafés, and the nightlife are not to be overlooked, there’s a great amount to be said for the people of Harlem. Walking the urban Harlem streets, there’s a powerful and determined aura of the vestiges of the Renaissance era. There’s also, though, an unabashed recognition of the present Harlem, the Harlem whose diversity runs the gamut, whose open arms make way for the new amidst a preservation of the old, a Harlem who’s as accessible and whose spirit is as essential to the character of New York City as it ever has been.
Learn more about Harlem in celebration of US Black History Month through NYC & Company’s Neighborhood x Neighborhood campaign, with history factoids and local recommendations by Harlemites themselves.
Cover image is of the interior of Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater, taken by Kate Glicksberg and courtesy of NYC & Company