what about the plastic animals?

Kalahari Begins Deconstructing Before Construction is Done

The Kalahari, whose construction I have lovingly chronicled through the last couple of years, began self-destructing Thursday afternoon (check out my fine Photoshop skills in that Gothamist article).  A three-story high chunk of the exterior wall on the 115th St. building peeled away and fell on the Harlem Market below.  By Thursday night a demolition crew had started removing the remainder of the wall's exterior.  The crew is just about done removing the exterior of the 116th St. building today.  There's more pictures in this Flickr set.

Former Mayors

Did you ever read something where the author was trying to make a point, but you couldn't figure out what point the author was trying to make?  On the New York Times City Room blog last week David Dunlap took a picture of a sign that happens to be across the street from my building.  It is the top sign above.  Dunlap was trying to, well, I'm not sure what he was trying to say.  My guess is he was shooting for "Har.  Har.  This here sign still has Rudy's name on it.  Isn't that funny?" 

If only Dunlap had walked to Lenox and peeked around the corner!  He would have seen the Ed Koch sign.  Had he walked further west on 116th he would have come across the David Dinkins sign.  Then again, this is the same reporter who was told his camera would be broken if he continued taking pictures of someone illegally attaching posters to street lamps, continued taking pictures.  His camera was broken (surprise!) and he was knocked to the ground.

The Koch sign is between 23 and 30 years old.  Koch was elected mayor in 1977 and Carol Bellamy was City Council President from 1978 to 1985.

Say No to Drugs and Violence

I've been wanting to take a picture of this mural for a long time.  The gate to the community garden was open Saturday afternoon so I ran in for a quick shot.

I don't know if the mural has any specific connection to the violent and drug-ridden history of the street.  The mural is on 116th St. just west of Frederick Douglass.  If you've seen the movie American Gangster or read this article in New York, you'll know the corner as being where Frank Lucas would sit in his beat-up car to observe his million dollar a day heroin sales.

The corner is much quieter today.  There is a bank branch, a halal deli, a bodega and an auto repair shop.  Around the corner on Frederick Douglass is a small wine store.  I hadn't been there before.  The small selection of wines were reasonably priced and the woman that was working there was very friendly.

Lenox Towers

Quiz time:  Name two elected officials that live here.

Hamilton Grange on the Move

Current home

Future home?

Hamilton Grange, Alexander Hamilton's farmhouse from 1802 until he was killed by Aaron Burr in an 1804 duel, is about to move.  Or not.  You see, this is one of those complicated New York real estate stories.

Hamilton, perhaps Columbia University's (then King's College) most important graduate, co-author of the Federalist Papers, founder of the Bank of New York, first Secretary of the Treasury, all-around hot-head, and scandalous adulterer, had this federal style house built on his 32-acre estate.  In 1889 the house was bought by St. Luke's Episcopal Church and moved two blocks to its present location.  As you can see it is hemmed in by the church on the right and an apartment building on the left.  The original entranceway and wraparound porch were removed.

In 1962, the National Park Service became the owner of the house.  In the early 1990s a plan was put in place to move the house down the block into St. Nicholas Park.  After many years funding was allocated and the house's new foundation is being prepared in the park.

Here's the catch.  The original orientation of the house was to have the front face southwest.  Were the grange to face southwest in the park the front entrance would be staring at the side of a cliff and the back of a City College building.  The Park Service decided to rotate the house so the front points northeast, toward 141st St.

The reorientation has some historic preservationists upset.  Last week the local Community Board voted to oppose the move.  I'm not sure how much sway that decision has with the city and National Park Service.

Two Views of 5th on the Park

Looking west from beyond Pleasant Ave on 120th St.

From atop the outcropping in Marcus Garvey Park

Although still under construction, 5th on the Park, the 28-story apartment building at Fifth Avenue and 120th Street is now a dominating presence on the local skyline.  It's taller than the fire watch tower in Marcus Garvey Park!

Neighborhood News

Two news items from the neighborhood this weekend.  Whoever does the market analysis for USA Today decided that our corner of Harlem now has enough people within their target market to distribute the paper here.  Several new boxes appeared along 116th sometime Saturday, including this one in front of my building.

Not that I am suggesting untoward behavior, but that box is not secured and would make an interesting end table/conversation piece.

The construction fence surrounding The Kalahari came down last week and a big sign went up on the building.  Gravel is in on the sidewalk and the concrete should be poured soon.   I think the doors pictured here will be the entrance to the movie theater.

On the negative side, the vendor that sold fruit on the west side of Lenox disappeared a couple of months ago.  The coffee and donut cart is still there, and has been joined by a second coffee and donut cart on the east side of the street.

Around the Neighborhood, Part 2

Graceline Court

Fifth on the Park

A couple more building sites from a New Year's Day walk. 

When I take photos from my apartment while facing west Graceline Court is the building under construction behind the mosque.  It will have 32 market-rate condos when completed.  Their website is horrible so look here for more information.

Fifth on the Park also has a crappy website so, once again, look to Wired New York for more information.  The first four floors will contain a church (which is now located next door).  The remaining floors will have 147 condo units, 47 rentals, and way too many parking spaces in an underground garage.

Around the Neighborhood, Part 1

Purple Reign reigns no more on Lenox Ave.

Might there be work being done on the long empty Lenox Ave. buildings?

Across 116th from the Kalahari, future home of SOHA Style.

The Kalahari

It has become somewhat of a tradition of mine to walk around the neighborhood on New Year's Day to see what's changed over the past year. 

Purple Reign was an upscale children's shoe boutique.  It was open for a year or two, and I'm surprised it lasted that long.  Up a block and across the street from the shoe store is a row of beautiful, mostly empty buildings.  Three were renovated several years ago, and now it looks like work has begun on a fourth.  The apartments in the new building across from the Kalahari, and down the block from me, have been occupied.  There's a sign in the ground floor window that SOHA Style, a home furnishings store, will be opening soon.

The Kalahari is expected to open this year.  It looks to me like the interior walls of the apartments are finished.  The ground floor commercial spaces are still under construction.  According to the Kalahari website, there's an open house this weekend.

Regun Theatre

You would never guess it is an old building but according to PropertyShark, the building that houses the fish market across the street from my apartment was constructed around 1913, possibly earlier.  One bored evening this summer I came across a Flickr photo of the storefront.  The picture is crap but the photographer is a movie house buff.  In an earlier life the Sea & Sea Fish Market was the Regun Theatre.

The Regun Theatre is known to have operated between 1916 and 1950.  On May 22nd, 1923 the theater hosted Annie Mathew's "Kiddies' Day", an event sponsored by the Register of New York County.  It was estimated that over 3000 children saw two performance that day.  According to the Times the kids were treated to "a first-class orchestra" as well as showings of "Daddy's Boy" and "The Little Church Around the Corner".  The highlight of the day was a performance by "Miss Rita Hogan, the youngest child actor in the "movies" who sang and danced for them [the kids] at both performances".

A couple months later the Regun was involved in an ugly incident next door.  The Regun screened movies on the roof during the summer.  The July 12th, 1923 issue of the Times reports that Jacob London, owner of the two six-story walk-up tenements next door filed suit against a number of his tenants.  The tenants, Mr. London alleged, were inviting friends over to watch the movies next door from the roof of their building.  Actually he asked for a restraining order to prevent his tenants from

congregating on the roof at any time to witness moving picture performances; from holding meetings or assemblages on the roof; from gathering collectively ion the roof for social or amusement purposes; from occupying windows connected with the common halls to witness moving picture performances; from inviting, soliciting, encouraging or urging persons to assemble with them, either on the roofs or in the hall windows to witness moving picture performances or for any unlawful purpose...

Up to 200 a night were congregating on the roof, possibly causing the roofing to sag.  The headline of that article is "Brings Suit to Keep Tenants Off Roof".  The scanner must have had a hard time distinguishing U from H as the headline in ProQuest when I did the search was "Brings Shit to Keep Tenants Off Roof".  Anyway...

A shorter article a day later sheds a more familiar light on the situation.   Max Klein an attorney for the tenant claimed that the landlord was using the roof issue as an excuse to get rid of the tenants.  The tenants named in the suit had lived in the building for 6-10 years and were protected from increases by rent laws.  Mr. Klein said the landlord was trying to get rid of the tenants so he "could get new ones who would have to pay $15 to $20 a month more" in rent.

On June 24th, 1930 five Hispanic men were arrested after they tried to storm the Regun in protest of its showing of "Under a Texas Moon", directed by Michael Curtiz. who later directed "Casablanca", and the first western filmed in color.  The news article is sketchy on details but it refers to the neighborhood, which was primarily Jewish at the time of the rooftop lawsuit, was now a "Latin-American colony".  On the night of the arrests about 100 protesters marched upon the theater carrying placards that read "Down With Under a Texas Moon.  It is a reflection on the women of Latin America."

The most recent article concerning the Regun that I could find in the Times was on November 10th, 1936.  Four people were injure when plaster fell from the ceiling of the theater.  The rooftop projection booth (the article says the building had formerly shown outdoor movies) sat on iron stilts.  The stilts rusted away from lack of maintenance and gave way on the night in question.  About 150 moviegoers "stampeded from the auditorium".  The story did not mention what movie was playing.