West 135th Street

Looking east toward Lenox Ave

Yesterday's storm knocked the power out at work so everyone got to go home a couple of hours early.  I caught a ride to 145th and St. Nicholas and walked down to 135th Street before taking the subway home.  While 125th Street is the commercial center of Harlem and is more famous today than 135th, 135th is in many ways the heart of Harlem.  The tall building in the background of the bottom photo is Harlem Hospital.  The brick sliver in front of the hospital is the New York Public Library's Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. 

I'm standing in front of the Harlem YMCA.  The Y served as a hotel for black visitors in segregated New York.  Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin all stayed there.  The Little Theater at the Y is where Danny Glover, Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson and Eartha Kitt started their careers.  Had I turned around and taken a picture you would have seen the new Thurgood Marshall Academy high school and the controversial Harlem IHOP, both of which are on the site of Small's Paradise, a restaurant and jazz club that was "The Hottest Spot in Harlem".  Marcus Garvey's headquarters was located just around the corner on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.  A bit further west on 135th, near the drummer statue, was the former headquarters of the NAACP.

Clearly, all these sights are cultural and historic landmarks.  Why, then, did I take a picture of the row of apartment buildings and not the sights I just mentioned?

Comments

[isabel]

because it was easier?

[Joe]

Hadn't thought about it in that way. Yes, it was a lot easier, but that isn't the answer I was looking for.

[isabel]

well, i am stumped, in that case.

[Oedipa]

If you ever stop in at the St. Nick's Pub at the corner of 145th and St Nichols, say hi to Neville the bartender for me!

Also, I would recommend hanging out late there in the courtyard. Good times....

[Steen]

Because they are all gone?

[joe]

Will do, Oedipa. I've got a friend that lives around the corner.

Steen, good guess but not correct. The answer has do with the history of those buildings. Full answer to follow in a day or two.

[ct2114]

Because these buildings have just as much, if not more, history as the rest of the sights that you mentioned. These row houses on 135th st. are among some of the original housing built when the subway first came up this far in the early 20th century. Ambitious real estate developers hoping to sell the land and homes for a profit thanks to the new subway stop built up the street; however, it was too far from the center of the city for the kind of boom they hoped for, and instead many African Americans moved to the neighborhood to take advantage of the inexpensive rent, representing the first step in creating the Harlem we know and love today.
Is that it?

[joe]

Exactly! These buildings are where black Harlem began.

Much of Harlem was built on speculation in anticipation of the subway. Because it was so far from the rest of town, and because the subway took longer to build than anticipated, the builders had lots of empty apartments on their hands. Philip Payton, a black realtor, took out a five-year lease on this block of apartments and rented them to African-Americans , who at that time mainly lived in overcrowded Hell's Kitchen. White Realtors then conspired to not rent to blacks. Payton and others responded by buying other buildings and renting only to blacks.

More history of Harlem can be found on the NYC Architecture website.

[tien]

in that case, do these buildings have any landmark status? or at least one of those brown street signs to replace the normal green ones?

[Uptown Brown]

Good information...didn't realize that Thurgood Marshall Academy and IHOP were on the old Small's Paradise parcel.

[ALEXIS]

I LIVE THERE THATS MY WHITE CAR!

[Debra Hamilton]

Why are the apartment houses in the picture named after women and places?