Transatlantic Zeppelin: The Sultan's Harlem

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January 10, 2005

The Sultan's Harlem

“Harlem, where I live, is iconic, mythic, larger than life, known throughout the world. It is the home of jazz and black culture. It is feared as an impoverished, crime-ridden ghetto.” Thus begins the paradox of Harlem as described by local historian Michael Adams. The one-time home of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Norman Rockwell, Langston Hughes, the Globetrotters, Marcus Garvey, DMX, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Maya Angelou, and Alicia Keys (a Columbia alumna) is today undergoing a controversial regentrification as New Yorkers "discover" its elegant brownstone rowhouses, bustling 125th Street, and affordable rents. Memories of 1960s race riots, when half of Harlem was burned to the ground, have started to fade. Community groups have lured in a Pathmark, Hennes & Mauritz, Old Navy, and Staples. There’s even a Starbucks a few doors down from Bubba's office on 125th St.

Not that this is without costs. Despite its having been declared "the capital of the black world" by Nelson Mandela, most of Harlem has never been owned by blacks: the homeownership rate is only 14% (vs 69% nationally). Soaring property values (caused by white migration) do not benefit renters (usually black). Hence the sometimes-strained state of race relations in today’s Harlem: Harlem is experiencing perhaps more positive and more negative change than any neighborhood in America.

To be sure, there are still plenty of difficulties in Harlem. A few nights ago there was a drug bust a few houses down, and a year ago there was a murder a few blocks away. The owners of a nearby café were mugged twice before opening. The landlady has a lot of street smarts from 44 years of living in Harlem and has taught me such urban survival skills as how to hail an unmarked taxi, how to prevent bums from pawing through my trash, and how to avoid the more-menacing streets.

I hope that this doesn’t deter visitors, who can discover the culture that made Harlem so legendary: bars that are a time-warp to the 1940s, Sunday gospel, amateur night at the Apollo (which gave rise to Chris Rock, among others), and even the new Starbucks for the Trixies. And, if not, it’s one express subway stop to Columbus Circle and two stops to Times Square.

	The building where I live in Harlem, designed by Cleverdon & Putzel, 1888.
	Detail of the brownstone portico
	"Everytime a dumpster appears, there is hope." --Maya Angelou
	At one time, much of Harlem was "shells" like this unit on 120th St, with the windows broken and roof fallen in. Until a few years ago, many were hangouts of prostitutes and drug dealers. Around 1980, a shell like this would have sold for $25,000 or less. Nowadays, shells can run $500,000 or more—completely unrestored.
	The Apollo Theater has hosted virtually every major black performer of the 1930s and 1940s, including Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, and later Lauryn Hill and Michael Jackson.
	Columbia’s campus is designed on a classical English plan. The campus was formerly located at what is now Rockefeller Center. Columbia is the second-largest private landowner in New York, after the Church.