Harlem Year in Review – 2008
Source: City Room/New York Times
10. Several longtime restaurants and businesses packed up for good
9. In exchange for closed businesses Harlem got hella’ new wing places, lots of Dunkin Donuts, more Starbucks, a luxury car dealership, a couple of bike shops, an American Apparel, new gyms, hot yoga, and yet another new wine store (…and a partridge in a pear tree)
8. Oprah’s crew did some redecorating and housecleaning in Harlem while rappers lost their homes
7. A Harlem teacher goes missing for weeks then mysteriously turns up OK while rogue raccoons ran amok in SoHa
6. Club Morocco reopened uptown and for the coffee lovers LaPregunta Arts Cafe and East Harlem Cafe opened for business.
5. The Gentrification debate raged on and we had a terrible rash of teen shootings over the summer.
4. We saw the opening of Talay, Nectar, and the semi-private club OH
3. Lenox Towers turned 50 and the Harlem Book Fair turned 10
2. We sent artist and humanitarian Barbara Ann Teer off in style
1. We witnessed the historic election of Barack Obama and danced in the streets with utter glee
…and there is still more history in the making here in Harlem. Thanks for reading UPTOWNflavor. You are the flavor that makes this website what it is. See you next year with more to come!
-The U.F. Family
Stumble It!
The Re-zoning of 125th was Big. The disgrace and arrogance of our Congressman Rangel was big, not only his illegal use of multiple rent stab apartments, but his, “Monument To Me” to be built in Harlem wherein he pimped contributions using Congressional letterhead, not to mention the myriad of other matters he’s being investigated for, all during ‘08. Harlem resident David Paterson rising to Gov was big. The backing out of developer Vornado from building on 125th is very major and a negative harbinger for Harlem short term (next 5 years). CU expansion big. Harlem continued its trajectory of becoming less Black, and more GREEN. The very naming and branding of Harlem is becoming “clensed” from the word “HARLEM”. Columbia’s “Manhattan Valley” despite being true in naming is still avoidance and an obvious effort to disconnect from the branding and labeling of “HARLEM”. “SoHa” is the real estate industry conspiring to rename, rebrand, relabel. We saw explosive Starbucks growth in ‘08 in Harlem. There was 1 before, now there are??…what 4 Starbucks in Harlem?
These were compiled by the page statistics. While those were huge issues last year overall, I think that the numbers weren’t as big here because the CU, Rezoning. Tornado issues were topics that carried over from last year. I think those would have been at the top of the list in 2007. While Rangel’s scandals were also huge on the grand scheme of things, it also didn’t make a blip over here. Wasn’t even on the radar in comparison to topics like the opening of a shoe store. We did report on all of the topics you mentioned yet none of them made the cut when it came time to generate the year end stats. This is likely due to the fact that this blog is not a political blog, though we do offer political content. Thanks for chiming in and happy new year. See you next year!
2008 was a big year of ‘change’ on all kinds of fronts, good, bad and ugly… including here in Harlem. I just wanted to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ to U.F. for helping all of us keep up with everything uptown and look forward to more in the future!
Happy 2009!
The Historic move of Alexander Hamilton’s farmhouse into St. Nicholas Park was big. It was an amazing positive event for the community. Years of community work combined with the effort of Congressman Rangel helped move this historic house from a cramped location on Convent Avenue to an open parkland space in Historic St. Nicholas Park.
Here is to Harlem in 2009 and the reopening of a restored Hamilton Grange! The reopening of the Grange will bring historic tours, outdoor concerts, art events and more to the one of the most historic areas in New York City.