The other night while walking up Lenox I noticed that Dancy Auto had no cars on the showroom floor. With the exception of art and furniture the location appeared to be abandoned. I sent a Tweet out asking what was up and received no response from Twitterville.  While the website is still live and the location is still listed as being at 380 Lenox Avenue, there are no luxury cars to be found. When we called the phone rang but never rolled over into a voicemail box. We contacted representatives from Dancy for a statement and anxiously await a response. If you recall, Dancy hosted their launch party at Club Body. A year later, both businesses seem to be MIA — here today and gone tomorrow without a warning. 

Read our previous postings about Dancy. 

I saw this story the other day and have been searching online for a photo of the Michael Jackson portrait titled “The Book”. Today CNN released this image. I plan to swing by Dancy to see it for myself and perhaps pick up a Bentley while I am there. Ok, so maybe not the Bentley part. Anyway, read a except of the article after the jump.

The oil painting titled “The Book” is on display at Dancy-Power Automotive in Harlem, New York.

A different portrait of the entertainer was among items auctioned from his Neverland Ranch in April. It is not clear whether Jackson sat for that painting.

The painting on display in Harlem belongs to Marty Abrams, a friend and customer of the owners of the high-profile dealership.

The 40-inch by 50-inch portrait, by Australian painter Brett Livingstone-Strong, sold for $2.1 million in 1990. Abrams acquired it as part of an unrelated business deal in 1992 and had it stored.

The painting shows Jackson sitting in Renaissance-era clothes and holding a book. Jackson sat for the portrait because he was a friend of Livingstone-Strong’s.

The painting was unveiled at the Dancy-Power Automotive Group showroom on Thursday but was removed Friday because of crowd concerns. It returned to the showroom floor Monday morning.
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Dancy said the painting’s owner chose the showroom because it’s near the Apollo Theater in Harlem, where the Jackson 5 won their first taste of fame by winning Amateur Night in 1967.

He said Abrams hopes the painting in some way can raise money for charities in the Harlem neighborhood. Dancy said Abrams is not necessarily interested in selling the portrait.

Read the whole article: CNN.com

So I swung by the location of the new wine store which is The Lenox Grand at 381 Lenox.  Since it was morning the store wasn’t open, but they are fully stocked and ready for business.  There is no signage yet, other than the grand opening sign, but I was shocked to see that area of Lenox coming together.  The wine store is located right across from the Dancy Auto Dealer.

Next door to the wine store, a restaurant was prepping to open (no sign advertising the name either) and next to the restaurant is Uptown Gems, the pre-K program run by Harlem Children’s Zone.

On Sunday I noticed quite a bit of activity in Doug E.’s on Seventh Avenue.  I suspect if all is in order they should be open before the end of the year.  Also along 7th, I saw that they are opening another Harlem location for KUMON.

I also checked out Mojo, located on the corner of St. Nicholas and 119th Street a couple of doors down from Billie’s Black.  The exterior of the business is dressed in an eyecatching purple.  From the outside it looks intriguing.  I will definely have to see what they have to offer once they open.