New York Latin Culture Magazine™

World-class Indigenous, European, African, Asian & Oceanian Culture since 2012

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Harlem

Harlem, NYC is Manhattan’s iconic African American neighborhood. 125th St is the main street, anchored by the Apollo Theater.

116th St is the main Latin street and West African street. East of Lenox/Malcolm X Blvd is Latin and west of Lenox is West African. That’s almost poetic because the Latin Caribbean is very West African.

Spanish Harlem is “El Barrio” East Harlem.

Cultural Venues

Harlem Festivals

Harlem

Harlem is not just Manhattan’s African neighborhood, it is a major center of African American culture in the United States.

The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was an intellectual flowering of African American thought and culture that remains significant today.

Bebop jazz or modern jazz, and swing dancing come from Harlem. Latin jazz comes from East Harlem, but the Latin musicians were sneaking out at night to listen to jazz in Harlem, so Latin jazz has Harlem in it too.

The neighborhood is dealing with gentrification like all New York City neighborhoods, but at its core, Harlem is a community. It’s the only neighborhood in Manhattan where if you are laying on the ground, someone will come ask if you are okay. Everywhere else people will just step over your body. Harlem is special.

Harlem rooftops (Maciej Bledowski/Dreamstime)
Harlem rooftops (Maciej Bledowski/Dreamstime)

“There is a rose in Black and Spanish Harlem”

Ben E. King and then Aretha Franklin by Jerry Lieber (1960)

If home is where the heart is, Harlem is home.

Upper Manhattan

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