Bronze statues dot the plazas. People gossip and talk about politics on street corners. Traders hawk mysterious perfumes and gold ornaments. This is not the Roman Forum, not an acropolis in Ancient Athens, but rather the culturally rich and diverse neighborhood of Harlem in New York City.

After a mass migration beginning in 1904, the area became the hub of the Harlem Renaissance, an African-American intellectual movement that produced many of the great black literary, musical and artistic works of the early 1900s. Harlem, which stretches from river to river between 110th and 160th Streets, maintained its black heritage throughout much of the 20th century, but in recent years it has taken a turn towards gentrification. Though white students and Columbia college faculty have always lived in adjacent Morningside Heights, their presence has spread throughout Harlem in recent years.

Harlem is above all a residential neighborhood, and has a tight-knit community feel. This has spurred functional, rather than artsy, stores to develop. Fast food joints, department stores, chain stores and discount retailers dot every block.

Harlem has seen its share of hard times—with gentrification rampant and rents on the rise, empty lots and boarded up stores often take up half a block.

Gentrification is most visible south of 125th Street, where most restaurants, like Dinosaur Barbecue or Toast, are expensive and rely on a constituency of wealthier residents. On 125th street near Amsterdam Avenue, a branch of Citarella—an overpriced gourmet grocery store—opened across the street from a housing project in 2005.

A new breed of locally-owned, affordable and unique shops has begun to appear in Harlem over the past few years. For a first stop, check out Café Addis—Ethiopian coffee shop by day, live music spot by night. The coffee is strong and flavorful, and a regular cup of coffee, served in a huge mug and reminiscent of a fancy latte, costs only two dollars. The restaurant also offers hot ginger juice, a delicious drink with a spicy kick made from the juice of the ginger root. Hot vegetable, chicken, and spicy Cajun turkey sandwiches are also a specialty. At night, Café Addis is a bar and hosts live Afro-Jazz music, a distinct music style popularized by the Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.

Farther east on 125th street you’ll find Atmos, a unique Harlem spin on Lower East Side sneaker boutiques. “We’re introducing Harlem to Japanese street fashion,” Assistant Manager and Bronx Science graduate Paul Lee said. “It’s like an alternative culture with the street clothes and the music.”

Atmos, whose only other location is in Harajuku, Tokyo, sells sneakers for far cheaper prices than its competitors. Nike Dunks that would normally cost about 90 dollars sell for about 50 at Atmos.

“I hear locals come up to me, that they’ve been in Harlem for 10 years, but they get thrown off by our boutique look,” Lee said. “I don’t want them to be intimidated. They should just walk in. The prices are reasonable.”

Even farther east, on Lenox Avenue, you’ll find the self-dubbed “Queen of Soul Food”: Sylvia’s Restaurant. Sylvia’s has an unremarkable diner interior, but it’s the food that locals come for. The barbeque sauce is tangy, smoky and not as sweet as most barbeque sauces. The ribs are tender and melt off the bone. The collard greens are peppery and tasty. Sylvia’s has opened up a shiny new restaurant on the same block called “Sylvia’s Also,” but for the truest Harlem culinary experience, eat at the original.

Also on Lenox Avenue is the Lenox Lounge, one of the last remnants of Harlem’s mid-20th century jazz scene. “There are not enough live music places in Harlem,” said Café Addis owner Tadesse Mekonnen, who has lived in Harlem since emigrating from Ethiopia in 1995. “There used to be a whole strip of bars along 125th Street that offered good live music, but now they are all gone.”

The Lenox Lounge is a notable exception. Its famed Zebra Room is coated with mirrors, and its silvery interior gives it an old-time feel. The Lenox Lounge used to be a haunt of Harlem Renaissance writers and jazz musicians. Today, it still attracts top talent, like the Houston Person quarter and the Reggie Woods Ensemble.

For an enjoyable stroll through Harlem, visit the Sugar Hill area, centered around the intersection of 145th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard. Tree-lined streets and beautiful brownstones are seen throughout the area. After walking through the gorgeous City College campus, filled with gothic architecture and park space, visit the Vinegar Hill pizzeria at 137th Street and Broadway.

Vinegar Hill’s prime attraction is its brick-oven pizza. The pizza, priced at two dollars a slice, is on par with pizza from high-end Italian restaurants, and is made with fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce. If the scrumptious pizza isn’t enough, the café also has four dollar sandwiches made with “challah breads, bagels, seven-grain, ciabatta, you name it,” owner Gerald Morales said. A student salad special with unlimited toppings costs seven dollars.

Natives have mixed feelings about Harlem’s gentrification. “I don’t know if [gentrification] is good for residents,” Mekonnen said. “Rents in Harlem are now six times as expensive as they were before. But Harlem used to be dirty and ugly, and now you can walk around at three, four in the morning without feeling anything.”

In a recent meeting of the Harlem Community Forum at Ambrose Church, Imee Jackson, a member of the Harlem budget board, stated that he is “unanimously rejecting the rezoning plan,” Jackson said. “[NYC is] seeking to change the character and socio-economic demographics of Harlem’s business district and beyond.”
Despite gentrification, Harlem is still an unbelievably diverse neighborhood that has an unmatched historical quality. “The best part of Harlem is the diversity,” Morales said. “It allows the community to have balance.”

Café Addis
435 West 125th Street
(212) 663-0553

Vinegar Hill
3385 Broadway
(212) 281-2083