As another evening falls, the Lenox Lounge sits dim and lonely. Commuters pour out of the 125th Street subway station and onto Lenox Avenue, past its padlocked door. At Ginny’s Supper Club across the street, a mostly black crowd of men in suits and women in heels sips and sways as a band turns out [...]
Red Rooster in Harlem Serves Up Fine Art with Fine Cuisine
March 5, 2013 | Posted by
Restaurant “art” doesn’t usually attract more than a cursory glance from diners— reproductions of vintage Lillet posters or landscapes in soft tones are the norm. But the carefully curated collection at Red Rooster Harlem has been given just as much thought as the menu. The restaurant’s chef and owner, Marcus Samuelsson, together with Thelma Golden, [...]
ASAP Yams: ASAP Rocky’s Collaborator and Human Hip-Hop Encyclopedia
January 26, 2013 | Posted by
The story of New York hip-hop’s 1990s championship years is in many ways the story of rapper-executive dream teams, pairings that shaped the sound of the city and, after that, the world. The Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy, Jay-Z and Damon Dash, Ja Rule and Irv Gotti — all of these partnerships made the behind-the-scenes [...]
Chef Turned ‘Beast’ Actor Dwight Henry Bringing NOLA Flavor to Harlem
January 18, 2013 | Posted by
New Orleans baker Dwight Henry made his unexpected acting debut in last year’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, an indie film that has received nominations for four Oscars. Henry is planning to make his Harlem debut later this year, this time back in the kitchen, and he predicts that his famous buttermilk drops and New [...]
Richard Parsons, Ex-Time Warner CEO, Leads Drive to Restore Historic Harlem Hotspot
January 8, 2013 | Posted by
This old dive in Harlem has been shuttered for about as long as it had been open. Yet Minton’s Playhouse will always be known as the cradle of bebop, where the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker jammed into the night. Money woes long ago left the doors locked and the electric [...]
Lenox Lounge: High Rent Forces Closing of Legendary Harlem Nightspot
December 7, 2012 | Posted by
Harlem’s famed Lenox Lounge, which has served as a home to jazz music for more than 70 years, will shut its doors at the end of the year, its owner confirmed this week. The popular night spot — which has played host to such iconic performers as Billie Holiday and Miles Davis — has been [...]
Harlem’s Famed Apollo Theater Transforming to Evoke Vintage Nightclub Experience
November 14, 2012 | Posted by
The Apollo Theater will be transformed into an old-fashioned nightclub for a new revue evoking the Harlem music clubs of the 1930s and 1940s, the theater announced on Tuesday. The show, “Apollo Club Harlem,” will recall the theater’s early years, when it often presented variety programs featuring big bands, singers, dancers, female impersonaters, acrobats and [...]
Harlem World: Director-Writer-Actor, Al Thompson Showcases Harlem, Power of Internet in New Web Series ‘Lenox Avenue’
September 16, 2012 | Posted by
With the emergence of scripted television programing shifting across digital platforms, actor and filmmaker Al Thompson has intentions on being in the forefront of the rapidly increasing trend. Through his production company, ValDean Entertainment, the Love Don’t Cost A Thing star also aims to project the missing void of showcasing Harlem’s influential culture with his [...]
New York’s Schomburg Center to Display Only Surviving Draft of the Emancipation Proclamation
September 5, 2012 | Posted by
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem will be the first stop for the New York State Museum’s traveling exhibition of the only surviving draft of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting. On display Sept. 21 through Sept. 24, “The First Step to Freedom: Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Proclamation,” will include [...]
No Let Up for Charles Rangel After Disputed Primary
July 5, 2012 | Posted by
In the aftermath of their heated primary battle, Representative Charles B. Rangel and his strongest challenger, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, look less like combatants resting after a hard-fought contest and more like rivals still in the middle of a race. That is because, a little more than a week after Mr. Rangel appeared to win [...]
