They called it the Street Corner University
Posted in General on 03. Aug, 2010
“They called it the Street Corner University.”She broke off briefly to give our driver further directions and on we went, past the Lickety Split bar, once a haunt of many rising jazz stars, and a block of lovely row houses known as Striver’s Row, where, at the turn of the century, upwardly mobile black Harlemites aspired to buy a home. Malcolm X and his organisation the Nation of Islam, members of SNCC, the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee, who staged many of the freedom rides in the South, and many other black radicals addressed the crowds here. During the civil rights movement in the Sixties, this now unassuming parking lot was the place where local people would gather every day to hear political activists give speeches about black history and current issues. Our driver seemed bemused as we negotiated a price for an hour or so of his time, but he agreed to play along and take us on our choice of tour, to see some of the landmarks of Harlem’s black political history.With Mahalia as navigator, moments later we reached our first port of call, the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue. It almost comes as a surprise when you glance across the street and see the Apollo theatre, and realise that this is where so many of the world’s jazz, blues and soul greats got their first breaks: Sarah Vaughan, The Jacksons, Marvin Gaye were all winners of its famous “Amateur Night”.It was here that we picked up the gypsy cab, one of the unofficial taxis that cruise these streets looking for fares.
She and her colleagues drive mini-bus loads of tourists around this famous grid of streets above Central Park. They specialise in describing Harlem’s gospel and jazz traditions and the local heritage, taking in live music performances, church services and soul food restaurants. More importantly, they are trying to break down prejudices about the place and dispel the myth that this is a no-go area for visitors to New York.
Emerging from the subway on to 125th Street, Harlem’s main drag, the scene is strikingly similar to the high street in Brixton: crowds of shoppers, predominantly black, passing in and out of the usual mixture of chain stores and boutiques, cash tills whirring against a thumping bassline, and too many police. Mahalia works as a guide for Harlem Spiritual Tours and has an awesome knowledge of the place they call the black capital of the world.
“Soon it will be too expensive to buy somewhere here.” Harlem is in the throes of large-scale gentrification – visit before it’s too late. “No, but I’m thinking of investing in a property,” she replied. “Do you live here?” I asked, as our gypsy cab swung into 136th Street. HARLEM is going upmarket. “Like him or loathe him – and there are times when I’d like to shoot him – when our congressman, Charles Rangel, heard that there was money around for urban renewal, he made sure Harlem got a slice,” said our guide, Mahalia. One week’s half-board costs from pounds 299 to pounds 489, two weeks from pounds 399 to pounds 699.Within cycling distance of the amazing dunes and sandy Trocadero spit, a self-catering apartment in La Sabina, the harbour, costs from pounds 239 to pounds 389 a week, and pounds 269 to pounds 449 a fortnight per person, based on four people sharing..