Sep 15, 2010 @ 7:00
By HarlemGal
Back in April, I blogged about the top reasons to live in Harlem. One of the reasons I mentioned was Harlem has several famous songs about or that mention it. Well…there is another song out there to add to the list that has Harlem in the title. It’s called “Harlem River Blues” by Justin Townes Earle and it has been recently picked a Fall favorite for 2010 by Time Magazine. Listen to “Harlem River Blues” below and tell us what you think by taking our poll?
Sep 14, 2010 @ 7:00
By HarlemGal
Don’t miss the Harlem Art Walk 2010 on October 9th (Saturday) and 10th (Sunday) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Harlem Art Walk will feature the work of more than 60 artists living and working in Harlem. Casa Frela Gallery, located at 47 West 119th Street, is the starting point where maps will be distributed (or see map below) to all tour participants highlighting the various stops on the walking tour, including open artist studios, museums, and cultural and historic venues. All forms of art will be featured, including sculptures, ceramics, painting, photographs, etchings and prints, and textiles. And if you like what you see during the walk, participants will have the opportunity to buy original artwork from emerging to established artists.
For further information about the tour, visit the Casa Frela Gallery website at www.casafrela.com or call the information hotline at 212-722-8577.
Posted in art and culture, Harlem
Tagged 10026, 47 West 119th Street, art, artists, Casa Frela, Central Harlem, Harlem Art Walk, Photos by Harlem Art Walk 2010
Aug 6, 2010 @ 7:54
By HarlemGal
Don’t forget this weekend (August 7th and 8th) is Harlem’s ArtCrawl Harlem! The tour will introduce local and tri-state residents to the rich visual arts offerings of Harlem by taking participants through a varied selection of galleries and public spaces to view work by an eclectic array of artists at all stages of professional development.
Visitors will be escorted by a tour guide to each gallery venue where they will participate in a 30 minute visit. ArtCrawl HarlemTM culminates in a catered reception that will include food, wine and music at a Harlem cultural institution.
WHEN:
Saturday, August 7th
Trolley tour 12:00PM to 4PM; Reception following until 5:30PM
Sunday, August 8th
Trolley tour 1:00PM to 5PM; Reception following until 6:30PM
TICKETS
$55 at (212) 866-7427, artcrawlharlem.com; the code “artcol” can be used to order $40 tickets online.
Read more about ArtCrawl Harlem in The New York Times.
Posted in art and culture, Harlem
Tagged art, ArtCrawl Harlem, artists, Casa Frela, Culture, Harlem Renaissance, Harlem tours, Studio Museum in Harlem
Jun 2, 2010 @ 20:27
By HarlemGal
Today is the first day that Frederick Douglass Circle in Harlem is available to the public. Yes, it is officially open after more than seven years in the making.Wow. It’s about time and long overdue. According to a worker at Cafe Amrita, City workers were taking down the barriers last night around 1 AM.
Thank you to whomever said or convinced the City to open the circle now. Nice timing. Harlemites can enjoy the Circle during the summer months and on. I was out there today looking at every aspect of the Circle. It looks fabulous.
Below are pictures of locals looking around Harlem’s brand new Frederick Douglass Circle or better yet, come by and see it for yourself! Take the B/C to 110th Street/Catherdral Parkway or the 2/3 to 110 Street/Central Park North.
Apr 14, 2010 @ 7:19
By HarlemGal
This is a blog that writes about all things positive about Harlem. We tell our stories from “nuestros corazones.” Unfortunately, we don’t have data, grids or a fancy magazine to back up our stories. We only have words, life experiences and a love for all things Harlem. And what better time to use these descriptions and tools than right now-especially given the recent edition of New York Magazine.
To profess our reasons on why we believe Harlem is one of the best places to live in New York City, we created our own Top Ten List. Sorry Dave. We have to borrow a page right out of your playbook to make our point. Here we go….
Top Ten Reasons on why Harlem is one of the best places to live in New York City:
10. Harlem is almost 400 years old. And guest what?….we will still be around for another 400 years! Isn’t lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn suppose to sink under water?
9. Harlem is very green. We are near several three parks: Central Park North, Jackie Robinson Park, Morningside Park, Riverside Park, Riverbank State Park and Marcus Garvey Park. Harlem also has St. Nicholas Park, which a reader told us “is one of the most historical (along with Hamilton Grange, City College, Hamilton Heights and Striver’s Row near).” Shouldn’t we count Riverside Park too? Then that would be four parks we are near.
8. We are home to the highest institution of higher learning in the State of New York, Columbia University. Park Slope kids will be living in Harlem when they get older and head to Columbia.
7. We have many different neighborhoods and some of their names are sweet, like sugar, or romantic as Spanish.
6. We are one of the happiest according to a recent survey. To tell the truth, we are very happy in life. However, we are not happy with New York Magazine right now….
5. Because you can have a date with red, not Red Butler, but red as in red velvet cake at Lee Lee’s Baked Goods on 118th Street. Delicious!
4. We have famous songs about or that mention Harlem that are as diverse as its people. Harlem River Quiver is by Duke Ellington. Angel of Harlem is by U2. Spanish Harlem Incident is by Bob Dylan and Across 110th Street is by Bob Womack.
3. We have some serious wide sidewalks where there is plenty of elbow room for you and your baby stroller. Parts of the Village are like walking through a football field.
2. We have the famous Apollo Theater. Need we say more.
1. And the number reason on why Harlem is one of the best places to live in New York City, because This blog is going to go negative for once on its blog. We don’t believe or give a flying hoot about Nate Silver and his recent findings. Politics done right does not necessarily mean neighborhoods done right!
Nate, come up and visit us any time. We will show you all the great things Harlem has to offer!
Posted in Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., apartments, art and culture, business, commercial real estate, Community, education, entertainment, food, Frederick Douglass Blvd., Harlem, health and wellness, history, Lenox Avenue, New York, New York City, NYC, real estate, Red Rooster Harlem, restaurant row, restaurants, shopping
Tagged community, Harlem, real estate, top ten reason to live in Harlem
Mar 15, 2010 @ 23:09
By HarlemGal
I believe we can all agree there are a lot of video parodies and spinoffs out in cyberspace about popular TV shows or films, and some of those ideas take off and become contagious-if they are presented in a timely and creative manner. Here is one video trailer that embodies those qualities-and “is divine.” The video trailer How to make it in Harlem appears to be some sort of spinoff of HBO’s How to make it in America. I don’t know a thing about the artist rapping in this video and I can’t say that it is going to make me go out and buy their album. However, what I can say is I really like this video and it did get me to stop, pay attention and post. That’s some powerful stuff given this artist is entirely unknown to me…until now.
I just want to give the folks behind this video some serious props! I think this video is packaged perfectly. They created a darn good video featuring major buildings, people, monuments, and intersections that identify every beautiful inch of Harlem. And the timing in releasing this video couldn’t be better since HBO’s How to make it in America is airing right now, which I have not seen and will more than likely now check it out.
What do you think of this video trailer? Do you like it or not?
Posted in art and culture, Harlem
Tagged Entertainment, Harlem, HBO, How to make it in America, How to make it in Harlem, music, video trailer, Zip 10026, Zip 10027, Zip 10029
Mar 15, 2010 @ 12:50
By HarlemGal
Looking for interesting films to see right here in Harlem and for FREE? Then save the evening of April 7, 2010. That’s when El Museo del Barrio in collaboration with Havana Film Festival New York will be showing two short films titled: Uprooted and El Play.
Uprooted, directed by Juan Mejia Botero of Colombia, “takes an intimate look at the aspirations of an Afro-Colombia women, one of the more than a million people displaced by Colombia’s violance since 1990.”
El Play “follows the hard knock journey of a Dominican teen hoping to make it into baseball’s major leagues.” This film is directed by Pablo Medina from the Dominican Republic.
Again, this event is free and it will also give you a sneak peak at some of the fascinating films that will be showing during the Havana Film Festival New York, which starts April 16-23, 2010.
Uprooted and El Play
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
6:30-8:30 PM
El Cafe in El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street
Admission: Free
Posted in art and culture, Community, film, Harlem
Tagged 10026, 10027, 10029, El Museo del Barrio, el play, Entertainment, Films, Havana Film Festival New York, Spanish Harlem, Uprooted
Feb 24, 2010 @ 7:55
Watercolors by Lynn Lieberman
By HarlemGal
Since our inception well over a year ago, HarlemCondoLife (HCL) has been introduced to several interesting people living and working in Harlem-particularly local artists who have a positive link to Harlem. HCL would like to introduce some of these individuals to you, along with their work, in hope that you will be moved and amazed by the wealth of talent that lives right here in our Harlem community. We certainly are impressed and excited to have you meet some of these talented individuals on our blog site. To help us kick off our first HCL Artist Profile, first up is a local watercolorist. In a Q&A (questions and answers) format, meet Lynn Lieberman in her own words on Harlem in watercolor.
Watercolors by Lynn Lieberman
What is your area of specialty? And why do you feature Harlem in your art work?
My primary area is watercolor. I live, work and create right here in Harlem. Most of my work is small format-note cards of everything from the famous Lenox Lounge to Apollo Theater to Lee Lee’s Bakery, where Mr. Lee displays my painting of his bakery. In an effort to capture more of Harlem, last year I created a watercolor map of Harlem, which was updated this year and can be viewed on my website.
As for why Harlem, we have street after street of graceful prewar buildings, each with their own unmistakable curves and lines. Many have been home to the people who reside there for decades, and signs of love and longevity protrude from window boxes, along with flower pots and signs in the windows.
Watercolors by Lynn Lieberman
Does Harlem move and inspire your art work?
Inspiration here in Harlem is endless for a watercolorist. No matter how many times I walk the streets of Harlem, I always see something different and new to paint, from the Harlem Meer in the Fall to Fields Court at Christmas to the colorful Minton’s Jazz Club, Mike’s Newsstand on 122nd Street and Lenox Avenue, and to Tonnie’s Minis, where they also display my note card painting of the place.
Watercolors by Lynn Lieberman
Is it challenging to use Harlem in your work?
The only challenge to painting Harlem is what to leave out.
Aside from watercoloring Harlem, HCL has to ask what are some of your favorite things about it?
Harlem Seasons. At the first sign of Spring and all through the Summer, window sills are abound with color right up until Halloween pumpkins and Christmas trees with lights. No Holiday is forgotten here.
Watercolor by Lynn Lieberman
Harlem people. Where else in this City can you find people sitting on the sidewalk in their beach chairs enjoying a beautiful Summer evening or barbecuing in front of their building?
Harlem has a plethora of green space from our major Parks to our local Green Thumb gardens-giving us easy access to hours of walking or bike riding from the minute we walk out our front door.
Watercolors by Lynn Lieberman
Our diversity is great. I was born here in the City and have lived in a variety of places over the years, always returning home. Harlem is a place where I feel most comfortable and the place where I live with my family.
And Harlem has s vibrant art community with plenty of ongoing events at the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Harlem Arts Alliance and Casa Frela Gallery, which represents my work.
Watercolor by Lynn Lieberman
In full disclosure, I have purchased notecards from Lynn as gifts. They were a hit on the receiving end with friends and family. Don’t miss out on seeing Lynn’s work in person. Her work is currently hanging, with framed pieces for sale , at Native Restaurant and Il Caffe Latte-both on Lenox Avenue and for sale unframed at www.afinelyne.com
Watercolor by Lynn Lieberman
And if you know of a local artist we should spotlight on HCL, who resides in Harlem and their work is linked to all things positive about Harlem, please send your recommendations to feedback@harlemcondolife.com.
Posted in art and culture, Community, Harlem
Tagged AFineLyne.com, Apollo Theater, Harlem, Harlem Arts Alliance, Harlem Meer, Lee, Lee Lee's Baked Goods, Lenox Lounge, local artists, Lynn Lieberman, Minton's Jazz Club, Mojo Lounge, Native's Restaurant, Studio Museum in Harlem, The Apollo Theater., Tonnies Minis
Pictures taken Thursday night by Harlemista at Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater. R.I.P. Michael Jackson.
Posted in art and culture, Community, entertainment, Events, Harlem
Tagged ed Apollo Theater, Harlem, Michael Jackson
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