Category Archives: health and wellness

Attend MillionTreesNYC Tree Care Workshop at Harlem’s Casa Frela Gallery

Posted on March 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

imageMillionTreesNYC will be giving a tree care workshop for the Harlem community on April 6th at Casa Frela Gallery, 47 West 119th Street, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm.

The workshop will run 2 hours and consist of two parts. The first part will be 30-40 minutes and will take place in the gallery, covering the importance of trees, tree care, and the reasons behind Million Trees NYC’s mission to plant a million more trees throughout the five boroughs. Part 2 of the workshop will be hands-on, where attendees will go outside and actively steward the two new trees on 119th Street — and beyond, time-permitting. At the end of the workshop if attendees pledge to care for a new tree in their neighborhood, Million Trees NYC will give them a free toolkit (collapsible watering bucket, trowel, weeder tool, and cultivator) and a tree care manual with step by step guide to caring for their tree.

To learn more about MillionTreesNYC, visit their website.

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Posted in art and culture, Community, Events, Free!, Harlem, Harlem blogs, health and wellness, New York, New York City, NYC

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Tribeca Pediatrics signs lease in Harlem, former 99 cent store to become children’s medical facility

Posted on March 12, 2013 | 3 comments

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The Commercial Observer reported last week that Tribeca Pediatrics is opening up a branch in Harlem. Tribeca Pediatrics signed a 10-year, 2,500-square-foot lease at 2111 Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem, which most of us know as the 99 cent store.

The reason for the upscale facility coming to Harlem? According to Douglas Elliman’s retail group team Faith Hope Consolo, who represented both the landlord, Tahl-Propp Equities, and the tenant in the transaction told National Real Estate Investor that “just as Starbucks is a marker for an emerging neighborhood, a sophisticated pediatric clinic is a sign it has arrived. This now coveted corner is transitioning from a 99 cents store to a cutting-edge medical facility for children.”

To learn more about Tribeca Pediatrics, visit their website.

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Posted in business, commercial real estate, Community, education, Frederick Douglass Blvd., Harlem, Harlem blogs, health and wellness, kids, New York, New York City, NYC, personal care, real estate

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Select Harlem yoga centers partner in Yoga Stops Traffic

Posted on February 27, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Land Yoga, Asali Yoga, Beloved Yogi Harlem, and Friends of Morningside Park have come together for a fundraiser to educate and end human trafficking-and we are invited to participate as well. On March 9th at 2 pm, these Harlem yoga centers will be doing 108 Sun Salutations in Morningside Park near 120th Street. This one-day event unites yoga practitioners in the City-and around the world-to support human trafficking.

Last year 3,000 individuals from Mysore, India, to London, New York, and Tokyo came together for the one day to raise awareness and funds to Odanadi to support their work rescuing and rehabilitating victims of trafficking, exploitation and abuse, and educating and empowering vulnerable communities. Odanadi has rescued and rehabilitated more than 2,000 children, carried out in 60 brothel raids and brought 137 traffickers to justice.

The goal for this year is to have more than 100 participants at Morningside Park. To participate in this event, which costs $30, go here to register or pick up a sponsorship form at Land Yoga at 2116 Frederick Douglass Ave to raise money through family, friends, and colleagues who plan on participating.

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Posted in Community, education, Events, Harlem, health and wellness, kids, Morningside Park

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Want to know NYC health inspection grades on Harlem restaurants in one click? Try BiteScore

Posted on February 4, 2013 | Comments Off on Want to know NYC health inspection grades on Harlem restaurants in one click? Try BiteScore

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Maison Harlem, the French bistro located on 127th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, recently posted a picture on Facebook of their sanitary inspection grade they received from New York City’s Health Inspection Department. It was good news. The new Harlem restaurant received a big fat “A.” Now what if you wanted to keep track of that grade, know their rating, and every time their graded by the NYC Health Inspection. BiteScore allows users to conveniently access restaurant health inspections when ordering food, making reservations, and browsing reviews online. Currently integrated with Seamless, OpenTable, Zagat and MenuPages users are able to view current health ratings when accessing restaurant pages.

To test how BiteScore works, I choose Red Rooster Harlem as the guinea pig. I went to the search function at the top right hand corner of the page. Hit return and the restaurants current grade is posted. Click on the highlighted area of the restaurants’ name and it shows their rating and grading history by the health inspection department.

Check out BiteScore and comment here on whether this online tool is useful in knowing how Harlem restaurants make the grade.

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Posted in business, drinks, food, Harlem, health and wellness, Maison Harlem, New York, New York City, NYC, Red Rooster Harlem

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Ramy Ashour, professional squash and ’10 world No. 1 player, visits Harlem

Posted on January 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

A reader sent in a wonderful picture to share with us all of professional squash player Ramy Ashour visiting Harlem “for the first time” Jan. 28 to meet with StreetSquash.org participants from Harlem. How cool/international is this? Totally cool, in my book!

Why is Ramy Ashour in New York? According to our source, he had just won the Tournament of Champions (TOC), which ended on Thursday, the 24th. It’s a huge tournament that is held every year in January in Grand Central Station with the top players, both male and female, coming from all over the world. The purpose of Ashour’s visit to Harlem was to speak with StreetSquash kids about his life and then do a Squash clinic. Ashour won the TOC and then went to StreetSquash in Harlem.

According to Google, Ramy Ashour, a pro from Egypt, reached world No. 1 in January 2010 after beating Nick Matthew in the final of the 2009 Saudi International Squash Tournament. To learn more about Ashour online, follow him on Twitter.

StreetSquash is on 116th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenue!

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Posted in 116th Street, Community, education, Events, Harlem, health and wellness, kids, Sports, Youth

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Tweet of the Week: Harlem RBI seeking volunteers

Posted on January 28, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Navigating the Twitter-sphere, one can be drowned in information, especially on Harlem. There is a ton of great info out there. However, some Harlem info on Twitter pops out. In Tweet of the Week, a new series on HarlemGal Inc, Harlem RBI rises to the top and the first to be featured. They simply tweeted recently, “Volunteer at Harlem RBI. You can coach these kids!” When you open up the link, its an adorable photo of kids in their baseball uniforms. So cute! (See above)

If you’re interested in volunteering at Harlem RBI, so you can “coach these kids” to be winners on and off the field,  fill out their volunteer form. “Harlem RBI is always looking for dedicated volunteers.” Check it out. Maybe that’s you?

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Posted in Community, education, Harlem, health and wellness, kids

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Skin care clinic coming to Harlem

Posted on January 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

A skin care business will be opening soon in Harlem on 114th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd, according to a reader. I walked by the location recently to check it out and the signs posted on the door at 281 West 114th Street definitely say “very pretty skin?” The prior tenant in this commercial space, which is in the Douglass Condo, was a campaign office.

As soon as more details become available about the skin care clinic, we will pass along!

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Posted in business, Harlem, health and wellness

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Dr. Mehmet Oz to visit Harlem Children’s Zone for ‘Brush Up Smile Zone’

Posted on January 22, 2013 | 1 comment

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According to a media advisory, the TV doctors are coming to Harlem. Actually the real ones, not the TV actors who play doctors on TV. This coming Thursday, Jan 24, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Jonathan B. Levine, who is a national oral health expert and regular contributor on “The Dr. Oz Show,” will join more than 300 kids (ages K-12) at the Harlem Children’s Zone to host a special themed event, “Brush Up Smile Zone!” The event will include a variety of fun and educational activities that spread the message about the importance of good oral health-as it relates to overall health.

jj1Oral-B is the corporate sponsor. Through a charitable partnership, Oral-B and Dr. Levine’s GLO Good Foundation are educating Americans on the importance of having good oral health. They will be visiting select areas throughout the country. The first stop is starting right here in Harlem on January 24th.

This event is happening from 4:30 to 6 pm at the Countee Cullen Community Center, PS 194, which is located at 244 West 144th Street between Frederick Douglass Blvd and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.

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Posted in Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., Community, education, Events, Frederick Douglass Blvd., Harlem, health and wellness, kids, New York, New York City, NYC, personal care

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Bikram Yoga East Harlem needs our help

Posted on November 27, 2012 | 3 comments

Last night, I learned for the first time via Experience Harlem that Bikram Yoga East Harlem, located at 4 East 116th Street, had been closed for a few weeks due to several challenges. It came as a complete surprise. As I finished reading the information, I immediately thought, I must share this information. Other Harlemites would want to know and will be very concerned, like I am (I love and practice yoga) when they learn of the struggles of Bikram Yoga East Harlem. In my view, yoga centers are an important resource for the community, similar to other places that allow you to work on you, and are a strong community partner in Harlem.

Below is the communication explaining Bikram Yoga East Harlem’s situation and why they need our help.

Dear Bikram Yoga East Harlem Family and Friends:

In this season, where we take the time to reflect on all that we are thankful for, we at BYEH wanted to reach out and first say “Thank You” for your commitment to your “Self” and your belief in us over the past 4 years.

It was a dream of my sister, Jennifer, and I to bring some healing to the amazing Harlem community that we grew up in. To give back to the place that gave us so much culture, spirit, energy, sense of family and belonging all of our lives.

It was our goal to reach out and try to help as many people as possible through the offering of Bikram Yoga in the same way it has helped our own lives…body, mind and spirit for many, many years.

We are both proud and humbled by what our small, family run studio has been able to accomplish in such a short time and remain hopeful about what we can continue to do in the future…

…however we have come to the harsh reality that “it takes a village”.

We Need Your Help

Many of you are already aware that we were forced to shut our doors on November 19th. Our building owner’s refusal to negotiate with us resulted in the sudden closure.

Like the yoga itself, BYEH has been a labor of love and a challenge from the very beginning. From opening our doors in 2008, in the middle of a great recession, to being back-billed in 2011 by Con Edison for an amount of over $40,000 due to their erroneously estimating our bills for over 2 years,we have continuously struggled to survive to keep Bikram Yoga accessible to our community.

Our Community Classes, 10 for $10 offers, competitively priced class packages and numerous sales have helped many experience and enjoy the healing benefits of Bikram Yoga who might not have been able to otherwise.

We want to continue serving our community…but we can’t do it without you.

Help us re-open Bikram Yoga East Harlem
by December 3rd, 2012

We humbly ask that you

Click Here To Make A Karma Contribution Now

No amount is too small….or too large.
(For amounts over $2,500 we would be happy to discuss share secured loan options. Please contact Stephanie at 917-434-3444 to discuss.)

We thank each and every one of you, in advance, for your support!

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Posted in business, Harlem, health and wellness

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Harlem RBI honored with Nonprofit Excellence Award

Posted on November 16, 2012 | Leave a comment


The winners of the 2012 New York Community Trust/New York Magazine Nonprofit Excellence Awards were announced yesterday, November 15th, in New York City and a Harlem organization received one of the three top honors. Harlem RBI, which uses the power of teams to coach, teach and inspire inner-city youth to recognize their potential and realize their dreams, received the Silver Prize Award. Richard Berlin, Executive Director and Kenneth Rosh, Board Chairman-shown in the photo below-accepted the award and a $10,000 prize. Harlem RBI won the Prize for Excellent Communications in 2008 and has now been recognized for its outstanding management practices.

The Gold Prize Award went to Red Hook Initiative in Brooklyn and the Bronze Prize Award went to Open Door Family Medical Center in Ossining, NY. Each winner also received scholarships towards tuition at Programs in Social Enterprise in Executive Education at Columbia Business School, valued at a total of $18,000.

The Nonprofit Excellence Awards honor outstanding management practices and encourage innovation and communications among New York’s diverse nonprofit community. A Selection Committee of 28 nonprofit experts choose these three organizations from an original group of 50 applicants.

Congrats to Harlem RBI! Way to go!

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Posted in Community, education, Harlem, health and wellness, kids

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