The commercial strip of upper Lenox Avenue just north of 125th Street has a very eclectic mix of better restaurants and other typical businesses popular in Harlem so the opening of a pizzeria chain shop appears to be less controversial these days. On one side of the avenue, the Red Rooster, Sylvia's and Chez Lucienne holds court alongside the typical cheap gourmet delis but the west side has a mix of businesses such as Marshall's, Planet fitness and a row of shops that have been shuttered for some time. This stretch is more like an extension of 125th Street so somehow all the parts fit together.
On the other hand, Mount Morris Park's landmark district just a bit south is more residential and feels like a village. As usual, today's media coverage on the lower Lenox liquor store controversy discusses more about gentrification than the issue of historic district compliance. If the liquor store just had a simple canvas awning (that will be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission) but still had cheap prices, then would everyone be happy? Most folks would probably agree that a place to buy wine is needed in the area. Read all about it in the New York Times:
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“We want to be Park Slope with charming little stores and become a destination for people,” said Ruthann Richert, a 25-year resident who is treasurer of a local group, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association. “A store like that is going to attract the people hanging out, drinking wine, so if you’re looking to buy a $30 bottle of wine, you’re not going to go in there.”
ReplyDelete1. If I wanted to live in Park Slope I would have moved to Park Slope
2. I am not looking to buy a $30 bottle of wine. If I wanted a $30 bottle of wine there I could go to Vintage or the other place on 116.
I do not know Ms Richert so I hesitate to call her pretentious (ok, I just did) but I will say that I stand with my man Rooster who is also quoted in this article.
I think there are bigger fish to fry, and I'm more opposed to the plexiglass than the sign. I would kill the plexiglass, sell the same cheap liquor, and just close a little earlier. I think the late night business they would lose would be made up for by the people who would be more likely to patronize the store if it didn't have plexiglass (which just makes shopping there annoying). I'm assuming the plexiglass is not for the middle of the day after all. I think this place can service all types of people without making huge changes. We don't have to be Park Slope but we also don't have to be 1980s Harlem ... there is an in between!
ReplyDeleteI think this is being blown way out of proportion and the Park Slope comment doesn't help at all. I would hate for Harlem to become that sanitized and devoid of personality. You need a good mix of people, grit etc. to make a community.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry but Rooster needs to get his butt off the stoop and look for work, period. This epitomizes the saying idle hands.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that we might not want to be Park Slope I have no issues with nice stores, nice homes and beautiful clean streets.
Also before people jump down my throat about the get off the butt comment, there are plenty of ways to work, volunteering, taking a lower paying job etc. Just get yourself moving rather than sitting on the stoop in the middle of the day idling.
My friend Rooster is an older gentleman and a retired union worker. He has worked hard all his life and if he wants to sit on the sidewalk and chat with friends in the middle of the day, God bless him.
ReplyDeleteThat Park Slope comment was unfortunate indeed. I agree that the sign is not the biggest issue; it's the plexiglass which is a commentary that we live in a jungle up here as opposed to other areas. Also, the liquor is actually much more expensive at these bulletproof pint joints than open places downtown; you can just buy smaller portions so it seems cheaper.
ReplyDeletepignoli—so are paper towels if you buy one roll. Now, not to state the obvious, but if I have a bunch of money and a car I can get in the car and drive to one of those warehouse places and buy a carload of paper towels for relatively little money. If, however, I need a roll of paper towels and I have only a couple of bucks in my pocket I am going to go to the bodega and buy a roll of relatively expensive paper towels.
ReplyDeleteIf I have money and a metro card I can go down to Buy Rite or whatever it’s called and buy a gallon of booze for relatively little money. If I only have a couple of bucks in my pocket and want a drink I go to a cheap liquor store and buy a pint or a fifth for what’s in my pocket.
Last word from me on this issue. It’s driving me to drink.
After having to put up with all the bogus deli in the area, people around there finally pur their foot down.
ReplyDeleteCan see both side the Park Slope comment: I dont wanna live in Park Slope either but that is vastly peferable than the ghetto so ma.y are comfortable with.
Truth be told Harlem in general probably need more proactive pretentiousness not less.
Mum,
ReplyDeleteWhy can't Harlem have a place other than a pint joint? Maybe it too can sell pints. I've been to plenty of non bulletproof places that do. Why should we have to drive and/or commute to find better options?
Raises my glass. Cheers.
VIC you just said a mouthful!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is not hard to design a liquor store logo with a little decency. Also, "character" is overrated when you already have history. An area like Harlem doesn't need to pander to the lowest common denominator.
ReplyDelete-Franco Healy
So many residents in the MMPHD (Mount Morris Park Historic District) have worked very hard over the decade the make this neighborhood a real gem, and that is because they care. The liquor store owner is the new kid on the block and clearly has no regard for the neighborhood, shown by his choice of establishment.
ReplyDeleteThe old Harlem was anything goes, nobody cares and whatever you can get away with is to be expected, that is not the way of those of the MMPHD who have worked so hard to make MMPHD something really special. This liquor store owner is clearly of the mind that anything goes, nobody cares and whatever you can get away with.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comment in the article is the neighborhood is like Bloomsbury... really??
ReplyDeleteMt. Morris is a lovely district and I hope the liquor store will manage to elevate its appearance to a more acceptable level. However, the "old" Harlem was graced with neighborhoods like Hamilton Terrace and Strivers Row which maintained their standards in a time when Harlem was considered a no-man's land. Even then, Harlem was NEVER an "anything goes" neighborhood, it was the neglected stepchild of a rich borough.The consistent elitism, ignorance and arrogance, along with the use of terms like "jungle" (and I consider the context in which it was used as I write this, but jungle is the word that sprang to the writer's mind), of some of the regular posters on this blog is downright tiresome. People who think like that would never think to consider that "Rooster" might be a retired worker. Sanou's mum, I am astonished to find myself agreeing with you about something.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the taboo with wanting to have characteristics (the good) of Park Slope?! Harlem today shares similar history (blight, renewal, gentrification), with Park Slope. Although Park Slope is further along the path. Yes, the negative impact of gentrification is displacement, but I'll trade in a bookstore or coffee shop for a $.99 store any day. This notion of “if I wanted to live in Park Slope, I would of”…is hilarious. Harlem is evolving – it’s going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI believe actions speak louder than words, and when you consider the accepted littering we see every day, it can only come from a mindset that nobody cares and anything goes. We have all seen people steps from a can drop litter on the sidewalk, for me that says so much about peoples attitude to their neighborhood. I know many, usually seniors, who do try to maintain standards, but that is the exception. Granted, there are pockets of Harlem that have been nice, but again, in recent history, that was not the norm. MMPHD is an example of a neighborhood where people do now finally care in a big way and it shows, and to pretend otherwise is rewriting history.
ReplyDeleteAs for upper Lenox, it does not have quite the same architecture as lower Lenox so I think the diverse mix of establishments works, from Pappa John’s, to Maysles cinema, to the Red Rooster and the gourmet delis to name a few, there is a certain energy. I think upper Lenox is becoming more of a destination with the many dining options and now a big sports bar under construction, not to mention this new Coffee shop on 129th. Also, I think upper Lenox has a different kind of vibe to lower Lenox and a signature unique to Harlem, which in my book is a good thing. When you get out of the subway at 125th and Lenox, you know you are in Harlem, while some other blocks could be mistaken for the UWS.
ReplyDeletewestsider, I agree with you completely on the littering, it is one of my pet peeves. It runs rampant from the people to the businesses who put their trash out at non collection times.
ReplyDelete@Westsider: I also agree about the blight of littering, and as an advertising professional, i am considering creating an anti-littering campaign, which is how the entire country was first introduced the the concept of not throwing trash into the streets. Perhaps you are too young to remember "Don't Be a Litterbug.", but check out certain episodes of "Mad Men" and yo will see that leaving trash wherever you finished with it was once the standard of the entire nation. Was America an "anything goes" nation in the 1950s? Maybe young people throw trash in the streets because hrey've grown up seeing trash in the streets. Please don't make the mistake of believing that your assumptions about the people of Harlem and the truth are one and the same.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find irreconcilable is when locals speak of Harlem as a sacred place, I can only think, well if it is so sacred, start using the garbage cans.
ReplyDeletevalgb, I agree that once conditioned you just go about doing the same, however as westsider pointed out these are the same folks who talk about Harlem like it is hallowed ground but treat it like a pit!!
ReplyDeleteThey are also the first ones to complain about vermin in the streets. I saw the woman by the 116th fish market just yesterday eating her shell fish and dropping all the shells in the street, then a rather large city rat ran by and she was screaming her head off. i pointed out to her that feeding the rats by dropping your food in the street does not help and for my words I got s firm f--you!! That's Harlem sometimes!!
HarlemBBC, as I said, I don't condone littering at all, and i'll be glad when there is less trash in the streets of Harlem. My point is that thinking of Harlem as sacred ground that has trash in its streets may be irreconcilable to Westsider and perhaps you, but maybe not to a native Harlemite. In the Midwest, where I come from, prime-time Manhattan is considered disgustingly dirty, with filthy subways that smell of urine and crazy people wandering the streets. When's the last time you heard a New Yorker railing against those things? They probably don't like them but they accept them as a fact of life in NYC. For the woman you mentioned, it seems trash is acceptable, but filthy rats running the streets are not.
ReplyDeleteThose who do not want to be labeled as elitist, of even racist, should be careful about the assumptions they spout about cultures they really don't understand. A little examination of their own perspectives might also be in order before they presume to judge what other people do or don't hold sacred. Sorry the woman didn't take your comment in the spirit it was probably offered, but check it out: in Harlem, grown people telling other grownups what to do is rarely considered cool.
@valgb: more uncool are adults who 'need' to be told!
ReplyDeleteOddly no one has any reticence about hollering to me, often from a car window, when they feel my boy’s mouth needs to be wiped. (He’s a bit of a drooler.) ‘Lady, wipe his mouth, he’s slobberin’’ shouted from a moving car is my current favourite.
ReplyDeletere: liquor store. Protruding sign removed, flush sign remains. Some work going on inside, perhaps plexiglass being removed? And doesn’t this bring up some manner of concern about the right of individuals? How many of you would like to be told by committee how to design the inside of your store or home or. . .
But note that where there was once a protruding sign, albeit not with the chasing lights that would have just been the icing on the cake for me, there is now a floodlight that rather screams “Prison Break”
The duplicity of regarding Harlem as sacred while treating it like a pit is a sentiment I have heard from several native Harlemites. Those native Harlemites are big enough to not take sides with new and old Harlemites, but to take sides with right and wrong. Those native Harlemites are usually more senior and have lived through many changes and with it offer the wisdom to tell it like it is.
ReplyDeleteupdate: Now the entire sign is coming down.
ReplyDelete