Tuesday, March 10, 2015

REMEMBER: THE ORIGINAL SILVER RAIL BAR CIRCA 1948


Who can guess the original location of the Silver Rail Bar from this photo taken in 1948?  This block of buildings no longer exist today but a clue is hidden in the background that indicates the location.  We have seen photo of the Silver Rail a couple of decades later when it moved to another location on 125th Street but not many will remember this first address.

ANSWER:  This is what the block between 124th and 125th Street on 8th Avenue used to look decades before the arrival of the Harlem USA commercial complex on 125th Street.  The Dwyer warehouse sign can be seen to the south which today are condominiums.

Archival image courtesy MCNY

5 comments:

  1. I'm throwing my hands up on this.

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  2. "Can't Go To Harlem, There's no more Paradise Bar or the Silver Rail"

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  3. If I have my street geometry right the Silver Rail was on 8th Ave between 123rd and 124th. The Dwyer Warehouse was at 123rd and St. Nicholas and that tower with the three portholes, which is probably covering a water tank, is at 123rd and Manhattan Ave.

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  4. The Silver Rail later to become Andres, in the same spot that I attended was between 125 and 124 on the west side of the street across from a high profile church... it was upstairs. Jays bar was around the corner and across the street on 125. They were one block east of the 8th ave subway station. for more information... contact me because I am trying to contact anyone that used to go regularly.

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