So this weeks statistician calculation of the best nabes to live in the city caused quite a stir since Harlem was listed last out of the top 50 locations (technically 60 altogether but that is such an odd number for a Best List). Some redemption can be found in a much smaller article in the same issue of New York Magazine that has real estate experts quote on their next best neighborhood predictions in 4 years time. Notably, out of the ten locations, 3 uptown nabes have been selected. A Corcoran exec picks West Harlem as one of the top spots stating that, “(it is) a true New York neighborhood... adding that it’s near three parks and has great transit. The early-2000s brownstone boom deposited lots of shops and restaurants on the main avenues, and the varied housing stock—condos, rentals, houses—brings in all sorts of residents. “People are calling specifically to live there."We also thought that the map the article had laid out was kind of interesting since it seems to have the South Harlem corridor from West 110th Street to West 125th Street combined with Hamilton Heights from West 125th Street to West 155th. The uptown choices seem like the right direction to us since the price values are there but one of the midtown neighborhoods in the article also included the garment district which made us a bit skeptical on what the experts were really trying to sell here. Read more on the other uptown choices in the NY Magazine article: LINK. Read what the folks in Harlem had to say about the questionable 2010 Best List: LINK. Photo by Ulysses
This neighborhood assessment carries more credibility as is not written by a one year transplant.
ReplyDeleteFinally, they get it right. Writer's remorse?
ReplyDeleteIt's the difference between an article written by someone who has lived in the city for some times and for someone that just moved into town and doesn't know any better. I met someone recently who just moved to Jersey City from Philly and called it West New York City. Once I told him that I lived in Harlem and that is was actually part of Manhattan, he laughed and told me that I can keep on believing that. I had to politely inform him that my address reads New York, NY and as much as he wanted Jersey City to be New York City, it ain't going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI buy that the 110th-125th coridor (East of Park Avenue - I know East Harlem begins at 5th avenue but Madison Avenue still feels like Mt. Morris Park - to me the shift happens at Park Avenue w/ the above ground subway) and Hamilton Heights have the most near-term potential. South Harlem ahead still in terms of retail and proximity, but Hamilton Heights has even better housing stock.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article and map. It looks as though some folks are trying on St. Nicholas Avenue as "the new 110th Street."
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see "West Harlem" defined in this way -- as an area that does not include Morningside Heights, but which does subsume most of the "South" Harlem area and the line along St. Nick that extends to Manhattanville. It's significant that "Central" is more or less defined away in the process.
Looks like I moved without moving.
Actually, after straining my eyes to further interpret this map, I am even more confused. They appear to have drawn the eastern boundary of this "West Harlem" construct as an imaginary line from a point at 116th St & 5th Ave, to a point around 145th & St. Nick -- with 116th St marking the southern boundary.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who lives near W 112th St & FDB (below this new "West Harlem" and no longer connected to whatever is left of Central Harlem), I rather wonder what these folks are suggesting the area be called.
Central Park North? Miscellaneous?
People like to think of Manhattan as being easily defined as "East Side" and "West Side," and the subways reinforce this binary, despite the fact that it doesn't really make sense to organize Harlem into halfs.
ReplyDeleteTopographically, Central and East Harlem are both in a relatively flat "valley" with West Harlem above the ridge of St Nick/Jackie Robinson parks. 5th Ave only makes sense as any sort of boundary between neighborhoods because of the fact that it is the 0 point in Manhattan's street numbering and it is roughly the division between the historically very African American community in Central Harlem and the more diverse East Harlem mix.
What would the corner of Madison and 128th be considered? It feels more like Central Harlem than East Harlem. Only a 5 minute walk to the 2/3 trains on 125th.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Park Avenue is the real boundry between East Harlem and Central Harlem. Madison Avenue feels like Mt. Morris Park. Something about where you cross those train tracks on Park seems to separate the two to me.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the observation that 5th to Madison almost feels like it is a continuation of Mt. Morris Park especially the first four blocks above 125th Street.
ReplyDeleteI always viewed the east-west boundaries of Central Harlem as Park Avenue and FDB/St Nick. Despite Park Avenue's current deteriorated condition, it definitely has a bright future when you consider that it will probably be a central business coridor for uptown. An office tower will eventually be built on that empty lot in near future. Harlem-125th being the first stop for all Metro North lines makes Park Avenue very attractive for commmerical investors.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do see East Harlem as having a lot of upside eventually as well, I think the area around Park Avenue will remain sketchy for a while. The above ground trains adds a certain outer-borough characteristic to it, and as a woman crossing under a bridge is not fun at night.
ReplyDeleteOver the long-term, I see Central Harlem (which I see as West of Park to Morningside Park) become West Villagy in feel and East Harlem becoming East Villagy in feel. This is already true today - East Harlem has a certain ethnic vibrancy and grittinesss to it, and with its tenement housing stock already feels a bit like the East Village. But I say this in a good way (and will actually concede East Harlem, though considered less nice, has better restaurants - in no doubt due to its Puerto Rican influences and Italian routes). Central Harlem has a grandness to it in its architecture, its green spaces, and its wide streets. Central Harlem will one day have a feel somewhere between the West Village and Brooklyn Heights and East Harlem will have a feel like Williamsburg or the East Village - but both will be considerbly more diverse in racial mix than any of these neighborhoods.
^^^^ East Harlem's large concetration of public housing will also make it feel more girtty like an East Village or LES or Williamsburg. But again, I say this in a good way; I see a mix of people as a good thing not a bad thing for a neighborhood.
ReplyDelete