An archival photo from the
Museum of the City of New York shows the original boathouses at the Harlem Meer sometimes circa 1974. This old photo titled "Casino at the Haarlem Meer" shows the concrete sidewalk and chain link fence that were constructed during the 1940's and apparently an entertainment establishment had settled within the 2-part boathouse. The center sketch shows the original plan for the rebuilding of the Harlem Meer structures which would have included a restaurant in the larger of the two houses. When the real estate market tanked in the early 1990's, plans for the restaurant portion of the Meer houses did not come through but the smaller boathouse and the sandy shores of the park lake were eventually restored in 1993. Here's the PDF on the entire plan for those interested in more details on the project:
LINK
The restaurant in the park at the boat house was called "across 110th street". It was run by an black veterans organization called viet vets. It was an amazing, beautiful place for a few years but then went out of business due to, I think, mis-management.
ReplyDeleteI remember going there with a date. His uncle was one of the owners...I always wondered what happen to that really beautiful eatery. It was needed at that time, in Harlem.
DeleteA waterfront restaurant would work very well in the northern end of central park along with the very convenient transportation, who knows, it may be rebuilt one day.
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