A photo from 1957 shows how busy the streets by lower Lenox Avenue used to be before the major population decline in Central Harlem. From the 1950s until the end of the 1990s, Harlem would see half of its population leave for the suburbs or other parts of the city. Over 100,000 left Central Harlem during those decades when crime and lack of opportunity drove many away. Nowadays, the shops have returned to the boulevard that is the heart of Harlem but shoulder to shoulder pedestrian traffic is a thing of the past. The lower photo was taken yesterday and the view of the landmark historic district has not changed much since then.
Image courtesy the Museum of the City of New York
That looks more like the northwest corner of 116th and Lenox with the covered subway entrance on the right.
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