BESPOKE: ALEXANDER WANG IN HARLEM 2017

                Joseph Byron Collection from the Museum of the City of New York

Hamilton Palace Theatre on 146th at Broadway will be putting Harlem in the spotlight this weekend but many might not know the history of the abandoned landmark space.  A photo by Joseph Byron taken around 1915 shows the distinct Thomas W. Lamb design when the venue was first a vaudeville house but would show movies eventually up until 1965.   The address has more recently hosted pop-up Halloween shops in the front lobby area but has also been used for a disco in the 1980s.

We actually walked by the space Hamilton Heights yesterday to see the progress of this weekend's Alexander Wang fashion show and things had already started to pick up.

Permits were up on 146th Street and 147th Street blocking off parking on the curb for the rest of the week and there was some activity in the foyer and the back auditorium. The front end of the theater had black fabric scrims set up around the perimeter and large electrical wires were all lying on the floor. There were a few men going in and out of theater space in back and this will probably be were the actual show will be happen this Saturday at 8:00PM.

Everything appears to be intact within the auditorium section but its pretty much in slowly falling apart in a grand sort of way: LINK