GREEN HARLEM: DELIVERY BY URBAN GARDEN CENTER

Harlem Bespoke:  Uptown gardeners looking for blooming trees or larger plants should check out Urban Garden Center on Park Avenue by 116th Street since they will make a deliver.  Harlem has a lot of brownstone green spaces or terraces on newer buildings and this is the time of year to get more dramatic gardening started.  Get more details on the official website: UrbanGardenNyc.com 

HarlemBespoke.com 2023

SHOP: HARLEM NIGHT MARKET 2022

Saturdays, December 3rd, 10th, and 17th, 4:00PM-8:00PM, Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta, 1590 Park Avenue between 115th and 116th Street.  The Harlem Night Market returns for 3 consecutive Saturdays this month to celebrate the holidays.  Checkout our past post for more photos of the first event from two years ago: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2022

EAT: APPLE TART AT AMUSE BOUCHE

Harlem Bespoke:   We finally got to try one of these photogenic apple tarts from Amuse Bouche at the food court within La Marqueta on Park by East 115th Street.  This pastry is a best seller and pretty much half a sliced apple with a flaky crust to hold it all together. Definitely worth going out of the way for while walking around the East side since it is all really  ffordable and freshly prepared French fare.  They have also have table service with incredible lunch and dinner specials or just visit to grab and go at the cafe: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2021

REMEMBER: LA MARQUETA BY ALICE NEEL c.1947

Harlem Bespoke: The new exhibit at The Met showcasing the life's work of artist Alice Neel mainly focused on portraits but some landscape or interiors provide a peek into East Harlem's past.  We new that La Marqueta was the location when we saw the painting of the fish market done in 1947 with the industrial glass in the background.  A black and white photo was also included with the presentation of this piece and shows how market under the elevated train tracks on Park Avenue by 116th Street used to be the food hub for El Barrio. There also used to be hundreds of vendors present but only about a dozen can be found today because the purchasing patterns of the neighborhood has drastically shifted.  With that said, some infrastructure improvements have been made over the past decade so maybe one day we can return to this.  More on reviving La Marqueta can be found in our past post: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2021

INTRODUCING: MODERN RENOVATIONS AT LA MARQUETA

Harlem Bespoke:  Renovations for the north part of La Marqueta between 115th and 116th Street on Park Avenue started up at the beginning of this year and it now looks like everything is almost complete.  We walked by the historic market place in El Barrio that used to have hundreds of local merchants but has had a major decline since the mid 20th Century when cheaper fast food and bodegas became more dominant in the neighborhood.  Today only a handful of merchants can be found in the south end of the 115th Street section but that is about to change.