UPTOWN NIGHT MARKET MAY EDITION 2023

Harlem Bespoke: The Uptown Night Market returns for every second Thursday during the summer 2022 season after a successful first run in Manhattanville last fall.

INTRODUCING: SAKURA PARK BLOOMING SPRING 2022

Harlem Bespoke: Spring this year has still been pretty chilly for most days but the cherry blossomes at Harlem's famous park by Grant's Tomb at Riverside Drive and 122nd Street are just starting to appear.  From a 1-5 scale for the prime of the bloom, we would have to say it's about a two as of Friday so the next few days will see some dramatic changes.

LAST CHANCE: AGHDRA AT GAVIN BROWN 2021

Extended through December 19th, 2021, AGHDRA by Arthur Jafa Exhibit at Gavin Brown Galleries, 439 West 127th Street by Amsterdam Avenue, Wednesdays-Sundays, 12:00PM-8:00PM.  The Harlem location of Gavin Brown in Manhattanville shuttered last summer but one final show has made it on the radar for the end of 2021.  AGHDRA by Arthur Jafa needed the big interior of the old brewery building for the massive moving images on a stubstantial movie screen and fortunately the gallery still was on the lease.

ARCHITECTURE: FOO DOGS IN MANHATTANVILLE IN 2009

Harlem Bespoke: We were going through our archival photos taken for the blog in the past decade and found the above images of the dramatic foo dog lions at 701 West 135th Street at 12th Avenue.  These are the mythical guardians that many saw come to life in this year's Shang-Chi movie from Marvel and probably were the only pair to found uptown.  So what did end up happening to these unusual architectural details? The pictured Latin-Thai restaurant did not last very long and the statues were quickly removed soon after closing.