By HarlemGuy

Christmas and New Years are times of celebration. They are also times for reflection. And what better place to reflect on than our beloved Harlem.
HarlemCondoLife’s mission has been to chronicle all that’s great about Harlem. And we’ve uncovered an incredible and innovative way of doing so. It’s called InvincibleCities.
The site speaks for itself. But in a nutshell, it uses photography and technology to chronicle changes of several urban landscapes. One such landscape is Harlem.
The first thing I did was check out my block to see what it looked like and compared it to what is there today. Wow. I’ve spent hours examining Harlem then and now through the lens of artist Camilo Jose Vergara. My favorite so far has been examining locations that today have been transformed by new real estate projects, including Frederick Douglass Boulevard, between 110th and 125th, which many consider the “Gateway to Harlem”.
How to use the site:
- Goto http://invinciblecities.camden.rutgers.edu/intro.html
- Click on “Harlem”.
- Locate the map pane (upper left corner).
- Move the bulls eye to the desired location.
- Locate the photo phone (right below the map pane).
- Click on each dot which represents a photo. The photo will appear in the photo pain (to the right).
- Click on the timeline below the photo to see the changes.
Join us in exploring the beauty, art and history that is Invincible Cities.
What an awesome site this is! I know of this man’s work from a recent exhibit he had at the NY Historical Society – and if you Google his name and New York Historical Society, many of the photo’s he had on exhibit come up.
Thank you for finding this. I will surely keep it in my ‘favorites’ and have lots of fun looking at the changes of the years.