HarlemCondoLife

QUOTE: Common “Selma is now”

Posted on January 13, 2015 by harlemhouse | 4 Comments

“I am the hopeful black woman who
was denied her right to vote.

I am the caring white supporter
killed on the front lines of freedom.

I am the unarmed black kid who
maybe needed a hand but was
instead given a bullet.

Selma has awakened
my humanity.

Selma is now.”

Common

(* Common and John Legend Win the 2015 Golden Globe for Best Original Song – Motion Picture.)

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Posted in Community, Culture, Education, Family, Harlem, History, New York City, Quote

Tagged @HarlemHCL, Common, Famous Quotes, Golden Globes, Harlem, HarlemBlogger, HarlemCondoLife.com, HarlemHouse, HCL, John Legend, Quote of the week., Selma

Help Save Harlem’s Historic Renaissance Ballroom from Demolition

Posted on January 13, 2015 by HarlemGuy | 16 Comments

Protesters Aim to Save Harlems Historic Renaissance Ballroom from Demolition – Video: via Protesters Aim to Save Harlems Historic Renaissance Ballroom from Demolition – NY1.

“The Ballroom was completed in 1924 as part of a larger entertainment hub that included a bustling casino and 900-seat theatre. Built and operated by black businessmen, the “Rennie” was the only upscale reception hall available to African Americans at the time. Prize fights, concerts, dance marathons, film screenings, and stage acts were held at the Renaissance, along with elegant parties and meetings of the most influential social clubs and political organizations in Harlem. The community’s elite gathered to dance the Charleston and the Black Bottom to live entertainment by the most renowned jazz musicians of the age.

“The nightspot even played host to the nation’s first all-black professional basketball team, also called the Harlem Renaissance, considered by some to be the best in the world in their day. On game nights, portable hoops were erected on the dance floor, converting the ballroom into a stadium. Following each game, almost invariably a victory for the Rens, a dance was held where players would mingle and jive with the choicest ladies of Harlem. The team barnstormed in towns across the country, playing exhibition games in which coveted matches with white teams drew the largest crowds. In their best season, the Renns set a record with 88 consecutive wins that has yet to be broken.”

-AbandonedNYC.com

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Posted in HarlemCondoLife, Real Estate

Tagged A. P. Tureaud, ABA Journal, Academy Award for Best Director, African American, Civil rights movement, Harlem Renaissance, Jr., Martin Luther King, new york city, Renaissance Ballroom, United States, Zora Neale Hurston

Harlem Real Estate Market Stats for Sat 3 Jan 2015

Posted on January 3, 2015 by HarlemGuy | 4 Comments

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Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America (Paperback)

By (author): Jonathan Gill

Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of Black America, Harlem's twentieth century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. In Harlem, historian Jonathan Gill presents the first complete chronicle of this remarkable place.

From Henry Hudson's first contact with native Harlemites, through Harlem's years as a colonial outpost on the edge of the known world, Gill traces the neighborhood's story, marshaling a tremendous wealth of detail and a host of fascinating figures from George Washington to Langston Hughes. Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule and the site of a key early battle in the Revolutionary War. Later, wealthy elites including Alexander Hamilton built great estates there for entertainment and respite from the epidemics ravaging downtown. In the nineteenth century, transportation urbanized Harlem and brought waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and elsewhere. Harlem's mix of cultures, extraordinary wealth and extreme poverty was electrifying and explosive.

Extensively researched, impressively synthesized, eminently readable, and overflowing with captivating characters, Harlem is an ambitious, sweeping history, and an impressive achievement.