67 Orange Street – Harlem Travel Guide – iPhone, iPad, and iPod

Not your traditional cocktail fare

You won’t find the usual suspects—mojitos and cosmos—on the menu at 67 Orange, which is an upscale cocktail lounge that takes its name from the final address of the African American-owned Almack’s Dance Hall that flourished in the early 1800s in notorious Five Points. Instead, you will find $13 libations that combine luxury spirits from all ends of the globe with homemade liquor infusions of natural fruits, herbs, and spices. A must-try is Madame Almack—a cocktail made of Bak’s Bison Grass Vodka, fresh mint, Cynar Artichoke Aperitif, and champagne. The food menu is just as atypical, with light fare offerings such as orange-roasted duck leg with cinnamon mashed potatoes and a daily selection of market-fresh shellfish. Owner Karl Franz Williams, has outfitted the cozy vintage space with purple velvet curtains, distressed mirrors, filament light bulbs, and rotating fine art on the brick walls.

Cuisine: Eclectic Bar Food, Raw Bar

Menu

This is why the “Gold Coast” is sizzling–bier international is a neighborhood place to meet neighbors and catch up on the local news. Down the block, 5 & Diamond serves up delicious eats at reasonable prices.

Transportation: Bus—M2, M3, M7, M10, M116. Subway—B, C to 110th St.

Features

• More than 360 entries with over 2000 photographs
• This visually rich app consists of detailed New York City visitor’s information from visitor centers, tourist websites, weather, news, holidays, sales tax, smoking rules, tipping and transportation to and from airports and in the city
• Detailed descriptions which include uncommonly known cultural and historical facts, websites, phone numbers, hours of operation, prices, menus and hyperlinks that link entries and lead to websites for additional historical and factual information.
• Entries sorted by name, category, distance, price, and neighborhood
• Once click to websites, phones, online ordering, online reservations, current menus and more
• Live calendar
• Ability to share user comments and mark and save favorites
• Ask the authors questions through in-app comments to get personalized feedback at your finger tips
• YouTube videos
• GPS enabled Google maps with walking, driving and mass transit directions
• Access offline content anytime
• Free upgrades for life

What’s inside

• Nightlife and entertainment from jazz, Latin salsa, opera to classical music;
• Theatre, dance, spoken word and more;
• Restaurants featuring soul food to French cuisine and everything in between;
• Unique ethnic retail shops;
• Museums that celebrate various cultures;
• Fine art galleries;
• Majestic churches and gospel music;
• Amazing landmarks;
• Parks and free recreational activities;
• Guest accommodations;
• Free internet access and Wi-fi locations;
• Authentic tours of Harlem;
• Annual events and festivals;
• Sales & Deals

   Literally a guide in my pocket

Posted by Max on 13th Jan 2012

I can only subscribe to what other people already have told about the guide. It’s just great that I can read a place description, actually give a call its manager, find it on a map and even hook up on its Twitter channel to keep my eye on it. Very smart!

Download the free Sutro World @ www.sutromedia.com/world and purchase the Harlem Travel Guide today for $2.99!

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Rites for TV journalist Gil Noble set for Friday at Abyssian Baptist Church in Harlem

Minister Louis Farrakhan among those invited to speak at private memorial service

Legendary broadcast journalist Gil Noble will be laid to rest at one of Harlem’s most prominent churches in what will be a “celebration” of his life.

A service for Gil Noble, who began hosting “Like It Is” on Ch. 7/WABC in 1968, will be held at Abyssinian Baptist Church on Friday. Photo by Getty Image

A private service for Noble, who began hosting “Like It Is” on Ch. 7/WABC in 1968, will be held at Abyssinian Baptist Church on Friday, where many of his colleagues, friends and former TV guests will remember the pioneering black journalist.

The list of invited speakers for the funeral was not readily available but includes “Like It Is” guest and Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Daily News has learned.

The Rev. Calvin Butts, who will officiate the service, said he knew Noble very well and also made numerous appearances on the weekly public affairs program, which focused on black affairs, politics, music and culture.

“It will really be a celebration of a life well-lived,” Butts said. “He made tremendous contributions, in terms of a journalist, to the struggles of the people of African descent.”

Noble, who suffered a debilitating stroke last summer that forced him to leave his TV show, died April 5. He was 80.

“He was a heavy endorser of our culture,” Butts said, noting Noble’s love for jazz.

Noble served on the board of the Jazz Foundation of America, often hosting the foundation’s annual “Great Night in Harelm” benefits.

Recognized for his interviews with such prominent figures as Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela and Bill Cosby, Noble was also dedicated to telling the stories of the Harlem community, where he was from.

He profiled Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the first black congressman from New York, interviewed area residents and business owners along W. 125th St., and discussed the neighborhood’s history and future.

Councilwoman Inez Dickens said Noble “took great care in guarding our history. He struck down false myths and told the truth about black life in America and beyond.”

Butts said he also got to know Noble beyond the popular show.

He had dinner at the Noble home and officiated at the wedding of Noble’s daughter.

“He was a great man,” Butts said. “I’m going to celebrate his life. . . . We’re working on preserving his work.”

The public viewing for Noble will be held at Abyssinian Baptist Church, W. 138th St., on Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m. The private funeral is set for Friday at 10 a.m.

Instead of flowers, the family has asked that donations be sent to the Gil Noble Archives, P.O. Box 43138, Upper Montclair, N.J. 07043.

Proceeds will be used to preserve the broadcaster’s archives, to continue Noble’s mission of educating the community about its culture and history.

mfeeney@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/rites-tv-journalist-gil-noble-set-friday-abyssian-baptist-church-harlem-article-1.1060167#ixzz1rqg68Up

A Rare Haven for Gay Men and Lesbians in Harlem

In a church nestled among a row of residential brownstones, parishioners clapped and danced as a woman began to testify.

While adhering to many traditions of black churches, Rivers at Rehoboth has made ministry to gay men and lesbians its mission.

“Aren’t you glad Jesus got up?” the woman, Twanna Gause, asked the predominantly black congregation, which responded with enthusiastic shouts of “Amen” and “Hallelujah.”

“He got up so I can come out,” Ms. Gause said, as worshipers hopped out of their seats and cheered in agreement. “He got up so you can come out.”

For black Christians who are gay and lesbian, church can be a daunting experience, where on any given Sunday they are taught that homosexuality is not only a sin, but a one-way ticket to hell. That alienation has been a benefit for the Rivers at Rehoboth congregation, in Harlem, which has made ministry to gay men and lesbians, combined with the worship traditions of black churches, its mission.

The congregation was formed by the merger of two churches,  Rivers of Living Faith and Rehoboth Temple. The pastor of Rivers, Vanessa M. Brown, 41, is a lesbian, and the pastor of Rehoboth, Joseph Tolton, 45, is gay, and both were born and raised in Harlem. Their merged congregation rents space out of Grace Congregational Church on West 139th Street, where Mr. Tolton’s former church worshiped for four years.

Ms. Brown, the church’s senior pastor and Ms. Gause’s partner, preaches what she calls a “radically inclusive” message, while Mr. Tolton, the associate pastor, offers as a mantra the phrase “Gay by God.”

“God doesn’t make any junk,” Ms. Brown said. “He made us knowing who we were going to be before we were it.”

Only “small segments” of black church leaders openly welcome gay men and lesbians in their congregations, according to Lawrence H. Mamiya, a professor of religion at Vassar College who has researched black churches.

“There’s also a large majority that doesn’t,” Mr. Mamiya said.

As evidence, he said that many black churches supported a ballot measure barring same-sex marriage in California.

“That gives you some indication of how strong the opposition is,” he said.

But there have been some signs of change. This month, the board of the N.A.A.C.P. voted to express its support for same-sex marriage.

Rivers at Rehoboth is attended by an average of 200 members each Sunday. On Easter, ushers had to place folding chairs next to pews to accommodate visitors, some of whom had traveled from as far as Italy and Australia.

Both pastors speak openly about their own experiences struggling with sexuality as black Christians.

Mr. Tolton said that for over 20 years, he believed his sexual orientation was a spiritual demon from which he needed to be saved. As a young man, he asked clergy to pray for him to be straight.

Mr. Tolton said he left his church after a friend told him he could not be the best man at his wedding because he is gay.

“It broke my heart,” Mr. Tolton said.

Ms. Brown said she, too, struggled with the church’s stance on homosexuality.

She said she married a man who was gay, to help him cover up his sexuality and protect his image in the church. But Ms. Brown divorced him after growing tired of living a lie, she said.

“I was ruining my own self,” she said. “I wasn’t happy.”

Many members of the Rivers at Rehoboth have their own stories.

Derrick Smith, 26, who found out that he had contracted H.I.V. shortly before joining Mr. Tolton’s church in 2007, said he had been asked to step down as the organist at his former church in the Bronx when he told people of his sexuality. He said he learned about Mr. Tolton’s church on a promotional postcard at a support clinic for gay black men in East Harlem. After a couple of visits, Mr. Smith joined the church and has been an active member since. He now serves as the church’s sound technician.

“I believe it helped save my life,” Mr. Smith said.

Julie Chisolm-May, who attends the church with her wife, Stacey, said before joining Rivers at Rehoboth, they attended separate churches for about eight years because of the glares they would get from people when they were together. Ms. Chisolm-May said if she and her wife had not found Rivers at Rehoboth, they would probably be worshiping from their bedroom, watching ministers preach on television.

“It’s the safest place to go without being condemned at the end of service,” she said.

Now, she said, her entire family attends the church, including her six adult children, and her 74-year-old mother, who changed her views on homosexuality when she joined the congregation.

The pastors say they are now looking for a larger space in which to expand.

“We want people to know that they are loved, there’s a safe space for them in the house of God,” Ms. Brown said, “where they can truly worship the Lord and be their authentic selves.”

 A version of this article appeared in print on May 28, 2012, on page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: A Rare Haven for Gay Men and Lesbians in Harlem.

By GERREN KEITH GAYNOR

Published: May 27, 2012

No record of tennis great Gibson in 1940 census

NEW YORK (AP) — It was on the streets of her Harlem neighborhood in the 1940s that teenager Althea Gibson began working on the tennis skills that would take her all the way to winning Wimbledon.

But according to the 1940 census, the trailblazing athlete didn’t even exist.

There’s no record of Gibson and her family in the decennial census, the records of which were released online to the public April 2 by the U.S. National Archives after a 72-year confidentiality period lapsed.

She and her family aren’t the only ones – more than a million black people weren’t accounted for in 1940, an undercount that had ramifications at the time on everything from the political map to the distribution of resources.

It also had an impact on the Census Bureau itself, the agency said, leading to efforts that continue to this day as it counts people every decade, to assess how well it managed to count people and to determine what could be done to improve. An analysis of the 2010 Census’ efficacy is being released May 22.

The undercount estimate has generally gone down, but it’s always been disproportionately higher for blacks than nonblacks.

There are a variety of reasons for undercounts – people move around; people may not know or be reluctant to answer government questions; address lists may be inaccurate; extremely crowded areas can be difficult to count, as can extremely isolated areas. Experts believe some of those factors weigh more heavily on minority undercounts, particularly the challenges of counting in urban areas.

The 1940 census was long known to have a black undercount. Evidence of it was found within a decade in a demographic study of young children and another of draft-age men. But modern-day genealogists digging into the newly released 1940 census records may be rediscovering it when they cannot locate their relatives or friends.

The absence of Gibson and her family in the available records points toward an omission.

Celedonia “Cal” Jones knows that Gibson lived in Harlem at the time, because the Manhattan borough historian emeritus grew up on the same block as her and remembers playing with her as a child.

“I know she lived on the block, because she used to dominate the paddle tennis,” Jones said. “Her nickname was `tomboy.”‘

It can be difficult to find entries in the 1940 census, since there’s no complete name index for the records currently available and won’t be for a few months longer. But Lillian Chisholm, Gibson’s sole surviving sister who was born in August 1940, confirmed the family lived at 135 W. 143rd St. at that time, making it possible to look up the census ledger.

An enumerator visited the building on at least five occasions in April 1940, according to the census records. An Associated Press review of the records found no listing of Gibson, who was 12 at the time, or her parents, at that address, though other building residents were counted.

There had been anecdotal information of population undercounts in previous censuses, but it was the data from the 1940 effort that really made it clear, said Phil Sparks, former associate director of the bureau and now co-director of The Census Project, which advocates for an accurate count.

Government officials were able to see that the count was off, particularly in the count of black men of a certain age group in the South, because they were using census data to plan for how many would be registering to fight in World War II, Sparks said. More signed up than were expected.

“From the standpoint of the war effort, it was a good thing to have happened,” he said, “but suppose it had been the other way around?”

According to census reports, the black undercount was estimated at 8.4 percent in 1940, meaning that a population counted at 12.9 million was actually more like 14.1 million. The undercount for the nonblack population was 5 percent, or about 6.3 million people. The total undercount for all races was 7.5 million.

The U.S. Census Bureau tried to reach out to the black community as it prepared to undertake the 1940 census. Documents obtained by The Associated Press at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y., show that the agency was particularly concerned about counting blacks in America at that time.

“The Census of 1940 will answer two questions of primary importance,” bureau officials wrote in a statement titled “The Negro and the 1940 Census” made available to teachers, speakers and writers at the time. Those questions included “how many Negroes are there now in the United States?” and “has their proportion decreased … or has it taken an unexpected – and unprecedented – upswing?”

These facts “may have a tremendously important bearing upon the determination of the Negro’s place in American life,” the officials wrote.

The statement was part of a nationwide publicity campaign to “impress upon the Negro citizen of the United States the importance of full and honest cooperation.” Letters were sent out to black trade associations, YMCAs and social and civic organizations. Edward Lawson, a managing editor of Opportunity: The Journal of Negro Life, was hired to supervise the campaign.

However, there is evidence that the campaign to count the country’s blacks was uneven.

In one case, the New Orleans chapter of the Urban League Inc., sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wife alleging “willful omission of negroes from staff of census enumerators in New Orleans,” according to a copy of the document obtained by the AP from the FDR library.

The U.S. Census Bureau said it would have to check into the situation when asked about Gibson and her family not being part of the 1940 count, but didn’t respond with an answer.

Jones isn’t surprised that his childhood friend and others somehow got left out.

“It’s part and parcel of being written out of history, that’s the first step,” he said. “You don’t count.”

The importance of an accurate count is vital, since the data is used in a number of ways. That includes the main purpose, written into the U.S. Constitution, that Congressional districts are apportioned by the census population counts. But it also matters because federal dollars flow to states and localities based on that effort, meaning a wrong count in a census year can impact a whole decade.

“It literally can mean the difference of tens of millions, hundreds of millions, of dollars,” Sparks said.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20120520/1940-census-althea-gibson/#ixzz1vYgUkfAU

Curtain Closes on Struggle But Not on Theater

The Harlem building housing the storied National Black Theatre has been taken over by its debt holder in a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure transaction.

The National Black Theatre on Fifth Avenue at 125th Street

But the art group’s long struggle to hold onto the property, on Fifth Avenue at 125th Street, hasn’t ended in tragedy. The theater, which was founded in 1968 by the late dancer and actress Barbara Ann Teer, will be able to remain in its home as part of the deal that it cut with Boltoro Capital Management, the building’s new landlord.

“The National Black Theatre will remain an important part of the property,” says Michael Kelley, the head of Boltoro, which held $10.4 million of debt on the 64,000-square-foot property.

Ms. Teer, who toured with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and performed on Broadway, founded the National Black Theatre with a mission to preserve African cultural heritage and empower a new generation of black artists. It has become a major Harlem institution.

In its early years, the theater occupied a number of different locations. Ms. Teer found what she hoped would be its permanent home in the 1980s when she bought the property at 2023-2035 Fifth Ave., which had been damaged in a fire.

But the group has been plagued by financial pressures. In 2002, the founder of National Black Theatre, Barbara Ann Teer, struck a deal with Nubian Properties to jointly own and manage the theater’s building on Fifth Avenue at 125th Street. But that partnership ran into multiple disagreements as the building’s finances deteriorated.

A fund controlled by Boltoro acquired the debt on the property in 2011. A foreclosure auction, previously set for April 3, was rescheduled for May 8. The deed-in-lieu deal halted the foreclosure action.

Representatives of the theater couldn’t be reached for comment. There’s currently a Yoruba art exhibit on display there.

Among the upcoming events: a Mother’s Day celebration featuring a DJ, buffet and raffle, according to a flier.

Harlem Rep. Charles B. Rangel, who has been active in past efforts to save the property, wrote in an email that the institution is “a spiritual sanctuary of the African Diaspora experience.” He added that he was “extremely pleased that the National Black Theater was saved.”

—Alessia Pirolo

Gordon Parks: 100 Years on display at ICP

In honor of the centennial of the birth of photographer Gordon Parks, Manhattan’s International Center of Photography (ICP), in conjunction with the Gordon Parks Foundation, presents “Gordon Parks: 100 Years.” This window installation will include a large-scale photo mural and slideshow of more than 50 images captured over Parks’ long and illustrious career and was curated by Maurice Berger.

Also on display is a 20-by-13-foot mural featuring “Emerging Man,” an image Parks captured in Harlem in 1952. Three video screens will display evocative images through which he explored racism, urban and rural poverty, politics and the Civil Rights Movement.

“As we celebrate Gordon Parks’ life, we also celebrate his legacy as a humanitarian with a deep commitment to social justice,” said Berger. “The body of work he left behind documents many of the most important aspects of American culture from the early 1940s up until his death in 2006.”

Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kan., on Nov. 30, 1912. He became a photographer in 1937. He went on to become a true renaissance artist and one of the most important figures in 20th-century photography. Largely a self-taught artist, his first job was with the Farm Security Administration. He went on to become a renowned fashion photographer, shooting for Vogue magazine in 1944. In 1948, Parks became the first Black staff photographer for LIFE magazine. His extraordinary photo essays looked at life in Harlem, urban poverty and segregation. Two of his most celebrated essays featured Flavio da Silva, a poor Brazilian boy, and a Harlem street gang called the Midtowners.

The gifted Parks was also the first African-American to direct a Hollywood film, “The Learning Tree,” based upon his novel of the same name. Perhaps his most famous film was “Shaft” (1971), which helped usher in the Blaxploitation film era and netted an Oscar for Isaac Hayes, who composed the film’s score.

In addition to being an extraordinary photographer and filmmaker, Parks was a prolific artist, writer, musician, composer and painter.

“Gordon Parks: 100 Years” is on view May 18 through Jan. 6, 2013, at the ICP, located at 133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street in Manhattan.

By JASMIN K. WILLIAMS Special to the AmNews

Harlem Landmark Plan Push for New Historic Districts

A swath of Central Harlem is being primed for landmarking under the first-ever comprehensive preservation plan for the area approved by the local community board this week.

There are so many important buildings and sites in Central Harlem that are 100 years old or older that Harlem has room for nine potential historic districts, according to the plan, which was approved by Community Board 10 Wednesday.

There are currently only two historic districts in Harlem — Mount Morris Park and Striver’s Row — meaning only 3.6 percent of Central Harlem is protected under the designation, compared to 10.6 percent for all of Manhattan and 26 percent for the Upper West Side.

“One of the critical things that we know is that Harlem in itself has very little designation, but we do have a concentration of a lot of older buildings,” said Betty Dubuisson, chair of CB 10′s Landmark Committee, at an earlier meeting about the plan.

The CB10 preservation plan will now be sent to the Landmark Preservation Commission and elected officials to gather support for the report’s recommendations.

“By looking at it as a comprehensive plan, you can start mapping what you think you want the future of your community to be,” said Simeon Bankoff, executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. “It can guide economic development, land use development and guide the area into a place where you want to live and work.”

Michael Henry Adams, a Harlem preservationist and historian who worked on the plan in his job as Community Cultural Associate for state Sen. Bill Perkins, said he hopes the proposal will prevent a repeat of what happened 15 years ago, when he recommended that several buildings be landmarked on an emergency basis.

“Not every building, but most on that list, have subsequently been destroyed or are planned to be destroyed,” said Adams, adding he had high hopes for the current preservation plan. “We are light years away from where we were 15 years ago.”

Among the nine new areas that will be considered for historic preservation districts is Astor Row at 130th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues, with its collection of semi-detached row houses.

The row houses on the south side of the street are already individually landmarked, but the stately brownstones on the north side of the street remain unprotected.

West 147th to 149th streets, between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, has a cohesive group of buildings with first-story white limestone and beige brick upper floors.

From 130th to 133rd streets, between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, 190 row houses were built before the turn of the 20th century and It is one of the first examples of row house neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan. Originally built for wealthy white families, it was also one of the first Upper Manhattan neighborhoods to become predominantly African-American.

The board is also recommending an extension of the existing Striver’s Row historic district from as far south as 135th Street and as far north as 140th Street, along with the planned extension of the existing Mount Morris Park Historic District.

“This is good news,” said Adams of the preservation plan. “This has been a long time in the making,” he added.

The idea for the plan began about five years ago when the rezoning of 125th Street drew attention to the fact that many important local landmarks sat unprotected.

“Both the community and community board expressed a lot concern that we did not have enough of our district that was being preserved,” said Dubuisson.

There are currently 28 individual landmarks in Community Board 10. But others, such as the old Blumstein’s building now occupied by Touro College, and the Harlem Branch of the New York Public Library at 124th Street, are potential nominees.

Only two interior landmarks exist within Community Board 10 — the Apollo Theater and the Play Center Bath House at Jackie Robinson Park. Other potential interior landmark nominees include the Hansborough Recreation Center on 134th Street between Lenox and Fifth avenues, and Lenox Lounge, which is in danger of going out of business because of increasing rent.

Central Harlem has no designated scenic landmarks — defined by the landmarks board as a feature or group of features that must be city-owned land with historic value. The board would like legendary basketball mecca Rucker Park to be designated as the area’s first scenic landmark.

“You hear a lot of complaints about the other boroughs being under-landmarked,” Bankoff said. “Frankly, Manhattan above 96th street ranks as an outer borough in that sense.”

The board also wants to explore the possibility of creating a Harlem State Heritage Area to help promote the culture and history of the neighborhood and attract investment.

“I think there are potentially other individual landmarks out there,” Adams said. “What this board is so rich in is an incredible history of incredible people.”

He named a number of unprotected sites, including a home of Vaudeville performer Bert Williams on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard that is now being used as a beauty shop, as well as three homes where “King of Ragtime” composer Scott Joplin once lived.

“This is our history,” he added, “and it’s highly important.”

LeRoy Walker dies at 93

DURHAM, N.C. — LeRoy Walker, the first African-American to lead the U.S. Olympic Committee and the first black man to coach an American Olympic team, died Monday. He was 93.

Walker’s death was confirmed by Scarborough & Hargett Funeral home, but no cause of death was given.

The grandson of slaves raised in the segregated South before he moved to Harlem, Walker led the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1992 to 1996, both shepherding the summer games played in Atlanta and leading the group when the 2002 Winter Olympics were awarded to Salt Lake City.

The Atlanta games were widely panned across the globe, and Walker warned his fellow countrymen the U.S. was not likely to host another games for a long time after Salt Lake City. He repeated his warnings after a bribery scandal threatened to derail the 2002 winter games, and so far, his prediction has been true.

But Walker still loved the Olympics, especially track and field. He coached Olympic teams from Ethiopia, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya and Trinidad & Tobago before his home country gave him a chance to be the first black head coach of a U.S. Olympic team when he led the track squad to Montreal in 1976.

That team brought home 22 medals, including gold in the long jump, discus, decathlon, 400-meter hurdles and both men’s relays.

Current U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Scott Blackmun said Walker’s impact on the U.S. Olympic movement and track and field will be felt for generations to come.

“We join the entire Olympic family in remembering and appreciating the vast contributions he made to the worldwide Olympic Movement throughout his 93 years of life,” Blackmun said. “He devoted himself to the betterment of sport and we were fortunate to have called him our president.”

Walker love for track came accidentally. After earning 11 letters in football, basketball and track and field from Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., Walker was hired to coach football and basketball at North Carolina Central University. He instituted a track program during the offseason of those sports, eventually deciding that coaching track was what he was meant to do.

At the university, Walker coached 40 national champions and 12 Olympians. But he just didn’t concentrate on athletics. Walker earned a doctorate from New York University in 1957, and in 1983, he was named chancellor at North Carolina Central.

Even with all the accolades, Walker still wanted to be called “coach.”

“When you call me that, it means you’re my friend. That means you’ve known me for a long time. As coaches, we’re in the community somehow,” Walker said in a 1996 interview with The Associated Press. “So I like the word Coach. It gives a different connotation than a Ph.D. degree.”

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

Major rezoning plan for Harlem geared to preserve brownstones by imposing height limits on new homes

Buildings would be capped at 4-6 stories on most residential blocks

Hundreds of New York City’s most glorious brownstones and majestic townhouses will be protected from developers and preserved for generations under a major rezoning proposed for West Harlem.

The plan would safeguard an architectural treasure trove by imposing height limits in the neighborhood for the first time ever, radically transforming the zoning of a 90-block area.

If the sweeping proposal from the Department of City Planning is approved, it will mark the first time the neighborhood’s zoning has been updated since 1961 — when Robert Wagner was mayor and Nelson Rockefeller was governor.

The so-called downzoning will preserve roughly 95% of the 1,900 lots bounded by W. 126th St. on the south; W. 155th St. to the north; Riverside Drive on the west, and Convent and Edgecombe Aves. to the east.

That includes Sugar Hill, the affluent historic district named for the sweet life enjoyed by its residents, and Hamilton Heights, traditional home to such African-American luminaries as composer Duke Ellington, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois.

“This is huge!” says Manhattan Borough President and mayoral hopeful Scott Stringer.

“By limiting both height and density, it removes the incentive to demolish small buildings and townhouses and replace them with towers — and that keeps gentrification at bay.”

The rezoning will protect West Harlem’s low-lying scale and “guide future development” to mesh with the area’s prewar apartment houses and Beaux Arts, Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival brownstones, says City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden.

“If my house blows up today, a developer under current zoning could replace the four-story brownstone with a 10- or 15-story building tomorrow,” said Pat Jones, co-chair of Community Board 9’s land use committee. “That out-of-scale development will no longer be possible.”

Heights would be capped at four to six stories on almost all crosstown, residential mid-blocks. They could rise only to six to eight floors on St. Nicholas and Amsterdam Aves. and up to 12 stories on Broadway, a review of the plan shows.

The impetus for the downzoning: Columbia University’s upzoning of an adjacent, 17-acre parcel in Manhattanville, where it will erect a $6 billion, 16-building super-campus, north of 125th St. and west of Broadway, over the next 25 years.

Stringer and City Councilman Robert Jackson, who represents the area, had pressed City Planning officials to rezone the adjoining swath so West Harlem could co-exist with Columbia — and not be dominated by it.

“Columbia is humongous, its endowment is in the billions, and people have a real fear that housing costs will go up and they’ll no longer be able to afford their homes because the new campus will fuel gentrification,” Jackson says.

“Now, developers won’t be able to tear down those homes and build a 25-story tower.”

Under the city’s land-use review procedure, Community Board 9, as of May 7, had 60 days to review the proposal, after which it goes to Stringer, who has a month to review it and suggest changes.

Then it goes to the City Planning Commission, for a 60-day review, and finally, to the City Council, which has 50 days to approve, modify or reject the zoning proposal. Insiders predict it will take effect after some minor tinkering.

Public reviews generally last a maximum of seven months — and that’s a good thing, says state Sen. William Perkins, who represents the area.

“There are preservationists in my district who would chain themselves to those brownstones to protect them,” he says.

“Hopefully, that won’t be necessary now, but we always need to be vigilant and skeptical because there have been zoning betrayals in the past, and that’s why we have a public review process.”

Other provisions of the proposed West Harlem zoning plan would:

* Allow commercial uses in a light-manufacturing district between W. 126th St. and W. 130th St. to spur job creation. The so-called mixed-use zone could attract retail and arts companies or other non-profits.

* Direct future larger-scale development to a single block on W. 145th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave. Only on this one site could a residential building rise to 17 stories, and only if it included a significant amount of affordable housing.

* Steer community facilities — like a gym, a library or a halfway house — to commercial and manufacturing corridors by reducing the amount of floor area they’re permitted in residential areas.

dfeiden@nydailynews.com

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Malcolm X and Lindy Hop

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on this day, 19th May 1925.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written by him with Alex Haley, was published shortly after his assassination in 1965. Much of the book concerns his involvement with, and later break from the Nation of Islam. But the earlier part of the book contains some fascinating memories of nightlife in Boston and New York in the early 1940s.

In Boston, Malcolm worked as a shoeshine boy at the Roseland Ballroom and was clearly a big fan of the music played there. He talks approvingly of seeing Peggy Lee, Benny Gordman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and many others, and recalled the fierce dancing competitions:

‘”Showtime” people would start hollering about the last hour of the dance. Then a couple of dozen really wild couples would stay on the floor, the girls changing to low-white sneakers. The band now would really be blasting, and all the other dancers would form a clapping, shouting circle to watch that wild competition as it began, covering only a quarter or so of the ballroom floor. The band, the spectators and the dancers would be making the Roseland Ballroom feel like a big rocking ship. The spotlight would be turning, pink, yellow, green, and blue, picking up the couples lindy-hopping as if they had gone mad’.

Before long, he was a zoot suit wearing dancer himself (and indeed had progressed from shining the musicians’ shoes to dealing them ‘reefers’), and describes with evident relish lindy-hopping to Duke Ellington: ‘Laura’s feet were flying: I had her in the air, down, sideways, around: backwards, up again, down, whirling… Laura inspired me to drive to new heights. Her hair was all over her face, it was running sweat, and I couldn’t believe her strength. The crowd was shouting and stomping’.

Still for all its liberation, nightlife was completely racialized. At the Roseland, some white dancers attended the black dances, but no black people were allowed to dance at the white dances, even if the music was provided by black musicians. Moving to New York, black Harlem had been catering since the 1920s for wealthier whites looking for thrills but not genuine social equality. I was surprised to read the word ‘hippies” dates back to that period: ‘A few of the white men around Harlem, younger ones whom we called ‘hippies’, acted more Negro than Negroes. This particular one talked more ‘hip’ than we did’.

During the war, resentment against racist treatment grew. ‘During World War II, Mayor LaGuardia officially closed the Savoy Ballroom. Harlem said the real reason was to stop Negroes from dancing with white women. Harlem said no one dragged the white women in there’. In his recent biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (2011), Manning Marable provides some background:

‘Since its grand opening in 1926, the Savoy, located on Lenox Avenue between 140th and 141st streets, had quickly become the most significant cultural institution of Harlem. The great ballroom contained two large bandstands, richly carpeted lounges, and mirrored walls. During its heyday, about seven hundred thousand customers visited each year… In a period when downtown hotels and dancehalls still remained racially segregated, the Savoy was the centre for interracial dancing and entertainment. On April 22nd 1943, the Savoy was padlocked by the NYPD, on the grounds that servicemen had been solicited by prostitutes there. New York City’s Bureau of Social Hygiene cited evidence that, over a nine-month period, 164 individuals has “met the source of their [venereal] diseases at the Savoy Ballroom”. These alleged cases all came from armed services or coast guard personnel. Bureau officials offered absolutely no explanation as to how they had determined that the servicemen contracted diseases specifically from Savoy hookers… The Savoy remained closed throughout the summer of 1943′ (it reopened in October).

During the period of the closure there there was a major riot in Harlem on 1 August 1943 after a black soldier was shot by a white policeman. 6 people died and 600 were arrested.

Marable reveals an interesting detail that Malcolm does not mention in the Autobiography – that under the stage name Jack Carlton, he performed as a bar entertainer at the Lobster Pond nightclub on 42nd street in 1944, dancing and sometimes playing the drums on stage.

Sadly it was another ballroom, the Audobon in Harlem, where Malcolm was murdered in February 1965 as he rose to speak at a public meeting there.

There’s a great recreation of the Lindy Hop scene at the Roseland Ballroom in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X (1992).

A look back at the Harlem Rens: “They’re Renaissance, Too”

The Harlem Renaissance is well-known as a period of African-American intellectual and cultural growth, centered in its namesake Manhattan neighborhood, during the 1920’s and 30’s. During this time, writers, musicians, artists, and leaders such as Zora Neale Hurston, Palmer Hayden, Dizzy Gillespie, and W.E.B. Du Bois came to popular prominence among the black urban populations growing in the country. One aspect of the Harlem Renaissance that is often overlooked, however, is another type of Renaissance, one that made its home in the hustle and bustle of a Harlem ballroom. Or rather, literally, it was made into a “ball” room.

It was the New York Renaissance. But, rather than being a citywide cultural movement, it was simply a group of men and the sport of basketball. The New York Renaissance, alternatively known as the Harlem Rens, were founded as a team in early 1923 by Robert “Bob” Douglas, in partnership with the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom. Hence, the earlier play on words; the Rens would use the establishment’s ballroom for games, setting-up portable hoops to turn the dance floor into a basketball court. Then, after the game was done, the rims would be packed away again and there would be dancing. Imagine the thrill of being able to enjoy a night of music and food after watching your hometown team defeat the competition, on the court they had just performed on! Well, the first thing that comes to mind for me would be the potential for odor, but I’m certain they cleaned up before the festivities.

Joking aside, the Rens were no joke in the sport. In their run from 1923 to their disbanding 1949, the team accumulated a stellar record of 2588 wins to 539 losses. In the 1932-33 season, they racked up a record of 88 consecutive wins, a record which has gone unmatched in professional leagues to this day. And make no mistake, the Rens were a professional team, going up against the likes of the Chicago Globetrotters (who would go on to make their home in Harlem), the Oshkosh All-Stars (whom the Rens would defeat to win the first invitational World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago in 1939), and had a very popular rivalry with the Original Celtics (no relation to those guys in Boston). In fact, during that incredible 88-straight-wins season, the Rens had a final record of 120-8, six of those losses came at the hands of the Original Celtics; the Rens responded in kind with eight victories over their fellow New Yorker rivals.

If this is reading like a sports article, it’s only because these numbers and facts are very relevant to the real point. Rising up in the midst of the fabled and much-studied Harlem Renaissance, the New York Renaissance basketball team was a squad of all-black players. Not only were they all-black, in contrast to other all-white independent teams including the Original Celtics and Oshkosh All-Stars, but they were an all-black professional organization which experienced tremendous success in the sphere of athletics. The New York Renaissance’s contributions to the evolution of African-American culture cannot be dismissed as simply a game, but must be recognized as the milestones they were.

By Gregory Lucas-Myers, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

New York chef Marcus Samuelsson makes the cut as winner of ‘Chopped: All Stars’

Red Rooster maestro top rivals in Food Network contest to win $50K for charity

When “Chopped: All Stars” came to a close on Sunday night, Marcus Samuelsson was the last chef standing.

The chef/owner of Harlem hotspots Red Rooster and Ginny’s Supper Club on Lenox Ave. beat out Michael Symon, Penny Davidi and Jeffrey Saad to take home the title, as well as $50,000 for C-CAP, his charity of choice.

“It proved to be a really tough competition with some very talented chefs battling for the win, so I was incredibly happy to come out on top,” says Samuelsson, who also won “Top Chef Masters” in 2010.

He was especially happy for the kids who will benefit from his charity.

“C-CAP helps underserved high school students receive a culinary education. It is a wonderful program that I’m passionate about supporting, so it was a very special victory for me.”

Red Rooster and the newly opened Ginny’s, which sits underneath the restaurant, have changed the Harlem dining scene since Rooster opened in 2010.

The ever-packed eatery has held events for President Obama and welcomed diners like John Legend and Paul McCartney to the neighborhood.

Sunday night’s final competition for the Food Network show featured the contestants making appetizers from Chinese okra, Galia melon, pistachios and beef heart. The entrees had to feature rainbow chard, bonito, hard cider and couscous.

The judges, Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos and Anne Burrell, eventually chose Samuelsson over Saad in the dessert round. There, the chefs had to use panforte, pancetta, pink currants and crème fraiche.

Samuelsson made a pancetta chocolate crumble with coconut sorbet and candied pink currents.

“It’s the most elegant brownie sundae I’ve ever had,” gushed Freitag.

“What you accomplished in 30 minutes is extraordinary,” said Chris Santos.

“I can’t be prouder than I am right now,” said Marcus when host Ted Allen announced his win.

“This is one of the proudest moments of my life.”

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