TalB

Heading west brings us into the hood known as Harlem. It goes from 110th St (CPN) to the Harlem River between 8th (Frederick Douglass Blvd) and 5th Aves, with St Nicholas Ave and the Harlem River Dr. This hood is mostly residential. Originally, it was first settled in 1637 by Hendrick de Forest and other Dutch settlers. In 1658, it was formalized as Nieuw Haarlem after the name of the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands by Peter Stuyvesant. In 1664, the Enlgish took over the colony and Anglified the name to Harlem, which it's refferred to as today. Durring the early 1800's, James Roosevelt had his farm on what's now 5th Ave between 110th-125th Sts. In 1814, Robert Macomb built a dam that would charge a toll, but it caused problems with farmers on flooded meadows and shippers got annoyed and breached it. In the 1870's, came the Polo Grounds, which was a place for those who wanted to watch polo. In the late 1870's, the 9th Ave El was built and extended to go to The Bronx. In 1880, the NY Metropolitans had rebuilt the place for their baseball games and shared it with the NY Gothams (later on known as the Giants) until they moved to a new one in 1888 by Coogan's Bluff. In 1890, a new version of the Polo Grounds were built, but only for the Giants. In 1895, the Macombs Dam Br and 155th St Viaduct replaced the dam hence the name of the bridge that was there for vehicular access to The Bronx as the 145th St Br added to it in 1901. Even though blacks have been living in Harlem since 1880, it's population didn't become big until 1904 when a mass migration of them came to live here. In 1911, a fire had burnned down much of the Polo Grounds forcing the Giants to share Hiltop Pk with the NY Highlanders (now NY Yankees) until its rennovation was complete. The 1920's brought even more blacks to the area, and it made whites no longer wanting to live there, but others saw it as the Harlem Rennisance for the black culture. In 1921, the NFL NY Giants started playing their home games at the Polo Grounds until 1955. In 1934, the Apollo Theater reopened for performances by blacks when it originally disallowed them to be there. The postwar era brough even more blacks to Harlem mainly b/c of the low rents and affordable housing that was there. In the 1950's, the 9th Ave El saw demolition as it became obsolete to the subways. In 1957, the baseball Giants were moved to San Francisco leaving the Polo Grounds w/o a proffesional sports team for the next few years. In 1960, the NY Jets played at the Polo Grounds for three years as the NY Mets came there in 1962 for two years until they both moved to Shea Stadium when it opened and the stadium was finally demolished for a housing project. The 1970's and 1980's, brought a lot of crime to Harlem, which were mainly caused by blacks that were living there. Other events included rallies for the rent hikes and civil rights movements. In the 1990's, major urban renewal came with the building of new appartments and some shopping malls in an attempt to revitalize Harlem, but others saw it as gentrifying or even homogenizing it. Despite that, Harlem still remains predominately black, and some old businesses still stay on 125th St (Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd). Many of the avenues are named after famous blacks such as Frederick Douglass, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr, and Malcom X. Today the former site of the Polo Grounds now goes with streeball tournments at the Rucker Court. You can get here by taking the subway to 110th St (Cathedral Pkwy)-CPW (B, C), 110th St-CPN (2, 3), 116th St-8th Ave (B, C), 116th St-Lenox Ave (2, 3), 125th St-8th Ave (A, B, C, D), 125th St-Lenox Ave (2, 3), 135th St-St Nicholas Ave (B, C), 135th St-Lenox Ave (2, 3), 145th St-St Nicholas Ave (A, B, C, D), 145th St-Lenox Ave (3), 149th St-Harlem (3), 155th St-St Nicholas Ave (C), and 155th St-8th Ave (B, D). Here is what you will find in Harlem.

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