It seems that another Harlem restauranteer possibly couldn’t stand the heat and (may have) hauled it up out of the kitchen.  Bayou, the inconspicious second floor establishment specializing in Louisiana Creole cuisine seems to be in questionable status is closed.  Each time I pass that way it seemed to be closed.  I tried logging onto their website earlier today and it was down but as of a few minutes ago it was active again. Their phone is definitely disconnected with no forwarding number.  I emailed the owner to see if they are open or closed, so if any knowledgeable tipsters have the inside scoop email us at uptownflavor[at]gmail.com.

Update: It seems that the kitchen was too hot for Bayou as evidenced by the commentary in this thread on Curbed.com.

After the play "The Winter View," a friend and I decided to have a bite to eat and a cocktail before calling it a night.  We knew that we were a little underdressed for the Harlem Grill so we headed over to The Den.  After seeing the gathering of people waiting for tables outside The Den we continued walking down Fifth Avenue to 125th Street.  We would try either MoBay or Bayou (more about Bayou in the next post) as a last chance effort to cop a cocktail and appetizer. 

As it turned out, the wait wasn’t too long at MoBay so we waited until seats at the bar became available and ordered our cocktails.  My friend and I decided to have appetizers instead of entrees so we stayed at the bar which was lively and energetic.  The band played a long R&B set and people seemed to be enjoying themselves on the warm pre-summer night.

I ordered their special rum punch and my friend ordered a "Change of Attitude" cocktail. Both of us enjoyed our selections. The bar has seating on both sides so it made it easy for us to converse with other patrons.  We compared food items and everyone around us enjoyed what they had ordered. 

A young lady sitting across from us ordered jerk chicken wings that were a bit too spicy for her palate, but she said they were very good and ate them all in spite of her scorched taste buds.  Another young lady ordered cod fish cakes and her friend the catfish strips. My friend and I ordered crab cakes.  The wait was reasonable and the crab cakes were quite good. The outside crust was perfectly browned and crunchy while the inside was full of tasty, well-seasoned crab meat.

Sitting next to us was an Aussie turned Harlemite jazz musician who was listening in on the set of a fellow musician. The vibe was loose, light and less pretentious than expected. I still felt a little underdressed but soon forgot about it amid the conversation and good libations.

Would I go back?  The answer is a resounding yes!  I found MoBay to be a nice hang out spot great for listening to live music and enjoying well mixed (though pricey) cocktails before or after another event.  How would I rate my first visit to MoBay?  I give them three stars out of four for their service, food and ambiance.  How was your experience at MoBay?

Related: Bar Buzz :: Menu :: JC and the Jazz Hoppers

Kicking off this week is the Urbanworld Vibe Film Festival.  Locations around the city, including the Magic Johnson Theater, will be showcasing the works of independent filmmakers, as well as hosting workshops, panels and parties.  The festival will run from June 21 through June 25.  Check the website for further details.

Urbanworld [website] 

THIS FRIDAY @ THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM
June 16th 7-11 pm

Hoofers’ House
7-9 pm
Featuring Rashida Bumbray, Omar Edwards, Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards & Tamango

In honor of the important place of tap dancing in Harlem’s history,
SMH now serves as a new home for hoofers. Normally Tap dancers- elders
and young people alike are invited to take the floor at these
quarterly jam sessions. This June we will showcase the fine footwork
of a selected few dancers that are slated to burn up the floor with
none other than the very accomplished jazz drummer Ali Jackson and his
trio!

Uptown Fridays! Music, Cocktails, Culture

Featuring DJ Lynnee Bonner
7-11 pm

The weather is beautiful and the Museums courtyard is finally open
for the highly anticipated Uptown Fridays! This season is bound to get
you moving! Dance to the sound of some of the hottest DJs spinning
NYC, connect with others during guided tours, or shop til you drop in
the Museums newly stocked store. Bring a friend and have a cocktail
and conversation. But whatever you do dont miss these fun and festive
evenings of culture in Harlem!

The Studio Museum in Harlem is located at:
144 West 125th Street (between Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and Malcolm X
Blvds.) New York, NY 10027
Subway: A, B, C, D, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 to 125th Street.
Bus: M-2, M-7, M-10, M-100, M-101, M-102, or BX-15.
Call 212 864 4500 ext 264 for more information

Schedule for the Studio Museum in Harlem [website] 

Editor’s Note: A reader says that Chocolat previously mentioned in this post is moving to a larger space. Information is supposed to be on their website.  If you can find it on there you will receive 2 free passes to see "The Winter View" this weekend.

Rapper Juelz Santana continues to make moves with his forthcoming project of mega proportions.  But his biggest project to date is not his next CD, it is the Hiphopsodashop, a chain of fast food restaurants that offer a healthier alternative to McDonalds and other fast food chains that dominate Harlem.

Back in February, Vibe magazine wrote, "each branch in the chain of HipHopSodaShops feature a quick-service menu, memorabilia, plasma screens and an area devoted to competitive CyberSports."

Santana and business partner H3 Enterprises have teamed up with with notables such as entertainment impresario Lou Pearlman and most recently Ben Gordon of the Chicago Bulls. According to the hip hop website SOHH.com,

"Santana and Gordon are set to make an official announcement at a press conference in Manhattan this Thursday (May 25). Launched in partnership with H3 Enterprises, the store will be located on Harlem’s 125^th Street. Gordon and Juelz will be the main partners. Gordon joined Team H3 to launch "BG7," his White Tea Energy Drink last week."

Related: Hiphopsodashop :: SOHH.com :: Vibe ::

 

 

 

The Jazz Foundation of America’s fifth annual A Great Night in Harlem concert will take place May 4 at the Apollo Theater, hosted again by Bill Cosby. The JFA has set a goal to raise $1.5 million through corporate donations and proceeds from the gala to go towards the post-hurricane efforts in New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina hit the city last August, the JFA has assisted nearly 900 New Orleans musician emergency cases, helping with everything from replacing instruments to helping with mortgages and living necessities.

In addition to Cosby, the evening will also feature the JFA’s newest board member, Danny Glover, and musicians including Abbey Lincoln, James Blood Ulmber, Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Will Calhoun, Harold Mabern and over 30 musicians from New Orleans.

The gala will also honor corporations who have helped JFA, including Agvar Chemicals, HIP Health Plan of N.Y., Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and jazz artist Jimmy McGriff.

Already, JFA is making progress towards its $1.5 million goal. E*Trade Financial is paying rent and mortgages for displaced musicians and their children in many cities; Time Warner and Agvar Chemicals have donated more than $500,000 towards employing displaced musicians; Music and Arts Center, Beethoven Pianos and Yamaha have replaced over $250,000 top shelf instruments for musicians including “Fats” Domino, Henry Butler, Eddie Bo, Lionel Ferbos and Treme Brass Band; and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center is providing pro bono operations and medical care to hundreds of elderly uninsured musicians.

Tickets for A Grand Night in Harlem range between $100 and $1,500 and tickets and more information are available through the JFA’s website.

Source: Jazz Times 

Related articles: A Great Night in Harlem

A Star in Harlem Is Reborn, One Velour Seat at a Time

In Harlem, Pair Becomes First Black Women to Own Bowling Alley

Date: Monday, February 13, 2006
By: Monica Lewis, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Thanks to two enterprising sisters, residents of Harlem will now have a chance to bowl down their very own alley.

When the Harlem Bowling Center opens its doors next month, it will mark the first time in three decades that the famed northern Manhattan community, still in the midst of a residential and economic revitalization, will have its very own bowling alley.

Sharon Joseph and Gail Richards realized it was time to bring the bowling experience back to Harlem, and in doing so, they are making history as the first black women to own a bowling alley in the United States. Their feat has generated a lot of buzz and even captured them a spot as cover girls on an issue of Bowlers Journal magazine. But despite the fact that many in their community are excited about their new endeavor and anxious to support the business, Richards said she still finds it hard to believe that she and her niece are now considered trailblazers.

“The response from the community has been overwhelming. There’s a huge sense of pride that there are two African-American women doing a project like this,” Richards told BlackAmericaWeb.com. With bowling being a sport that appeals to many people regardless of age, gender or race, it seemed like such a natural fit to start such a business, Richards added.

“Bowling has been a sport that has been around since Egyptian times, and how it was that this niche market has not been broken, I really don’t know,” she said.

The two visionary women said the idea to open a bowling alley came to them as they walked down 125th Street one day four years ago. Wondering how they could enhance a neighborhood already rich with culture and history, they figured they could capitalize on the fact that far too many Harlemites had to travel to lower Manhattan or to New York’s other boroughs just to bowl. With the activity a sure-fire way to mix fun and family, Joseph was determined to see their vision become a reality.

A mother of a four-year-old girl, Joseph said the Harlem Bowling Center will provide parents with an opportunity to host birthday parties for young children, something that isn’t in great supply in Harlem. Such outlets are crucial, with more and more black professionals choosing to buy homes and raise families in Harlem.

“We were thinking about something that would be beneficial to the community, and with so many families coming into the community, we knew that this would be something everybody could participate in,” Joseph told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

With so many attention and anticipation being heaped upon the project, both Joseph and Richards say they’re ready to take their show on the road — to other sites in New York and beyond.

“We definitely want this to be a part of the community, and we want the community to feel as if this is something that can represent them and help them see it as a way to create ownership,” Joseph said, pointing to another black entrepreneur who reinvigorated countless black inner-city communities.

“We want to take the Magic Johnson approach and do similar models, but only with bowling alleys,” Joseph told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “We really believe that we can take this concept and expand it to other communities as well.”

As part of the special opening activities, Richards said there will a variety of events, including an X-Box competition and a party sponsored by Vibe magazine, which is sure to bring in a number of A-list celebrities to the bowling alley, which is located in the heart of Harlem at 126th Street and Seventh Avenue, right across the street from the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Building. But don’t expect the business to cater only to the rich and famous. Richards said the Harlem Bowling Center will be as affordable as it is fun and fabulous.

Before 7 p.m., patrons will pay $5.50 per game. After 7 p.m., guests can expect to pay $7.50 per game. There will be special family packages and prices for senior citizens, but Richards said you can’t beat the prices, especially with the costs associated with many leisure activities in New York and across the country rising to exorbitant numbers,

“We’re very affordable, and our prices will be cheaper than any other bowling alley in the city,” she said. “And if you think about it, right now just to see a movie it costs $10, so we think people will be pleased with what we have to offer.”

That was a concern that banks brought up when Richards and Joseph were seeking to secure loans to finance their dream. But the two are confident that the Harlem Bowling Center will not be a passing fad. While the sport saw a decline in the 80’s and 90’s, many believe a resurgence is taking place. Cable televised bowling competitions saw increased ratings in the past two years and it has become one of the fastest growing high school sports in the country, thanks to a renaissance amongst teen bowlers. In an interview with ABC News last year, professional bowler Chris Barnes said the new fan base sees the fun the sport can provide.

“Having a personality now is a good thing, and (bowling) has grabbed a different audience than we’ve had for a lot of years,” Barnes said.

Joseph agreed.

“We believe that young people will be our bread and butter, so we want to create avid youth bowlers who will grow up to be avid adult bowlers,” Joseph said, acknowledging that the there are less bowling alleys around today than there were a generation ago. However, that’s not due to a lack of interest, but rather a sign of the economic times.

“Bowling has historically been a mom-and-pop business and as the owners grow older, a lot of them have failed to have a successor in place or they see that there’s value in selling the land in which the bowling alley is on,” Joseph said. “Our site might be trendy for some at first, but there are people who think of bowling as a serious sport and they’re finding it harder to find places to play.

“Bowling alleys don’t close because they’re not successful,” she added. “The reason why we will have longevity is that there are people out there who take this sport very seriously.”

In addition to providing Harlem residents with a social outlet, Joseph and Richards also want other black women to see that anything is possible. A 2005 study by Essence magazine found that the number of black women interested in starting their own business far outweighed the number of white women — 50 percent to 29 percent. So Joseph and Richards know that there are women out there capable of taking the initiative to build upon a dream, just as they have.

“As women, we’re generally faced with the challenges of living, including having a family, a career and pressing issues that sometimes keeps us from moving forward and achieving our dreams,” Richards said, adding that Joseph’s daughter was just a newborn when the two set out to get the project off of the ground.

“It’s just a matter of what kind of tenacity you have. I think we all have it, but we become anxious about going out on faith,” she said. “We want to become a beacon for many women out there who want to make things happen. It is doable and we’re proof of it.”

Related: NY Daily News 

 

__________________

Date: May 19, 2000

New York, NY - Harlem residents soon will be flocking to a gleaming new bowling alley, thanks to the vision of two local investors and the commercial real estate firm of GVA Williams. GVA Williams represented two local businesswomen, Sharon Joseph and Gail Richardson, in the lease of 25,000 square feet at the historic, six-story, 75,000-square-foot former Alhambra Theater, located at 2110-2118 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard between 125th and 126 Streets. Joseph and Richardson leased the third and fourth floors of building and will convert the space into Harlem Bowling, a splashy new entertainment venue that will also offer a restaurant, bar, and space for private functions. The husband and wife team of Eric Meyer, director, GVA Williams and Nicole Meyer, director, Newmark New Spectrum, negotiated both sides of the 20-year lease transaction. Fort Lee, New Jersey-based Mitchell Enterprises owns the property. "This is one of the most interesting deals I have ever worked on," said Eric Meyer of GVA Williams. "Sharon Joseph and Gail Richardson were looking for a property that fit the complex specs they needed—specifically, the column spacing necessary for the construction of a bowling alley. This property fit the bill, and it worked for them aesthetically." Harlem Bowling will be the fourth bowling alley in Manhattan, joining Leisure Time Bowling in the Port Authority, Bowlmor Lanes on University Place and AMF Chelsea Piers Bowl. The new bowling alley will be located in the center of a thriving Central Business District in Harlem, an area that has seen a flurry of activity in the last six months. "I proposed creating a sports facility in Harlem several years ago, but that didn’t work out," said Sharon Joseph. "However, seven years later the community has changed. We eventually did a questionnaire to see if bowling was something people were interested in and took it to the other bowling alleys around the city and found out many people there were Harlem residents who went downtown to bowl." "GVA Williams and Newmark New Spectrum were very instrumental in finding us a suitable space for this new facility," Joseph added. “We are truly looking forward to serving Harlem residents, and to providing families in the area with a place to come for some good, clean fun." Previously known as the Alhambra Theater, the property was last used as a theater in the early 1900s. Asking rents for the space were approximately $28 per foot. The space works well for the new bowling facility, as both floors are column-free with 45-foot-tall ceilings between both floors. The second floor, encompassing 12,500 square feet, is still available. Joseph and Richardson have raised the entire amount needed for the renovations, an estimated $5 million, with some assistance from the Harlem Small Business Initiative, a project started by former President Bill Clinton to help provide services to small businesses starting in the Harlem community. Nearly all of the preliminary work is finished, and the new venue is scheduled to open in December. About GVA Williams GVA Williams, the third-party brokerage and management division of Williams Real Estate Co. Inc., has been in business since 1926. The company is a leading provider of specialized realty services, including leasing, property management, investment advisory services, development, construction management, mortgage brokerage, tenant representation and institutional management. GVA Williams, a founding partner of GVA Worldwide Ltd., has offices in midtown and downtown Manhattan as well as in upstate New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and downtown and suburban Chicago. For more information, please visit the GVA Williams web site at www.gvawilliams.com.

 

In Brooklyn, A Growing Business Rooted in a Dream

By Umi Grigsby

"I was born to be an entrepreneur, just like my father and his father before him," says Richelieu W. Dennis.

The 34-year-old Brooklyn businessman has taken his family legacy, along with a strong appreciation for his native West African culture and traditions, and translated them into the lucrative Sundial Group of Companies.

Grossing well "over 1 million dollars annually," the Sundial umbrella - a 100% Black-owned manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer of traditional personal care products, flavors and fragrances - includes Sundial Fragrances & Flavors, Inc., the Nubian Heritage personal care products brand, and the Nubian Heritage Marchés in Brooklyn, Queens, and Harlem.

In addition, there is Nicholas, an Afrocentric store featuring urban and traditional clothing, and Madawa, a botanical store still in the process of being set up.

The Nubian Heritage project began with a dream in 1992, when then street vendor Richelieu Dennis, along with business partner and childhood friend from Liberia, Nyema Tubman, recognized the dearth of quality beauty products for African Americans. Dennis, who had graduated the year before from Boston’s Babson College with degrees in Finance, Investments and Entrepreneurial Studies, began experimenting with his own recipes using natural ingredients to create the first iteration of Nubian Heritage products.

At the time, he also recognized that in addition to the absence of product there was also limited access to realistic knowledge of African history and artifacts with a fashionable black aesthetic.

"For instance, when you’re trying to find home décor pieces,” he explains, you can’t walk into Bloomingdales and find pieces that speak to you and the culture. The selection and quality is limited".

So, in part, he founded Sundial Fragrances & Flavors, Inc., out of this frustration combined with the near impossibility to find a mainstream retailer willing to take a gamble on his homemade products.

His entrepreneurial spirit drove his need to fill that void in the community and vice versa, he says.

"I wanted to provide a lifestyle center for the community, a place where we can come to get our wellness, beauty, and entertainment products."

The first Nubian Heritage Marche was born in Brooklyn in February 2001, followed by the marche in Queens in February 2002, and culminating, most recently, with the addition that excites him the most: a third New York location in Harlem that opened in 2004.

Housed in the historical National Black Theater building, the Harlem marché is the flagship location for Nubian Heritage. The marche has hosted attractions that have included Harlem Book Fair events, a slumber party with the author Deborah Gregory and a book signing with the author Zane.

As it is the case with the two other locations in Brooklyn and Queens, the market is an Afrocentric mélange of a Barnes and Noble, a Tower Music, an Urban Outfitters, and a Bath & Body Works. With its hardwood floors, minimalist design and urban feel, Nubian Heritage stores offer an impressive range of merchandise ranging from books, music, and clothing to collectible art, hair and body products. It also opens up its space regularly to serve as a "watering hole" for community events.

The Harlem store also features a SheaSpa, a full-service spa and salon focusing on natural African products, Boma Coffee & Tea Co., an African-themed café serving coffee and delicacies imported from the African continent, Nubian Garden’s Florist and Dee’s Art Gallery

Highly ambitious and multifaceted, the business project seems to be the fruition of Dennis’ determination to be a successful businessman and his early vision of what he thought he would do with his life. Forging a philosophical link between the predominantly African American communities they serve and the cultural traditions of Africa, Dennis has found a way to combine his business background, with his own experiences growing up in Liberia to create a unique business model.

"The Nubian Heritage Philosophy is not any different from the philosophy that most African Americans share in raising families…The people that work in our businesses take ownership of our business." The success of the company is create a family that extends from within the company out to the community

Sia Pickett, the "Village Leader" or manager of the Harlem marché, explains that the company is a tribe of people, providing links to the community. When asked how she finds her employees, she explains that they come from within the neighborhood, and that once hired, these "tribe members" then invite their friends and families into the markets. These extended family members then feel the need to support the market by default the family. Dennis echoes this perspective. "Most of the staff has come from inside referrals because the business has grown; and some people just walk off the street into the store. They all want to be a part of what they see as an important movement". The staff is an important part of spreading the message. "Our people grew up and live in the communities we serve," he adds, "so they have a vested interest in developing their neighborhoods."

Whether its masked professionalism or sincere customer service, all the stores are abuzz with friendly staffs. With the tribe in place, says Dennis, everyone is entrusted with responsibility and is equipped with the tools needed to handle their specific task. "We provide our people with the leadership expertise and guidance to handle issues on a case by case basis."

According to Tiffany Carter, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, there are quarterly Tribe Meetings where all employees from the manufacturing plant, all stores and administration) gather to review results, discuss new strategies, and plan for the future. In this manner, a proprietary sense is nurtured and encouraged in all employees from the village leaders to the tribe members, a message that is passed down from the tribe leader himself

Dennis, tribe leader and CEO, is driven by his commitment to his extended family members. "The driving question is always are the needs of our customers being met?" With that in mind, all of the stores are specifically tailored to the unique needs of the neighborhood they serve. "We try to keep decision-making as close to the customer as possible. Everything from product staffing to lay-out is influenced by the community. We are not a cookie-cutter retailer. We are a market-specific retailer." According to Rich, the stores are all unique because of the differences in the consumers they "minister to."

"The Brooklyn consumer base is largely of Caribbean descent. In Harlem, there
is a heavier African American population. In Queens there is a high

West Indian influence, also," he says. Dennis attributes the high product turnover and accomplishments of the retailers to this attention to detail.

Seeking to explore markets with the most need, Dennis says his business is hoping to expand their villages out of New York to cities including Washington, Atlanta and Chicago. The Nubian Heritage Villages will continue to be a fusion of contemporary and traditional, providing products for the mind, body, spirit and home, attempting to carve out a central, unifying location in the villages they inhabit.

 Source: Blackvoice/AOL

M&G Diner

Greens in Black and White

By WARREN ST. JOHN

O most Southerners, few things are as pleasing as plopping down before a heaping plate of simple, home-style cooking  dishes like collard or turnip greens, fried chicken, black-eyed peas, corn bread, sweet potato casserole. This type of food is so evocative of the easygoing contentment of home that Southerners and even much of the rest of America  refer to it simply as comfort food.

But there’s a potentially uncomfortable conversation to be had about Southern comfort food, one that has simmered like creamy gravy on a stove top for perhaps 20 years and may now reach a very public boil: how much of what is called Southern cooking can be traced to black culture, and how much to white?

That discussion is the centerpiece of a conference that begins tomorrow at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, the fifth annual gathering of the Southern Foodways Alliance. With this year’s conference, "Southern Food in Black & White," organizers and participants plan to take head-on the task of trying to sort out who gets credit for what’s on the Southern table.

It will not be easy or neat. At past Southern Foodways conferences, discussions on the origin of fried chicken, barbecue and Southern baked goods like biscuits have led to shouting matches. Participants at this year’s discussion, particularly chefs and food historians who say they are fighting for what they believe is the proper recognition for their ancestors’ role in the creation of Southern cuisine, expect it to be similarly heated.

"It’s not about, `Sit there quiet in the corner and wait to get credit,’ because that’s not going to happen," said Joe Randall, an African-American chef from Savannah, Ga., who says blacks haven’t been given proper credit for their contribution to Southern food. "You have to go forth and claim the contribution that our forefathers have made."

In some ways the debate over the African-American influence on Southern food is a more opaque version of the debate over black contributions to rock ‘n’ roll. It’s accepted that because blacks long served as cooks to Southern whites, first as slaves and then as domestics, they had a profound influence on the cuisine. But because whites wrote and published most of the early cookbooks on Southern food, there are few culinary equivalents of early Robert Johnson recordings to establish the provenance of particular dishes.

"Who did the original, and who did the cover?" asked Jessica B. Harris, an African-American food historian and cookbook author. "It’s about acknowledging the unacknowledged."

But many white Southerners, particularly the poor and descendants of impoverished Appalachian yeomen who never had slaves and who could not have afforded domestic help, argue that Southern food must have been theirs. "If you talk to rural white people, they feel that that’s their food," said Nathalie Dupree, the writer, whose books include the influential "New Southern Cooking," just released in paperback by the University of Georgia Press. "When you say maybe this came from Africa, they look at you like you’re crazy."

And there’s even a debate about whether there should be a debate. Some chefs argue that because of the influence of American Indians, Asians and intermarriage on local cuisine, attempting to sort out who contributed what is an impossible and ultimately pointless task.

"Food belongs to everybody," said Leah Chase, a New Orleans chef widely recognized as the doyenne of Creole cooking and a member of Southern Foodways who has long criticized the debate over the origin of Southern food. "If I take a mess of greens and cook them and serve them to you, are they my greens, or your greens? Of course not. They’re everybody’s greens."

Sorting out white from black is difficult in part because in the South white and black cuisines are remarkably similar. Consider the lunch menus at two restaurants across town from each other in Tuscaloosa, Ala. At the Waysider, which has a mostly white clientele, customers can dine on fried chicken, green beans, black-eyed peas and corn bread, delivered to the table in small plastic bowls and washed down with sweet tea.

Across town at KSV, which serves a mostly black clientele, the lunchtime menu includes country fried steak, collard greens, candied yams, black-eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, green beans and corn bread. Joe Taylor, the owner of KSV, said there are only a couple of dishes on the menu that are pretty much exclusively ordered by his black customers: neck bones, and hog maws, or the lining of a pig’s stomach.

"It’s no different, really," he said. "It just depends on who buys it."

Even the most basic generalizations about what foods are black in origin and which white are fraught. Hot peppers, melons, okra, rice and sesame seeds are thought to have been introduced to the South from Africa, along with techniques like slow-cooking greens with fat flavoring, a style of cooking similar to the one used to make leafy African stews. Creamy sauces and gravies, along with biscuits, white-flour pastries, puddings and trifles, are usually credited to the European influence. But John T. Edge, the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, said any such sweeping statements are bound to spark arguments.

"When you say black folks eat more chitlins, you start to get in trouble, because a food like that is totemic to white and black Southerners," he said. "Both see it as reaching back to the tough times they survived. Both see it as food imbued with meaning, and that doesn’t go away."

For years African-Americans were given credit for comfort food, though in a complicated way. Adrian Miller, a former special assistant to President Bill Clinton and the program director of the symposium, said that in surveys he had done of old Southern cookbooks from the late 1800’s and the first half of the 20th century, white authors were comfortable crediting black cooks for the cuisine, so long as that acknowledgment was tied up in nostalgia for the old South and its racial hierarchy.

Mr. Randall, the African-American chef from Savannah, said there was a kind of perverse compliment to blacks in advertising symbols from those days, like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.

"Madison Avenue had it right in the 1930’s," he said. "A big healthy black woman in the kitchen cooking was synonymous with good food."

The willingness of whites to acknowledge black contributions to Southern food diminished during the civil rights movement, Mr. Miller said, when African-Americans began to assert their claim on Southern cuisine. The term soul food, for example, gained currency in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s as part of that effort. Some black chefs and food historians now say the term is limiting because it marginalizes the black version of Southern food, which, they argue, is mostly black food to begin with.

"I think it’s an intricate part of food in America, but it’s not the totality of the contribution African-Americans have made," Mr. Randall said. "If you limit it to the food in Harlem and mom and pop soul food places in the South, then you devalue it."

The Southern Foodways symposium in Oxford will try to balance serious academic discourse with good eating. The conference will begin with a whole pig roast, and over three days and meals of fried catfish, Coca-Cola brisket, grillades and deviled eggs  attendees will hear lectures with titles like "Possum ‘n’ Taters Where Have You Gone?" and "Methods and Ethnographics of Watermelon Pickles."

In the past talk in these sessions has inevitably turned to race, whether that was the primary aim or not, and frequently the conversations resulted in hurt feelings. A speaker who claimed that fried chicken had European origins, for instance, caused "a collective hissy fit," Mr. Edge said.

Discussions of barbecue were similarly charged; white attendees pointed out that poor whites in the mountains were long known to have barbecued meat, while black participants countered that in the old South, the task of keeping a hickory fire burning through the night would have fallen to African-Americans.

"We’ve had shouting matches," Ms. Dupree said. "I’ve been infuriated, because people have called me racist, just because I would say something was white. It’s taught me how emotional an issue this is."

Mr. Edge said the hope of the conference was that by dealing directly with the issue of race and Southern food, something like an understanding could be achieved.

"I think we fussed with each other more than we do now," he said. "There’s the same passion in discussion, but there’s an ethic that spans the conversation. We may not be of like minds, but we like this food. We love to eat well, and we’re going to stay up late and party, but we hope the discussion naturally gravitates toward issues of racial reconciliation."

Originally published in NY Times - October 6, 2004

It’s a Family Affair

Catey Hillier finds herself moved by both the gospel music and the soul food at Sylvia’s restaurant in Harlem.

"Hey, there. If you’re on your way to Sylvia’s, you’re heading off the wrong way." A well-dressed woman in matching suit and hat catches me off my guard. I never stop to check my guidebook in public for fear of being recognised as a tourist, but she’d rumbled me anyway. "Sylvia’s restaurant is right along Lenox Avenue. You’re on Martin Luther King, honey." It turns out that consulting a map would have been a good idea after all (even though I’d been up that way only yesterday), but then I would never have had the good fortune to bump into my guide, whose name turns out to be Alma.

From the way she’s dressed, it’s clear she is on her way to church. But she divulges, as we walk along past rows of slightly down-at-heel brownstones, that what is really on her mind is next week’s church outing - a bus trip to Atlantic City to play the one-armed bandits. "Losing $100 is fine. In the eyes of the Lord, that’s not serious gambling, now, is it?" We arrive at Sylvia’s before I could either agree or disagree. "Have a nice lunch, honey. It’s good, real good: Sylvia’s the queen of soul food." The sign outside the restaurant says so, too.

Sylvia’s is the most famous restaurant in Harlem, and every Sunday it becomes the venue for a kind of gospel cabaret which has attracted the attention of the nation at large. Trying to ignore all the other tourists getting off coaches and massing on the pavement, I am escorted to my table past scores of locals polishing off breakfast. Within ten minutes of sitting down, though, which is just enough time to down a South Carolina Rum Punch and cool off, they’ve all left to join Alma in church.

The round table at the back of the restaurant where I had sat with Sylvia and her husband Herbert D Woods the previous day to hear their incredible rags-to-riches story, had been replaced by a keyboard, and a man wearing a sharp, double-breasted suit is getting his fingers - and the crowd - warmed up. Without any announcement or warning, an elegant woman in a yellow, floating kaftan wafts into the dining room and her rhythmic rendition of ‘Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord…’ starts a table of four women swaying in their seats. Other diners join in and gyrate gently. The rum punch kicks in - all it takes is the opening lines to ‘Oh Happy Day’ and I’m at it as well.

From yesterday’s conversation, I know that I’m actually sitting in a former paint shop, which Sylvia and Herbert acquired in 1969 to expand the snack bar business they’d bought a few years earlier. "My mom had to re-mortgage the family farm in South Carolina to lend us the $20,000 for us to buy the luncheonette in 1962. That’s how it all started," Sylvia explained, obviously enjoying telling the tale. Her career began as a waitress, though. "I’d walked past the luncheonette around the corner from where we lived and thought, I could be a waitress. That was my first job, back in 1955. Round about that time my salary would have been $38 a week. Herbert was cab-driving."

The Woods’ restaurant-and-food empire to which Sylvia and her family have dedicated their lives is now worth an estimated $20m. There’s the main restaurant in Harlem that opens seven days a week from 7.30am till 10.30pm. "Can you believe we sometimes serve up to 3,000 people in a single day?"; a catering business for weddings and parties that occupies the property a few doors down; and a sister restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. And then there’s also Sylvia’s Food Products Inc, a range of 29 sauces, dressings and seasonings, from cans of ready-cooked, black-eyed peas and peach-cobbler mix to the original barbecue sauce with which her son Van Woods launched the range a decade ago. They sell into food stores and delis across the us.

And now, even though she doesn’t look a day over 50, her family has decided that she doesn’t need to work on Sundays any more. Her gospel lunches are now overseen by the management team - her four children and two of her grandchildren.

With the music filling my head, I stare at the homely mismatch of signed photos and family portraits which pepper much of the wall at Sylvia’s, eager to get a glimpse of the Woods family outside the re-mortgaged farmhouse in the southern states, the image strong in my mind. Instead, I discover a certificate recognising her achievements from the Governor of South Carolina, signed photos from the great and the good - Nelson Mandela, Kool and the Gang, the Isley brothers - and family line-ups from birthday and wedding parties long since over. A poster of the Spike Lee film Jungle Fever reminds diners that a scene was filmed in the restaurant.

The singer and keyboard player introduced themselves as Ruth and Clay Simpson respectively. "East Minnesota in the house; blessed be the name of the Lord. Minneapolis in the house." Ruth greets and embraces two groups of visitors from different states while continuing to deliver her smooth blend of gospel jazz to the already sizeable audience. "New York in the house; blessed be the name of the Lord." Ruth arrives at our table. "London in the house. Hey! Blessed be the name of the Lord."

My lunch arrives and interrupts my swaying. Platefuls of barbecue spare ribs (which are described on the menu as ‘Sylvia’s world-famous, talked-about ribs with her sweet and sassy sauce’); macaroni and cheese; southern fried chicken; and collard greens - which taste like spinach - cover the table and I tuck in greedily.

Despite the gargantuan southern-sized portions, helped along by the punch and cocktails, I do the kitchen proud. The candied yams, however, boiled with brown sugar and nutmeg, are not quite to my taste, something that Sylvia’s granddaughter Trennes, who now helps manage the restaurant, picks up on when she comes over. "You not eating the yams?" She looks genuinely disappointed and I feel rather sheepish.

Later, on my way back to my hotel, having swayed and clapped and eaten my fill, I check the recipe for candied yams in Sylvia’s cookbook. Her introduction to the recipe is touching: "Whenever our family get together, we give thanks for what we have and for one another. Even the smallest great-grandchild knows that we don’t start eating before saying a blessing and a prayer. We almost always serve some kind of candied yams since it’s part of our heritage and because we all love it."

I vow to give the dish a second chance the next time I go back.

Sylvia’s, 328 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10027. Tel 001 212 996 0660. ‘Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook, from Hemingway, South Carolina to Harlem’ by Sylvia Woods and Melissa Clark, published by William Morrow, £19.99.

This article was first published on Waitrose.com in July 2000

Lenox Lounge: Who Owns Harlem?

Who Owns Harlem?

As an economic-development boom takes off in Harlem, residents hotly debate what path will lead the famed African American neighborhood into a prosperous future. Will its unique flavor and small, homegrown businesses be driven out by corporate projects?

From: Inc. Magazine, Aug 2000 | By: Paul Keegan

Harlem residents hotly debate who should lead them into a prosperous future: Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington, or Mickey Mouse and Starbucks

On the very spot where Billie Holiday once carved up hearts with her jagged voice, a quartet of black musicians in dapper suits eases through the ballad "For Heaven’s Sake" before a midnight crowd at Harlem’s Lenox Lounge. Ensconced in an upholstered booth and surrounded by zebra-patterned walls and silver-fin lighting fixtures, a visitor could be forgiven for expecting Lady Day to walk through the double doors of the Zebra Room, trailed by the scent of white gardenias. "That was her reserved booth over there," says owner Alvin Reed, pointing to a corner table in this club, which opened in 1942. "After she had a gig downtown, she would come up here to relax and sing a few."

Tall and slender, his beard starting to gray, Reed at age 61 remembers the days before Harlem became a global symbol of urban decay, when its artistic traditions bloomed and the sound of jazz bursting from corner bars was a balm for its chronic poverty. "When I bought this club, in 1988," he says, "I saw a Harlem that could come back."

More than a decade later, the Lenox Lounge has become a glorious example of what some are calling the Second Harlem Renaissance. Assisted by low-interest government loans, Reed, a local entrepreneur, already has spent $900,000 refurbishing one of the few original art-deco club interiors left in New York City. By doing so he hopes not only to make a profit but also to revive an idea that gained currency during the first renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s: that Harlem is to African American culture what Paris is to the French, and deserves to be treated accordingly.

Harlem’s most recent rebirth was spurred by an infusion of government money that began in 1996. But even at this early stage of the economic-development boom, some residents and local entrepreneurs are complaining that there has been too much emphasis on corporate projects — developments like the new Harlem USA mall that now dominates the main commercial strip of West 125th Street — and not enough on small, homegrown businesses like the Lenox Lounge. They worry that a Faustian bargain is being struck without their consent: that development is happening so fast and is so dominated by outsiders, that the price could be Harlem’s soul.

In many ways it’s a familiar story: a historic district tries to balance development with preservation of its unique character. But more is at stake here than the fate of a single neighborhood. After decades of being decimated by poverty and neglect, the epicenter of African American culture for most of the past century could finally be crushed, ironically, by uncontrolled growth.

With its complex character and history, Harlem has always been more than an African American enclave. Settled in 1658 by the Dutch, it was a prosperous suburb during the 19th century and home to many waves of European immigrants, especially the Irish, Italians, and Jews, some of whose descendants remain. Broadly defined, the neighborhood stretches from 155th Street to 110th Street on the West Side, and to 96th Street on the East Side. Government planners often lump Harlem together with all of Upper Manhattan, a predominantly Hispanic area that includes Spanish Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood.

For much of the 20th century, Harlem stood as the embodiment of the African American dream of freedom and prosperity. Thousands of working-class blacks migrated to the area from the South before and after World War I. During the first Harlem renaissance — one of the most creative periods in American history — the neighborhood was a mecca for black intellectuals, musicians, writers, and artists such as Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes. Harlem gave birth to bebop in the 1940s, and during the civil-rights era it became a political nexus as leaders like the Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Malcolm X rose to prominence. "Harlem is the recognized Negro capital," wrote author and civil-rights activist James Weldon Johnson.

But middle-class flight in the 1960s and 1970s left Harlem in the grip of crime, drugs, and joblessness. In the decades that followed, several attempts at revitalization failed for reasons that, depending on whom you ask, include the misappropriation of government funds, redlining by banks, dangerous streets, negative stereotypes perpetuated by the media, corporate myopia, and out-and-out racism.

Today, thanks to a booming national economy and a massive influx of government money, Harlem finally seems to be undergoing a true economic transformation. Developers running out of real estate in lower Manhattan are venturing into the area. Meanwhile, federal empowerment-zone legislation introduced by local representative Charles Rangel is kicking into gear after a slow start. During the next four years nearly a billion dollars in public and private investment capital is slated to find its way into Upper Manhattan.

Many residents embrace this evolving landscape. Crowds jam the sidewalk outside Harlem USA, which is owned by a consortium of three developers, one of them from the neighborhood and two from outside it. The mall brims with the kind of chains and superstores previously unknown here: a Disney Store, HMV records, a nine-screen Magic Johnson Theatres complex, the New York Sports Club, and other businesses that will ultimately create 500 much-needed permanent jobs. (Despite new investment, Upper Manhattan remains the most economically depressed section of the island. Its unemployment rate of 18% is more than four times the national average.)

"Look at this — only $10," says a kid outside an Old Navy store, unfurling a pair of chinos as he lines up for the grand opening of Modell’s Sporting Goods and the chance to score free Yankees tickets and meet New York Knicks legend Earl "the Pearl" Monroe. His friend, sucking on a Frappuccino from the Starbucks down the street, nods approvingly.

"They are just setting up a megastore in front of my place and saying, ‘Survive it.’"

Not everyone is equally sanguine, however. Wrapped in the colorful, flowing dress of his native South Africa, Sikhulu Shange sits in the back of the Record Shack, a long, narrow store on West 125th Street. With his deep voice and crisply enunciated English, Shange projects indomitability, a quality that has served him well in 30 years of doing business in Harlem. It was local merchants like himself, Shange says, who held the neighborhood together "when Harlem was hemorrhaging, when everybody was running away."

The Record Shack is a local institution, born in the ferment of the Pan-African movement of the late 1960s. That movement’s roots stretch all the way back to the early part of the century, when Marcus Garvey urged blacks to control their own destinies by owning their own companies. In 1921, African Americans owned about 80% of the businesses near 135th Street and Seventh Avenue, where Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Organization was based. Tycoons like Madam C.J. Walker, who became so rich selling hair-care products that she had a mansion built in the white suburb of Irvington-on-Hudson in 1918, became role models showing what black entrepreneurs might accomplish.

In Harlem, all that is ancient history. Today only 35% to 40% of the 250 or so retail businesses on 125th Street are minority owned, according to Barbara Askins, president of the 125th Street Business Improvement District. (The percentage is higher for service businesses.) "And now there is this ‘revitalization’ under the banner of the so-called empowerment zone," says Shange, nearly spitting out the words. The arrival of the chain stores is just the final stage of a gentrification process that has been going on for years, he explains, as he ticks off the names of African American-owned restaurants and clothing stores forced out of business by rising rents. "The process of installing that kind of machinery is gradual," says Shange. "In the end it just grinds everything up."

It’s hard to imagine how Shange, with his small selection of African, Caribbean, and other CDs locked inside glass cases, will compete with the giant HMV opening across the street in Harlem USA. Officials of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), the joint federal-state-city nonprofit development corporation created by Congressman Rangel’s legislation, defend their decision to lend more than $11 million — or 17% of the total financing — to the developers of the mall by saying there will always be a market for locally owned niche stores like the Record Shack.

Such comments make Shange livid. "That’s somebody talking off the top of their head, somebody who’s never even run a fish-and-chips joint, so what is it that they know about what makes me tick?" he says. "These big stores have so many square feet of space loaded down with the same kind of merchandise I’m selling. They are just setting up a megastore in front of my place and saying, ‘Survive it.’ "

Outsider-owned businesses are not new to Harlem, of course. Nor are the impassioned reactions they arouse. There have been violent episodes, such as the 1995 rampage by a black nationalist named Abugunde Mulocko, who burst into Freddy’s Fashion Mart, a Jewish-owned clothing store, and set a fire that killed seven people before turning a gun on himself. Other situations have been resolved peacefully: the "Buy Where You Can Work" campaign in 1934 pressured Blumstein’s department store to hire black clerks and pioneered the modern economic boycott.

The arrival of the chains is more complex — and less charged with issues of race. At least one, Magic Johnson Theatres, is a partnership between the basketball superstar’s development corporation and Loews Cineplex Entertainment. And Richard D. Parsons, the chairman of UMEZ’s board of directors, and Terry C. Lane, the organization’s CEO and president, are African Americans. The superstores present a difficult target for community activists because residents enjoy shopping there. Even the stores’ harshest critics concede that they provide employment, albeit in primarily low-level service jobs.

Residents flock to Harlem USA to buy name brands at cheap, grand-opening prices; the neighborhood has a serious case of pent-up demand. Like many inner-city areas, Harlem is a drastically underserved market, lacking the businesses that provide basic goods and services that other places take for granted. Imagine an area that has a population larger than Seattle’s but has no full-service supermarkets, no hotels, hardly any dry cleaners, and only four movie screens. That described Upper Manhattan until the current redevelopment added a Pathmark supermarket, a string of Kleener King dry cleaners (set to open soon), and the Magic Johnson Theatres complex. Harlem still doesn’t have a single hotel, although a 300-room Doubletree is in the works for Washington Heights. All told, government planners estimate that Upper Manhattan loses $1 billion in retail sales to other neighborhoods.

Residents also grant the chains a warm reception because they equate the stores with status. "Everybody thinks if the superstores come in, somehow it’s a mark of progress, and that’s true whether it’s an inner-city black neighborhood or an upscale white suburb," says Roberta Brandes Gratz, who has studied hundreds of American cities during 30 years of writing about urban issues. (Her most recent book, Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown, was published in 1998.) "This is a sad commentary on who we are as a country, but it is a reality."

The notion that the presence of superstores somehow validates Harlem gives some community leaders fits. "We don’t need them for us to value ourselves!" proclaimed William E. Davis Jr., an architect and former commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, as he rose to his feet at a recent seminar on historic preservation in Harlem. The crowd burst into applause.

Nor are the chains necessarily a great bargain. Some residents say that the prices at the new Pathmark on East 125th Street seem to be climbing and are higher than the prices offered in Pathmark stores in more affluent neighborhoods. (Pathmark denies those claims. "That’s not the reality," says Rich Savner, a spokesman for the chain. "Harlem’s prices are the same as the rest of New York City.") Still, the mere idea is galling, especially to some residents of Central Harlem, where the median household income is $20,000, a third less than the citywide figure. Facing the rising cost of owning and renting real estate in Harlem, those people fear being priced out of their own neighborhoods.

"It makes me crazy when I see chain stores being promoted as giving people quality goods at decent prices," says Gratz. "That’s one of the great myths. They come in and start cheap, but the price goes up, and suddenly you’re paying more. You might be getting something you didn’t have before, but it’s a myth that you’re getting something cheap or necessarily better."

"Nobody’s gonna ruin Harlem. Anybody who spends money is green as far as the cash register is concerned."

UMEZ sees stores like Disney and Old Navy as magnets for new investment. The agency is charged with distributing $300 million in loans and grants using federal, state, and city funds and $250 million in federal tax credits over a 10-year period. With so much money at its disposal, UMEZ has become a flash point for critics who accuse it of favoring big corporate developments over local businesses. Some Harlem entrepreneurs complain that UMEZ has rejected their applications for much the same reason given by big banks — that their projects are too risky — and that that defeats the whole purpose of such an agency. Others say that they were approved for loans but that the interest rates were too high. UMEZ, for its part, says that some local businesspeople come in asking for huge loans with no documentation.

"I know that no economic strategy is sustainable without mom-and-pop businesses whose owners live and work in the community," says UMEZ’s Lane. But of the $115 million in loans that UMEZ approved between 1996 and 1999, $42 million falls under the heading of "Business Recruitment and Retention" — meaning that the funds go mostly to big projects like Harlem USA and the Vibe Store, an urban entertainment superstore. "Small-Business Development," which includes projects like the Lenox Lounge and a local credit union, accounts for only $18 million, or 16%.

UMEZ has doled out another $38 million on tourism initiatives, the next big item on its agenda. Harlem is considered a vast untapped market for that industry, which in 1997 pumped nearly $14 billion into the New York City economy. "Harlem is a trademarkable, marketable concept," says Lane. "It’s one of the most famous communities in the world. We need to capitalize on that."

Some community leaders see tourism as Harlem’s savior, providing the neighborhood with the wherewithal to restore its historic and cultural treasures. And so far the projects funded by UMEZ sound promising. They include local groups like Boys Harbor, which is building an archive of Latin music, and the Studio Museum of Harlem, which wants to expand its store selling African American and other artwork. Other recipients are such organizations as the National Museum of Jazz, a New York City nonprofit that has proposed building a multipurpose facility to be developed in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution. A downtown developer plans to revive the now-defunct Minton’s Playhouse, the hallowed birthplace of bebop, by renovating the original building and creating a music venue, a bar, and a restaurant.

But Harlem’s history with tourism has left some residents skeptical. Many resent those visitors — often from Asia and Europe — who are trucked in on tour buses to attend a gospel church service, enjoy a soul-food brunch, and maybe visit the Apollo Theatre, and are then carted away before nightfall. "Sometimes tourism here is handled like it’s a jungle safari," says Lloyd Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce. "Like they’re in the wild kingdom looking at the animals running around." Visitors don’t venture far from their buses because they view Harlem as dangerous, despite the fact that the homicide rate has fallen 77% in five years, a decrease greater than even the city’s well-publicized drop.

Some local entrepreneurs think Harlem USA and similar developments can help soften the area’s image by blending the comfort of the familiar with more "authentic" offerings, such as the African boutiques on West 125th Street and the new nightclubs and restaurants. "Nobody’s gonna ruin Harlem," says Horace Balmer as he stands on a recent Saturday night outside Showman’s, the jazz club he co-owns on West 125th Street. "That mall is fantastic. Business is business. Anybody who spends money is green as far as the cash register is concerned."

Balmer, senior vice-president for security at the National Basketball Association, is a former New York City police detective who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. Showman’s has an even longer history here: it was originally located next to the Apollo Theatre and frequented by the likes of Duke Ellington, Eartha Kitt, and Pearl Bailey. After being destroyed by fire, the club reopened on Frederick Douglass Boulevard and later moved to its current location to make way for Harlem USA.

The unabashedly capitalistic fervor exhibited by people like Balmer frightens some residents, who say it encourages reckless development. Michael Henry Adams, a historical preservationist who lives in the neighborhood, believes the key to preserving Harlem’s character is protecting its historic buildings with landmark designations. Such designations not only satisfy preservationists and historians but also foster tourism, according to Adams. "Buildings have the ability to transport people back in time," he says, "so they can experience Harlem the way Langston Hughes or Zora Neale Hurston saw it."

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has come under heavy criticism for declaring few Harlem buildings fit for historical landmarking, while large swaths of wealthier areas like Greenwich Village, SoHo, and TriBeCa are protected. Whatever the explanation — politics, bureaucratic ineptitude, and racism are among the suggested culprits — the result is that many important buildings have already been destroyed, including the Audubon Ballroom (where, among other historic events, Malcolm X was assassinated), the Cotton Club, and the Harlem Opera House. Others are threatened by deterioration or by cost-conscious developers.

"Most of the development plans seem to lack any kind of vision or appreciation for how special Harlem is," says Adams. "The whole notion of Harlem is this large collection of broken-down old buildings that ought to be swept away and replaced with something you might find in Paramus, N.J. That’s like taking Paris and just knocking it down."

What Adams wants to save are places like Small’s Paradise. Architecturally, there’s not much to it: a three-story brick building now boarded up and covered with graffiti. But Small’s was once the most prestigious black-owned nightclub of the renaissance, featuring expensive drinks, dancing waiters, and performers like Cab Calloway and pianist Charlie Johnson. Most notably, it was frequented by both blacks and whites at a time when many Harlem clubs were whites-only establishments.

"We’re supposed to get the ground-floor corner," says Dr. Reginald Manning, an African American orthopedic surgeon from Brooklyn, as he stands outside Small’s. Manning and a small group of investors are planning to bring the building back to life. But the crowds that Manning expects won’t be flocking to a museum, a concert hall, or a jazz club. Rather, they’ll be gobbling down flapjacks at a new International House of Pancakes.

The building that IHOP will soon occupy is currently managed by the Abyssinian Development Corp. (ADC), a nonprofit group affiliated with the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which is headed by the prominent minister, Reverend Calvin O. Butts III. The ADC, which has been spearheading much of the development in Harlem — from the Pathmark supermarket to a Sterling Optical outlet — says it tried to bring Small’s back as a nightclub, but nobody would finance it. The decision to let in the IHOP was made after several years in which the space stood empty. "We made a real effort, but in Harlem it’s three times more difficult to do a deal like that," says Karen Phillips, president and CEO of the ADC. Phillips points out that because there’s little capital in Harlem, outside money is often required. "At some point, to save the building, we had no choice," she says.

At press time the IHOP deal was being finalized and had received little publicity in the community. But Adams says he doesn’t expect a huge outcry. "If this were Rome and things like this were happening, people would be up in arms," he says. "But because this is a largely black urban area, people have been preoccupied by survival and basic things like health care for so long, they’re fatalistic. They’re just resigned to being ignored and neglected."

Ultimately, it is the community’s responsibility to fight to preserve its history and culture, development experts say. But like many neighborhoods, Harlem is not sufficiently organized to yoke development to its own terms.

Comments author Gratz: "You need strong, committed, knowledgeable local organizations that can fight not just the chains but also local brokers, who don’t even want to hear about how to negotiate with a local business, and property owners, who think that renting to a chain is more lucrative than renting to a local business and in many cases get burned. And banks who don’t know how to finance local people. You’ve got a whole litany of hurdles that have to be attacked at the same time. So far in Harlem I don’t see the kind of community-based institution that can or, more importantly, that wants, to make that happen."

"We’re under cultural siege," says Barbara Ann Teer, founder of the National Black Theatre. "Tourism and culture are trillion-dollar businesses around the world. But if you go to Hawaii, you can’t find anything authentic anywhere. We need to build monuments, institutions that perpetuate who we were and who we are. If we don’t codify our own culture, our own infrastructure, we will cease to exist on this planet."

Harlem’s fate, in the end, may depend on how many entrepreneurs like Alvin Reed are out there. When Reed’s family moved to Harlem in 1945 from Richmond, Va., the Lenox Lounge was for white customers only — with exceptions made for celebrities like Billie Holiday, who would sing with the all-black band. Reed is the classic self-made businessman, a bootstrapper who got his start selling newspapers, shining shoes and, while in the army, lending fellow servicemen money, much of which, he assumes, went for hookers.

Reed also worked for the post office and the police department; his retirement income and the money from a second mortgage on his home purchased the Lenox Lounge. It was a daring venture, made riskier by his decision to hire major jazz players at a time when Harlem wasn’t luring many outsiders interested in such music. He recently upped the ante with a $450,000 empowerment-zone loan (later increased to $575,000) used to restore the club to its former pristine condition.

Reed is determined to stick it out for as long as it takes to pay back those loans, an imposing debt for any small-club owner. It’s going to take a while, even at the average 7% interest rate he got from UMEZ; even with his great location at West 125th and Lenox; and even with his new cover-charge policy ($20 buys admission to the Zebra Room and two free drinks, although Reed plans to raise the price when the addition of a restaurant allows him to offer food as well). Still, Reed is optimistic. His son, Alvin Reed Jr., recently quit a job at Xerox to work at the Lenox. And Reed hopes grandson Alvin Reed III, age 3, will go into the family business someday, too.

"I think people my age got to retirement and realized what we had left behind," the club owner says. "A lot of middle-class blacks left because of drugs and the neighborhood going down, but now a lot of them want to come back, for their conscience. They’re starting new businesses, joining the YMCA, donating to black organizations, and rehabbing these old buildings and renting them out."

Reed knows that to survive he’ll have to attract outsiders willing to pay the cover charge and order dinner from the new kitchen. But he doesn’t want the place to become a tourist trap and hopes his regular customers, who still hang out in the no-cover front bar, will always consider the Lenox Lounge their local watering hole. Because in the long run, whether you’re a lifelong resident or a tourist, everyone wants Harlem to feel like Harlem. "It won’t be easy," Reed says, as he watches his club fill with customers on a Saturday night. "But we’re trying to show people this can work."

Paul Keegan is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

Juelz to "Rip 125th Up" With Soda Shop

By: Alyssa Rashbaum

February 2, 2006

With all the press the Diplomats have been getting due to Cam and Jay-Z’s beef, Juelz Santana has channeled his energy into a more wholesome outlet.

Santana has joined forces with H3Enterprises, Inc. to become a financial partner in their flagship HipHopSodaShop on 125th street in his hometown of Harlem. The building sits less than a block from the legendary Apollo Theater.

"We’re gonna rip 125th up," Santana said in a statement. "It’s great to be able to enjoy all this in my own backyard with my own people. I’ve hung out with my boy ‘A Butta’ here since we were little punks and now we’re gonna get a chance to actually work together for the good of our own hood."

Each branch in the chain of HipHopSodaShops feature a quick-service menu, memorabilia, plasma screens and an area devoted to competitive CyberSports.

In January, H3 also teamed up with pop-star-maker Lou Pearlman who planned to help the company develop HipHopSodaShops throughout Orlando and Tampa.

Santana will also host the company’s first CyberSports One-on-One Challenge at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston.

"It’s great to add another home-grown Harlem hero to the team," Brian "H3" Peters, President and founder of HTRE, the first publicly traded Hip Hop Company said. "Juelz is a true Harlem treasure and we hope to utilize all of his talents to the full benefit of our shareholders and our communities."

"I respect everything H3 has already accomplished and respect everything he’s trying to get done," said Juelz. "We’re building a real HOME for the Hip Hop generation complete with all the things we love to do. But it’s really about creating educational opportunity and good jobs and that’s where Team H3 will prove to be unbeatable."

Harlem Haven
Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe is establishing itself as an important part of the community’s revival
By Bridget McCrea

Marva Allen says if she had a dime for every time she heard customers say how proud they are of the Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe in Harlem, she’d be a rich woman. That kind of customer support — complemented by a steady stream of interest from African American authors and celebrities — has made the company what it is today: a 16-employee, $1.2 million entity started three years ago by a trio of partners with $350,000 to invest and a dream.

Based in the heart of Harlem, New York, about 90% of the 4,000-square-foot bookstore’s inventory comprises works by or about African Americans, with a dose of New York Times bestsellers and titles by authors from the Caribbean and African Diaspora. The café allows customers to mingle, read, and enjoy a sandwich and a coffee.

Hue-Man came to life in August 2002, when Rita Ewing, 39, Celeste Johnson, 35, and Clara Villarosa decided to open a bookstore dedicated to African American authors. Ewing, ex-wife of former New York Knick Patrick Ewing, established a partnership with Johnson, wife of NBA star Larry Johnson. Armed with an M.B.A. and 22 years of experience running a computer firm, Allen became a full partner in 2004 and today handles Hue-Man’s day-to-day operations. In 2004, the company brought in $1.2 million in revenues, and expects the same amount for 2005.

Little did they know at the time that they were building what would become one of the largest African American bookstores in the country, in one of the largest African American communities nationwide. At the grand opening on Aug. 1, 2002, rapper Jay-Z, singer Stevie Wonder, and actor Wesley Snipes attended, with poet Maya Angelou providing a special dedication.

Nothing could prepare the partners for the reception they would get in June 2004, when former President Bill Clinton signed 2,000 copies of his autobiography My Life (Random House; $35) at Hue-Man. "We were in every national magazine from Germany to Sweden to Prague," says Allen, 51, managing partner. "That took the Hue-Man brand to new places and kept it there for a year."

These days, the firm’s event calendar is nearly always filled with authors who know that their events will attract anywhere from 25 to 2,500 guests.

On the calendar recently was supermodel Iman, who in October launched her book The Beauty of Color (Penguin Putnam; $29.95) with a signing at Hue-Man. The event was part of a daylong Beauty of Color Celebration Day proclaimed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Things haven’t always run so smoothly at Hue-Man, where some early partnership issues manifested themselves into the departure of Clara Villarosa in 2003, and the addition of Allen and a fourth partner, Melvin Van Peebles, the following year. Van Peebles, an accomplished actor, writer, director, and composer, says he got involved with Hue-Man because education and knowledge are so vital in today’s society. "There are all kinds of knowledge hidden in books," he says. "That’s why the bookstore made sense to me. The partners are marvelous people who are trying to make a difference, so I got involved."

Allen says she’d like to see more Hue-Man stores across the nation — a goal that may be attained through franchising the concept. "It’s very much of a solidarity-based strategy, but ours happens to have a big-business component, rather than just a corner bookstore approach," says Allen. "So while we intend to remain a niche market, we do intend to run this as a national concern at some point."

Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe; 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd., New York, NY 10027; 212-665-7400; huemanbookstore.com

2/02/06

Source:  Black Enterprise

Shaken and Stirred

Friends of Sylvia’s

THE barroom at Sylvia’s in Harlem has pictures of Sylvia and all the people she knows, Sylvia and Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Sylvia and Regina Belle, teenage Sylvia unaccompanied and pulchritudinous, hands tucked into her hair.

Waiting to Exhale, a mix of punch and alcohol, is a specialty of the house at Sylvia’s.

From a back room the other night you could hear the singing for her 80th birthday, the familiar melody elongated, tempo tripped to a spirited adagio and all hands clapping.

On a television screen above the bar, people named Tia Carrere and Maksim Chmerkovskiy whirled in "Dancing With the Stars." They smiled like idiots in pain. The regulars speculated on who would win and whether Ms. Carrere’s costume would come off. They smiled like newfound friends, and they mentioned specialties of the house.

"Try the Long Island Iced Tea," Kim Birkett proposed. "That’s how we got here."

"Here" was a place called pleasantly drunk. Jallow Wow, a Gambian barman, poured sneak attack drinks, sickly sweet salmagundis, the Waiting to Exhale and the Kiss Me to start.

"It’s strong," Mr. Wow said, "so whenever a woman drinks it —— "

A world traveler across the bar finished the thought, "Just say, ‘Kiss me,’ and she won’t be able to resist it?"

Correct.

The world traveler told stories of airplane rides and faraway lands and of Harlem, too.

By and by Ms. Carrere and Mr. Chmerkovskiy left the screen, and the critique at the bar was not kind.

"When you go ballroom dancing, you don’t dress like you came out of a strip club," said Gloria Dulan-Wilson. "This is not ballroom dancing. This is hype. You used to be able to come to New York, go out dancing, really enjoy yourself. You can’t do that anymore. Somewhere along the line, we’ve got to bring back a modicum of what made New York New York."

In the back room the party ended, and Sylvia Woods emerged. She who found a husband in a Carolina bean field. Who built a Harlem institution and an empire of soul food. Ms. Woods glanced sidelong at her teenage equal on the wall and did declare: "I feel good. I truly feel as a woman should."

A daughter asked Ms. Woods did she want to go home or to carry on, the daughter chanting a birthday chant and swaying her hips left, right, left.

"Stop dancing, Momma," a granddaughter called. "You’re going to make me embarrassed."

WAITING TO EXHALE

Adapted from Sylvia’s
1 ounce Disaronno
1 ounce Grand Marnier
1 ounce Grey Goose Vodka
1 ounce Alize
3 ounces Hawaiian punch.

1. For the punch, mix equal parts cranberry, pineapple and orange juice, grenadine and sour mix.

2. Pour liquors over ice, fill cocktail glass with punch. Shake. Garnish with maraschino cherry and lemon slice.

Source: NY Times Sunday Styles

This week’s restaurant:

Bayou, New York