The Real Harlem And What Went Down
Darryl Pinckney‘s piece about the recent history of Harlem is a must read. (Pictured: The Baby Grand bar at 319 West 125th Street, Harlem, 1977; photograph by Camilo José Vergara.) Here’s the opening graf: ‘Old heads in Harlem will tell you that in the 1960s, particularly after the riot of 1964, white policemen were afraid of walking an uptown beat. They were reluctant to come through even in patrol cars. Those who did were often on the take. White landlords would try to collect the rent, guns at their hips. Their black tenants defied them and in many cases the landlords walked away from their buildings, left them to run down.’
