I encourage everyone to pick up this entertaining and informative book and to visit my beloved Harlem - a vibrant area rich in African-American culture and extraordinary turn of the century architecture. The name Harlem evokes recognition, nostalgia and curiosity around the world. Now, the Landmarks Conservancy's guide leads you through fabled streets that once echoed with the sound of legendary jazz and blues artists like Florence Mills and Eubie Blake and where gospel choirs make churches ring with joyful hymns today. The gracious brick and stone homes on Strivers Row, as well as the elaborately detailed brownstones around Mount Morris Park, will please and surprise you. Astor Row, with its distinctive wooden porches and front yards is a wonderful example of restoration in progress. This major renewal effort was launched during my mayoral administration and I was pleased to cut the ribbon at Number 24 when work began. Those who appreciate politics as I do will not want to miss the offices of the Urban League and the Abyssinian Baptist Church where Adam Clayton Powell's Senior's activist legacy continues to this day. Andrew Dolkart and Gretchen Sorin have concisely captured the cultural and architectural highlights of Harlem's four historic districts. My thanks to them and to the Landmarks Conservancy for promoting Harlem through this book and their daily program activities.

Presenting the definitive guide to one of New York City's most fascinating and unsung places-the new Harlem. From West Harlem to Central Harlem to East Harlem, the Harlem Travel Guide is your ticket to all things cultural, historical, entertaining, and delicious. With a rich 350-year history, Harlem has been host to some of the most creative, influential, and captivating people of our times, and its ethnic diversity and wealth of talent make Harlem an experience not to be missed.In the Harlem Travel Guide, you'll discover where to find: o the most elegant boutique accommodationso fine-dining establishments that offer outstanding international cuisineo museums and art galleries that feature important exhibitions of works by African, African-American, African-Caribbean and Latin artists o performance halls that provide the finest in theater, opera, and danceo cultural institutions that offer a wide range of multimedia happenings o Nineteenth- and twentieth-century architectural treasureso a wealth of landmark historical sites o music venues and nightclubs that run the gamut from classical strains to R&B to soul, hip-hop to gospel, world-class jazz to hot Latin beatso uncommonly known cultural and historical factso full-color maps of each distinctive area & a listing of exciting annual eventso useful tips of how to meet all of your travel needs Whether you're a resident or are visiting the Big Apple for the first time, isn't it time you discovered New York's most fascinating destination?

“An exquisitely detailed account of the 400-year history of Harlem.” —Booklist, starred review Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of Black America, Harlem’s twentieth-century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. In Harlem, historian Jonathan Gill presents the first complete chronicle of this remarkable place. From Henry Hudson’s first contact with native Harlemites, through Harlem’s years as a colonial outpost on the edge of the known world, Gill traces the neighborhood’s story, marshaling a tremendous wealth of detail and a host of fascinating figures from George Washington to Langston Hughes. Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule and the site of a key early battle in the Revolutionary War. Later, wealthy elites including Alexander Hamilton built great estates there for entertainment and respite from the epidemics ravaging downtown. In the nineteenth century, transportation urbanized Harlem and brought waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and elsewhere. Harlem’s mix of cultures, extraordinary wealth, and extreme poverty was electrifying and explosive. Extensively researched, impressively synthesized, eminently readable, and overflowing with captivating characters, Harlem is a “vibrant history” and an impressive achievement (Publishers Weekly). “Comprehensive and compassionate—an essential text of American history and culture.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “It’s bound to become a classic or I’ll eat my hat!” —Edwin G. Burrows, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898

Uncover the hidden side of New York City with this insider's e-guide Home to soaring skyscrapers, eclectic museums, and a foodie scene like no other, this rapturous city is endlessly enticing. But beyond the well-trodden sights of the Empire State Building and the Met lies the real New York City: a whole other side waiting to be explored. We've spoken to the city's locals to unearth the coolest hangout spots, hidden gems, and personal favorites to ensure you travel like a local. Grab a coffee from the cafes the locals catch up in, browse fresh produce at vibrant farmers' markets, or explore the quirky galleries the students rave about. Whether you're a New Yorker looking to uncover your city's secrets or seeking an authentic experience beyond the tourist track, this stylish guide makes sure you experience New York City beneath the surface.

Long before it was dubbed the Big Apple, New York City was called the Big Onion. Whether you're a visitor or a native New Yorker, you will appreciate this witty, informative walking guide to New York City. Big Onion's award-winning tours blend social and cultural history with the evolution of different ethnic and cultural communities. Book jacket.

This alternative guidebook for one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations explores all five boroughs to reveal a people’s New York City. The sites and stories of A People’s Guide to New York City shift our perception of what defines New York, placing the passion, determination, defeats, and victories of its people at the core. Delving into the histories of New York's five boroughs, you will encounter enslaved Africans in revolt, women marching for equality, workers on strike, musicians and performers claiming streets for their art, and neighbors organizing against landfills and industrial toxins and in support of affordable housing and public schools. The streetscapes that emerge from these groups' struggles bear the traces, and this book shows you where to look to find them. New York City is a preeminent global city, serving as the headquarters for hundreds of multinational firms and a world-renowned cultural hub for fashion, art, and music. It is among the most multicultural cities in the world and also one of the most segregated cities in the United States. The people that make this global city function—immigrants, people of color, and the working classes—reside largely in the so-called outer boroughs, outside the corporations, neon, and skyscrapers of Manhattan. A People’s Guide to New York City expands the scope and scale of traditional guidebooks, providing an equitable exploration of the diverse communities throughout the city. Through the stories of over 150 sites across the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island as well as thematic tours and contemporary and archival photographs, a people’s New York emerges, one in which collective struggles for justice and freedom have shaped the very landscape of the city.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a groundbreaking guide that provided African American travelers with crucial information on safe places to stay, eat, and visit during the era of segregation in the United States. This essential resource, originally published from 1936 to 1966, offered a lifeline to black motorists navigating a deeply divided nation, helping them avoid the dangers and indignities of racism on the road. More than just a travel guide, The Negro Motorist Green Book stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and resistance in the face of oppression, offering a poignant glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of the African American experience in the 20th century.

Traditional walking tours of New York enshrine the wealthy and the war heroes. Rarely seen are those buried in their wake - those who fought the power, pushing for a better world. In this exciting new guide, Bruce Kayton leads us to differnt kinds of monuments, offering readers a history of class struggles, labour movements and civil rights battles, with such sites as Emma Goldman's home in the East Village, Langston Hughes's house in Harlem and the site of Margaret Sanger's first birth control clinic. A new perspective on the history of New York and American radicalism.

During the 1800s, Manhattanville flourished as the West Side counterpart to its parent village of Harlem. The wide valley around present-day Broadway and 125th Street formed a unique gateway to the Hudson River between Morningside Heights and Washington Heights. Although rural, Manhattanville was the convergence of river, railroad, and stage lines, representing one of nineteenth-century New York City's most significant residential, manufacturing, and transportation hubs. However, this once-prominent upper Manhattan suburb eventually succumbed to the advent of mass transit and to the absorption of its distinctive features by the city in chase. Manhattanville: Old Heart of West Harlem acquaints readers with the richly diverse history and lore of this famously picturesque locale. From Henry Hudson's exploration of the area's waterfront in 1609 to Gen. George Washington's conversion of its terrain into a battlefield in 1776, momentous events marked Manhattanville's crossroads long before the village streets were laid out in 1806. Readers discover later landmarks, including New York's first Episcopal church to abolish pew rentals, where patriots, Tories, and African American abolitionists convened-today, Harlem's oldest continuing congregation on the same site. The book also introduces notable Manhattanville residents, such as founders Jacob and Hannah Lawrence Schieffelin, clothier Daniel Devlin, and New York City Mayor Daniel F. Tiemann.

Harlem of the West reveals a forgotten slice of San Francisco history and the African-American experience on the West Coast: the thriving jazz scene of the Fillmore in the 1940s and 1950s. With archival photographs and oral accounts from the residents and musicians who experienced it, this vividly illustrated tour will delight jazz fans and history aficionados.