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The Harlem neighborhood, at the north end of Manhattan, is a major center of African American culture in New York City. The area, characterized by ghetto poverty and crime through much of the twentieth century, began experiencing a rebirth in the late 1990s. By 2008, empty shells of buildings were selling for one-million-dollars. Former President Bill Clinton chose to locate his New York office is in the middle of Harlem.
The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s spawned several nightclubs where black jazz artists like Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday performed for whites-only audiences in restricted clubs, including the famous Cotton Club, a reopened version of which exists today. Buffet dinners, jazz shows and dancing are offered nightly.
The Apollo Theatre, on 125th Street, became famous in 1934, and at that time was the only theater in New York City that hired black talent. Amateur Night shows have helped launch the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes and Mariah Carey, among scores of others. The Apollo continues to help newcomers with the nationally syndicated variety program Showtime at the Apollo. A 65-million dollar renovation restored the Apollo to it's original splendor, enjoyed by more than one-million visitors annually.
Religion has always been important in Harlem. There are more than four-hundred churches, with Roman Catholic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations. Many churches and synagogues are historic buildings and fine architectural specimens of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Today, Harlem is a revitalized mecca of coffee-shops, supermarkets, and shops. The Harlem USA retail complex, built in 2000, includes the first new movie theatre built in decades. The Studio Museum in Harlem is a fine arts complex devoted to works by African American artists. Dozens of historical landmarks, buildings and monuments, provide a comprehensive view of Afro American culture in New York.
