IN THE NEWS
SOLD MAGAZINE
By Sarah Sansom
Looking for new art to see? 50 new murals have been painted along East 125th Street in Harlem, painted by 100 artists over the last two months. The murals stretch between 5th and 3rd Avenues, and wrap around a couple of the blocks.
So who is behind this massive project? Two kick-ass women! The project is coordinated by Uptown Grand Central (Uptown) led by Carey King and independent Project Manager Ayana Ayo.
NBC 4
By Chris Glorioso
New York City Restaurant Week, a time-honored tradition of the city's food scene, makes its grand return this month in style, offering five weeks of dining and new tiered pricing options for hungry guests.
The semiannual event returned Monday with in-person dining for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, hitting the city's restaurant industry especially hard. This year's first iteration of NYC Restaurant Week was takeout only, but still boasted one of the largest events in its history.
"Our first-ever takeout and delivery program became our largest dining initiative to date, with more than 800 participants from all five boroughs," the city's website says.
Lower virus cases and a significant boost to the city's vaccine distribution have helped drop essentially all public health restrictions and allowed for the event to promote indoor dining once again. For those that still prefer a takeaway option, participating restaurants will again offer to-go meals.
NYC Restaurant Week runs from July 19 through Aug. 22 at more than 500 eateries across all five boroughs, from fine dining to casual eateries.
This time around, participating restaurants will provide an entrée and at least one side for lunch and/or dinner for the price of $21 or $39. Diners can try the new Signature Dining Experiences priced at $125 for three or more courses.
The full list of participating restaurants can be found here.
It’s October and there are a flurry of new and exciting outdoor art installations to take in this month, along with annual city-wide art and architectural festivals. In the mix, you’ll find light installations at Rockefeller Center and South Street Seaport, a large provocative equestrian statue right in Times Square, a Halloween pumpkin impalement, new street art, a festival that will take place along the whole length of 14th Street, and many more. We’re very excited about the creative works in New York City this month and hope you are too …
9. Uptown GrandScale Mural Project in Harlem
Over the course of September, more than 50 artists painted 1,500 feet of construction barriers along three blocks of 125th Street around a construction site. This makes it one of the largest street art installations of its kind in Manhattan’s history, according to Uptown Grand Central, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the 125th Street/Metro-North corridor, who is behind the initiative. Artists who were selected to participate included TooFly, Marthalicia, and Shiro, with priority given to artists from the local community.
It is expected for these works to be up for the long term, as no construction has begun inside the lots surrounded by the fencing. Carey King, Director of Uptown Grand Central, said: “Wee have learned the power of public art to both uplift the neighborhood and inspire hopes for the future. We are so grateful for the strong community of artists that exists throughout Uptown, and for their dedication to making public space a place that brings us all together.”
It might not feel like it yet, but fall has officially begun—which means that there are several new temporary public art installations enlivening the urban landscape with abstract pieces, selfie-worthy moments, and more.
Here, we’ve collected more than a dozen worth scouting in the next few months; as more cool projects come to light, we’ll update the map—and as always, if you know of anything that we may have missed, let us know in the comments …
8. “Uptown GrandScale Mural”
Organized by nonprofit Uptown Grand Central, 50 local artists came together to paint 1,500 feet of construction panels along East 125th Street, the area near Harlem’s Metro-North station. Artists who participated—including Shiro, Marthalicia, and TooFly—were given between 32 and 96 feet of fencing area to paint. “We have learned the power of public art to both uplift the neighborhood and inspire hopes for the future,” Carey King, director of Uptown Grand Central, said in a statement about the collaborative project, which took place during three weekends in September.
Park Avenue at 125th street in Harlem isn’t posh, it’s a challenge. Clients of the neighborhood’s many substance abuse clinics loiter under the overpass between the two sides of the avenue. Garbage is scattered around construction fencing and vacant lots, and the pavement smells of urine in spots. Travelers moving between the 125th Street Metro North commuter rail station and the 4-5-6 Lexington Avenue subway stop don’t often stick around. But on a sunny Saturday afternoon, the community stepped out of the shadows to shine.
On September 7, around 30 artists gathered as part of a project to paint more than 1,500 feet of plywood green construction panels along 125th and 124th Streets. The Uptown GrandScale Mural Project aims to use public art to address blight in the neighborhood and provide opportunities for uptown artists to showcase their work.
“We’re hoping that when people start to see the energy going into this community, it’ll start to attract the investment and policy that it needs to really shine.”
“We’re doing the best we can to showcase that there is a strong culture and strong values here,” said Carey King, neighborhood resident and executive director of Uptown Grand Central, which coordinated the project. “When people currently come to this area of Harlem, we hear that it’s derelict. People ask, ‘Why are all these people poor and on drugs?’ With the mural project we’re trying to say, ‘Yes that’s what you may see when you come here, but there is a very important history and a deep and rich culture here.’”
Much of the construction fencing in the neighborhood has been there for as long as many residents can remember, and will likely remain for a while yet. The Durst Organization bought the sites on the west and east sides of Park Avenue at 125th in 2016 and 2017 respectively, but they have yet to file any building permits, likely due to the city’s plans to extend the Second Avenue subway to East Harlem by 2029.
The NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s environmental statement lists lots in the middle of the two sites as “potential property acquisitions” needed to complete the second phase of the subway extension. While part of the long-promised subway extension opened to much fanfare in 2017, it only extended to the Upper East Side. The city is asking the federal government for $2 billion of the $6 billion it has estimated is required to finish the extension to 125th street. Sections of the line were built in the 1970s, but by the mid-1970s the work was halted due to a municipal fiscal crisis. And to the Harlemites and commuters who look at boarded-up blocks daily with no construction in sight, the corners of Park Avenue look like blight, rather than the future.
Living near abandoned buildings, vacant lots, and substandard housing is associated with violence, higher rates of chronic illness, stunted brain and physical development in children, mass retreat into unhealthy eating and exercise habits, and a breakdown of social networks and capital, according to a 2017 Urban Institute study.
Public art, on the other hand, has the ability to positively affect public health, both mental and physical. It has the ability to decrease stress and help develop a shared identity and a sense of ownership. In low-income neighborhoods, the presence of cultural resources like public arts projects is associated with a 14 percent decrease in cases of child abuse and neglect, a 5 percent decrease in obesity, and an 18 percent decrease in crime.
In 2015, Uptown Grand Central, the six-year-old nonprofit that has become a champion for the 125th Street-Metro North corridor, adopted the space underneath the Metro North tracks as a community plaza, cleaning it up and running weekly farmer’s markets, pop-up shops, live music, free zumba classes, and other community-driven events. That makeshift plaza has recently been closed for construction, but, undeterred, Uptown Grand Central has shifted its operations across the street to the southwestern corner of Park Avenue and 125th Street, where the panels of public murals begin. The first section of murals was completed in August by artist Gera Lozano, and the project continues on Sept 14 and 22, culminating in the third annual ‘Party on Park’ street festival that will shut down Park Avenue from 116th to 125th Streets.
“We’re hoping that when people start to see the energy going into this community, it’ll start to attract the investment and policy that it needs to really shine,” said King.
Creating art in public spaces in New York City is a complicated endeavor. Last year, New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs announced the City Canvas program, a two-year pilot that allows two cultural nonprofits to commission and install artwork on construction structures like fences and sidewalk sheds. But the city offered no funding for the City Canvas project—only the assurance that those who wanted to beautify their neighborhoods by transforming ugly construction structures will not receive a fine.
Uptown Grand Central’s project isn’t part of this program. While the artists are technically performing an illegal act by painting on construction fencing, Uptown Grand Central approached the Durst Organization, which said it would pay any fines that the Department of Buildings issued, and the project has the support of the Manhattan Borough President, Gale Brewer, King said.
“We’re taught that art is something that lives in museums, and there aren’t living people doing it,” said Ayana Hosten, project coordinator for the Uptown GrandScale project. “So walking down the street, especially as a young person, and seeing someone who might even look like you painting, taking something out of their everyday life and transforming it—who knows what the impact of that is? That could trickle into what you feel about your own ownership of a public space, what the city owes to you, and what you contribute to the city, as well.”
The daughter of local business owner Dale Cole was one of many children taking chalk to the sidewalk and zipping happily around the artists while a DJ spun tunes, pedestrians stopped to chat with artists, and ladies sold coquitos (flavored ices).
“Just look at the vibrance here,” said Cole, owner of Daps Eats, a Jamaican restaurant. “It is improving the neighborhood. You don’t want to walk on the other side of the street. Everyone is passing here. It does bring energy to East Harlem. I love it.”
The artists involved are either from Harlem or have a connection to the neighborhood, Hosten says, and they’re conscious of making sure their art is at once a form of their own self-expression and a representation of the neighborhood.
“We’re not gonna solve all the issues on 125th Street, but art plays a role,” said Hosten. “It establishes a sense of pride and it also makes you happy when you’re walking down the street. Instead of a big green wall there’s a bright yellow sun and rays. I also think providing opportunities for artists uptown, especially artists of color, is incredibly important.”
Lola Lovenotes of the Bronx painted an Afro-Latina woman on a panel at the corner of 124th Street. “The neighborhood is mostly black, so I want to connect with the hood if I’m going to paint it,” she said. “I want to incorporate African artwork and Taino symbolism. I love occult symbols and the mystical world, so I’m including some African symbols that promote strength and protection. It’s an underprivileged neighborhood so it’s good to have uplifting images.”
On 125th, the art duo Lost Breed Culture painted a Louis Armstrong mural. “We really appreciate the connection between art and music,” said Fausto Manuel Ramos of Lost Breed. “Painting Armstrong is a nice way to pay homage to the music that was so important here in Harlem.”
“Painting amongst the public is a good day to begin with because you get to interact,” said Murjani Holmes, who painted a colorful art deco-style woman. “You hear the people say, ‘Thank you so much, you’re doing so well.’ I’m loving it, too. It’s not raining, it’s a beautiful day.”
It’s a new Harlem renaissance.
A community group started sprucing up a derelict three-block stretch of East Harlem, with 50 local artists painting murals Saturday along the dull, green plywood fences shielding the public from the Metro North Railroad.
Artists from Harlem, Upper Manhattan and the Bronx gathered along E. 125th Street, bringing spray paint and chalk to liven up the nondescript area.
“It makes me happy to see all the artists here," said participant Simon Arredondo, creating a giant red, white and yellow “I Love You Harlem” postcard as Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” provided the soundtrack to his work.
“There is a culture here,” the 43-year-old Washington Heights man added. “It’s cool to transform their own neighborhood.”
The painting session was the first of three along the corridor to create murals that support and uplift the community while creating free and legal public spaces for the artists. When the work is done, more than 1,500 plywood boards will be redecorated with local color and heart.
“Since we got our start a little more than five years ago, we have learned the power of public art to both uplift the neighborhood and inspire hopes for the future,” said Carey King, director of Uptown Grand Central, a non-profit neighborhood advocacy organization.
“We are so grateful for the strong community of artists that exists throughout Uptown, and for their dedication to making public space a place that brings us all together.”
The artists are scheduled to return next Saturday and once more on Sept. 22 to complete their murals, with the last session followed by the third annual “Party on Park” street festival. Park Avenue will be closed to cars from 116th Street to 125th Street for a day full of biking, strolling, dancing, and other activities.
“We are thrilled to support a project that is making such an important contribution,” said Andi Potamkin, president of Potamkin Development, a project sponsor. “People are strongly affected by their surrounding space where they work and live. Bringing vibrant art into public spaces within the community helps enhance and celebrate the diversity of New York City and its neighborhoods.”
Artist TooFly-NYC, aka Maria Castillo, created a mural on 125th and Park that portrayed a smiling, ebony-skinned woman.
“We are trying to capture the energy of Harlem,” she said. “I focus on women’s empowerment. Women need a much larger voice in the arts.”
Graffiti artist Shiro, a former nurse in her native Japan before reinventing herself in the city, created a work titled “Rasta Girl.”
“I love New York,” said the 42-year-old. “This is my love letter to Harlem.”
EAST HARLEM, Manhattan — Using construction panels as their canvas, 20 artist set out to transform 125th Street by turning drab plywood into vibrant works of art and celebrating the history and culture of East Harlem.
"It feels great to have my work on display right here on 125th," said artist Charlie Elo, who was spray-painting a lion in the concrete jungle.
The artists ranged from established pros to creative young visionaries, like 8 year old Jerellin Rodriguez, who likes to spread joy with each brush stroke.
"People do art because people get to see how people draw and make a happy picture."
Local artists will paint fencing that spans 3 blocks over the next couple or Saturday's.
The massive mural is organized by Uptown Grand Central, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming the thriving corridor by delivering programs that put advocacy into action through collaborations with businesses, residents and neighborhood organizations across East Harlem.
"The goal is to create a mural that supports and uplifts the community so all the artwork that you see is the artist's vision of things that support the people who pass through these crossroads," said Carey King, director of Uptown Grand Central.
"To me, they're gorgeous," said Jake Minaya. "They're all different, representing Harlem. I like it. I love it."
NY AMSTERDAM NEWS
By Kysha Harris
Listen, you work hard! You deserve free delivery every day to the office, but seldom if not ever get it. Well, tomorrow, Feb. 8, you will get it for you and four of your colleagues (…or five orders for yourself) during the last day of Uptown Restaurant Weeks!
Now you can also head to a collection of East Harlem eateries like Serengeti Teas, Charlie’s Place, Eater 125 and UGC Eats offering $10 meals, especially if you are close. However, if there is not enough time to make it to one of them within your allotted lunch time, take advantage of Friday’s offer.
Ordering from and patronizing these dedicated Harlem businesses shows our sense of community. They cannot grow and be fruitful without us. I, for one, am already looking forward to my Friday lunch in the office. Make it happen!
For more information and to find more participating East Harlem restaurants visit www.uptowngrandcentral.org.
NY AMSTERDAM NEWS
By Kysha Harris
Yes, yes, NYC Winter Restaurant Week is happening all over the city, as we reported last week. However, we were remiss not to highlight East Harlem’s Uptown Winter Restaurant Weeks, which ends Feb. 8, 2019, organized by Uptown Grand Central.
Brought to you by a selection of East Harlem restaurants and eateries, Uptown Restaurant Weeks invites you to step in for a $10 meal. No fuss, no muss. From soup, salad and a sandwich from Wild Olive Market to a veggie plate and smoothie from Jahlookova, there is much from which to choose.
Tell a friend! In fact, on Fridays, if you tell four more office friends/colleagues, your order will be delivered to your office for free. Imagine getting pernil, rice and beans from La Lechonera or a coconut rice veggie plate from Sister’s Caribbean and not having to leave the office? That is truly a TGIF moment.
For more information and to find more participating East Harlem restaurants, visit www.uptowngrandcentral.org. So what are we ordering Amsterdam News office?
