I was a kid during those time. My father had a fish and chip shop on 116th and lenox. Loved Harlem back then even though times were hard there were some memorable ones too. RIP Pops
My father also had a mom and pop store on 111th street and st Nicolas back in the 70s and the 80s RIP to both of our fathers, in other words, we both had fathers in our lives and we knew what life was definitely all about.
I grew up on 131st between Lennox and 7th and my mother worked at Harlem Hospital. These pictures don’t truly reflect Harlem in the 80’s. The community was alive and vibrant. I remember going to the Liberation Bookstore on the corner of 131st St and Lennox and reading Franz Fernon and Malcom X. I learned to swim at Mt. Morris Park pool. Did my shopping at the open air market on 125th St. I watched Hip Hop being born as I danced at the jams in the parks. Was there crime and drugs? Yes, but that wasn’t the whole story. The powers that be in New York washed it’s hands of Harlem and the South Bronx after the riots in the 60’s. They refused to invest in the neighborhood and police corruption ran rampant. THAT’s why so many of the buildings look like the ones in the picture. Let’s tell THAT story.
perkdaddy06 Are any of those decayed, abandoned buildings still standing or were they all demolished and cleared out in urban renewal fashion meaning tear down the old buildings and just leave the cleared parcels as empty land.
Juan Cruz What has happened to all the deteriorated abandoned buildings in this video, were they demolished and cleared out or were many of them finally bought and put through extensive repairs and upgrades?
@@r.pres.4121 Alot of these buildings are no longer around. Some where saved.There's alot of new buildings and Condominiums.I no.longer live in New York .I go everyear to visit.I live in Atlanta
People forget it wasnt just the South Bronx that looked like a bomb got dropped. Harlem, the Lower East Side/Alphabet City, East New York, and tons of other neighborhoods were just as bad.
Brownsville too where I'm from. I rem, some Blocks was like a ghost town at night, they would bust the street lights so that it would be pitch black dark and some Blocks my grandparents wouldn't even allow us to go down, I rem when they stole our car too lol, and i remember alot of fear, you heard gunshots alot n my grandmother would scream "stay away from the windows", i even rem when they shot my brother, and they would rob ppl my grandmother waited until she got to her destination to put on her jewelry, i rem too the bars on the windows, all the graffiti and block after block of vacant lots that they found a few dead ppl buried under. It was a war-zone, but we made the best out of it. We were kids so it didnt know how bad it really was. And in reality no kid should ever have to be subjected to those types of things.
This was commonplace in many of the larger cities during the 80s. It was the decade when most of the older northern US cities would finally bottom out in their decline and start experiencing an urban rebirth in the 90s.
THOSE PICS BROUGHT MEMORIES BACK TO MY HEART. BEING BORN IN THE 80S & GROWIN UP IN HARLEM AROUND THAT TIME REMINDED ME OF THE GOOD & BAD TIMES I HAD THERE. THOSE OF U THAT LIVED IT KNOW THE LIFE. HARLEM MIGHT NOT BE MUCH TO SOME, BUT ITS EVERYTHING TO THOSE WHO LIVED IT.
My first reaction: Whoa, I didn’t realized Harlem looked so bad back then. My second reaction: You can choose to look at a glass of water half full or half empty. I decided to look at it half full. I lived in E. Harlem (104th and 3rd Ave.) between September 1980 and November 1984 when I moved to a bigger place in the Bronx. I now live in Puerto Rico but living in Harlem still remains one of the most satisfying experiences of my life and wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I really loved that place and the day I left was also one of the saddest moments of my life. I miss El Barrio a lot. I worked at this store called Jemaltown (3rd Ave. bet 104th and 105th streets also on 125th St.) so just in case anybody remembers that company, I say Hi to you.
So, if you had a time machine you'd... travel to 1980's Harlem to enjoy the seemingly endless burned-out buildings, crack vial-strewn streets, liquor stores & abandoned automobiles? Count me in!
I was a clueless 19 year old who had just moved from Bellevue, WA. That was before Microsoft made it big and nobody in my senior class in Smithtown, Long Island knew where Bellevue was or that the state of WA existed. I loved to go out at night and drive and listen to music because I can never sleep at night. I have a very bad sense of direction, and to this day, I never see bad anywhere or in anyone. At about 3 am, I wound up right in the middle of Harlem, and I finally found some people. It turned out to be a gang, but I didn't know that, my parents explained that to me when I got home. There were about 14 black guys with guns and chains and stuff, I didn't know why. I leaned over to the passenger side, opened my window and told them I lived on the Eastern part of Long Island and could they help me with directions. I apparently looked like a Barbie because that's what the kids in my class told me when I started school in 1987. One of the guys came over, he kept shaking his head, he said I have no idea how you even got here alive or why I'm going to help you. You're a complete idiot! He yelled, your doors aren't even locked! He said you are in so much danger. I began to have that prickling that oops, once more here I am somehow in a dangerous situation not knowing how it had happened. He said lock your doors, close your windows, he told me where to go. He said go as fast as your car will go. Don't stop for people or signals. If you make it on the freeway alive, that would be a miracle. Well, guys, I safely made it home. I didn't know it, but once my parents knew I'd left, they'd been praying for me for the whole six hours I'd been gone. I hope you were blessed, and that your lives turned out well. Big Warm Hugs and Thank You again. If any of you remember this situation, apparently it was odd, let me know how you are.
Hey grew up in kings park my ex from smithtown went to great adventure one year back in late 70s got lost somewhere in nj . place looked not safe still dont know where we were.saw a bar did not look like place to announce im lost anyway found way back to l.i. like you did too. Hope you hear from someone from your night
I lived on 141st. Edge come avenue. One avenue over from Drew Hamilton projects and the infamous 40th Street block. We used to play all kinds of games outside as kids...hide and seek, tag, kick the can, hot peas and butter, red light/green light, dodge ball, kickball, stick ball, mother may I, Scales,...girls played hopscotch, jump rope...things today's kids would laugh at. We also used to play catch and kiss with the girls... we'd chase them, then catch them and kiss behind the staircase in the building. So much fun!
I grew up playing all those games outside until the street light would come on and then we knew to go home. I have one question,I never heard of hot peas and butter. What is that??? Thanks
I lived up the hill on 140th and Convent in the same building as Kurtis Blow. I used to DJ back then and used to bring my equipment out in the park on 141st and Edgecombe.
Today’s kids should be kicked out of their houses to play all day instead of staring at their screens. They’d be a lot more fit and slim, and know how to socialize and act like humans.
Since growing up in the 80’s, I’ve always had this strange desire to live in NYC... Harlem to be exact..I truly can’t explain how I gravitated to this decision as a child... but I LOVED HARLEM... I would walk to the grocery store and buy The NY Times. I would read it cover to cover...BTW, I grew up in Northern California (The Bay Area).... I remember now, Hip Hop brought this on...
Nena Whispers Ive had the dream etc or feeling I don't know what it is but I've had this feeling for Harlem since childhood I look at pictures and I think or I've been there before it's crazy..And I'm from South Fla.And Move to Atl to get that feeling u always felt as a child.. I Can Relate to your Replied Its kinda eerie..
@@sirquacksalot6463 “I better not be a hipster”.... LMFAOOOOOOO at such a STUPID comment! If I was or wasn’t, there’s not a damn thing you could do about where I decided to move, ANYWHERE on this planet!
Man looking at these photos(as a 25 yr old born in '95) really brought tears to eyes fuhreal. I had a little shaky upbringing, nothing too dysfunctional, but Im reminiscing on all the stories my mom told me of how dark Harlem could really get. She said that in the night time everything was pitch black and by morning you would be walking across dead bodies in the street. Dealers in every hallway etc...i had a brother older brother(born in the 80s) who got hooked on crack and I used so judgemental of him not even realizing the magnitude of the influences back then. Granted, you still have a choice, but when it's all around you, and there isn't too much guidance it can get a lil tough. Harlem still ain't perfect but I see the transformation by a LONG shot! With all this being said I have an appreciation for those who withstood these times and paved ways for us 90s kids and beyond. Proud to be from Harlem!
By ‘95, Harlem was improved as to safety, but it was at the cost of Black culture. I had a kind of secret fascination with NYC ghettos, and I used to take drives through them by daylight, always locked in, windows up, mace spray within reach. (Yeah, it was illegal, but I also had to ride the subway two nights per week. No way was I going without some means of protection!). By the mid to late 90’s I sometimes used to shop on 125 St. The stores came back, but they were almost all White owned with Black people working in them for low wages. There a few stores I really liked because they had nice plus sized outfits suitable for church, and the prices were much better than in Queens. Even then, I had people tell me I was foolish. Harlem was too dangerous. But I never had any problem. I never got mugged, purse-snatched, assaulted, etc. I’d only go by daylight and stick to blocks that had people about and most buildings looking decent. If I saw gang or drug activity, or signs of it like recent tags, I steered clear.
I grew up in Queens NY, which is totally different than Harlem ever was. growing up I always heard about the negative things in Harlem. never did I know that there where families living in Harlem in beautiful homes. never ever did we hear of that. so i'm just saying that Harlem at that time wasn't just drugs and abandoned buildings that everyone always wanted to show to the outside world. thanx for your comment.
All hood vloggers should pay homage Camillo Vergara was the first, the bravest and the best at explaining(and humanizing) American ghettos, I bought all his books, kudos to him for creating the path.
This is what I never understand about America (my home country) - how can it let its own people live in such deprivation when its too busy fighting wars around the world ? Why? This is depressing
I lived in the middle building facing P.S. 123 schoolyard with City College overlooking the area, back in 1977. I was eight years old then. The picture at 0:55 shows my building abandoned. That whole area was full of life before then with kids. The schoolyard was one of many areas at that time that contributed to the beginning of Hip Hop. Crews would come out at night and plug up there equipment to that street light pole in the middle of the block. It was an exciting time of my childhood.
Yeah tell us more if you don't mind. When I was a kid aged 8 my step dad worked for British airways & I used to dream of stowing myself on a plane to New York. Was full of Hill street Blues, Starsky & Hutch etc. Ever since then I have had a dream to visit the places I seen on tv. Sadly it looks like life was a hell of a lot harder than what it came across on tv I was brought up in rough areas all my life but Glasgow is no Harlem.
As an 80’s baby/90’s kid , I remember when Harlem looked this way. I was born and raised there. I remember walking to school and seeing buildings burning (insurance scams by landlords).
I remembered working in Harlem as a construction worker demolishing and renovating some of those buildings, the crack epidemic was in full swing .it was horrifying to see people shooting dope in their private parts, selling their bodies for crack the year was 1985.God bless Harlem.✌🙏
I worked at Footlocker on 125th from '99 to '01. Harlem came along way from the 80s till 1999. And 1999 is soon to be 21 years from the 2020. This feels so weird!
Not a New Yorker but have to remark about those old tenement buildings. I've never seen such solid residential construction in any other US city. Some may view them as ugly, however my view of them is from an architectual standpoint. When you consider the use, abuse, and neglect many of them have been subjected to over the last century or longer, the thick brick and stone walls still look as solid as when they were first built - a testament to the skills of their builders. You won't see new apartment buildings or homes built nearly as well because the cost would be way too high. I was born and raised in Baltimore and thought many of our older red brick rowhouses were beautifully constructed and well built, but these 5 and 6 story tenements, each block with differing ornate facade details, really impress me with their design features. Nice to see some of them have been preserved and restored.
***** I couldn't agree with you more. NYC is definitely losing its character. Even though, i was born and raised in NYC in the 90s, still miss the old city of NYC! 😩😩😭😭
***** True facts! It bothers me so much how drastically it has changed....starting from the graffiti trains, now the trains look like an entrance of emergency hospitals.....it truly breaks my heart 😭😭😭
Wow this is almost a complete change from what Harlem is today. Those boarded up apartments reminds me of what my mother told me about the Bronx back in the day.
Thank You for the video of what Harlem's buildings looked like before We arrived. Having worked for HPD for twenty 20 years in the Dept. Of Architcture & Engineering, I was assignt to work with team of developers. What a great experience it was under three administrations. I thank God for the experience of restoring hundreds of buildings in Harlem including brownstones. People should respect the community and not destroy no matter what.
...and Landlords should respect the tenants living in those buildings. A lot of what you see here in this video, the neglect, began with slumlords refusing to make repairs on tenements, slowly pushing long-time residents out via genocide, and eventually abandoning the buildings. Thus, these tenements became a breeding ground for rats, roaches, squatters, junkies, and pushers. However, on the contrary, many great places thrived in Harlem way past the 80s. I lived there most of my life, over 30 years. I left Harlem in the late 80s when crack had taken over. That is when things really started to corrode. I returned in the late 90s and saw things starting to change. For instance, there was a Starbucks on 125th Street & Lenox Avenue and a Disney Shop. I knew that changes were coming, but whether they were us, only time would tell.
it's unfortunate that he doesn't capture other areas of Harlem that have beautiful homes and buildings. remember Harlem is (was) the black Mecca. there are a lot of historical landmarks there and many famous black people lived there in its heyday. and there are some beautiful homes that were always in the area. I wish those were included here. those are some of the same brownstones and townhouses that are now going for millions of dollars. i'll always love Harlem. there is no place like it.
rsanch8695, Your so wrong! I was born in Harlem NYC & a chose to move out of Harlem in the late 90's Harlem, is a great place to live and educate yourself should you want too! My family like many other families are hard working families! Some chose to stay their and some choose to leave, I've moved to Charlotte, NC and this place is no better! Be Well & Be Easy! Respectful, GCJ
wittyexquisite rich porter had nothing on Barnes... Nicky got the smack from Italian Harlem on the east side.. the mob guys. .. then systematically destroyed central and upper Harlem. burnt buildings were insurance scam to collect.
something that I notice in city footage from this era - no matter how bad the neighborhoods got, no matter how much graffiti or damage there was, the churches were left alone. there was a base level of good in people back then, no matter how hard things got for them, which I don't know exists any longer.
You kidding me right?Unfortunately, im from Brazil(Rio de Janeiro) and our FAVELAS are like 1000000x worse than Harlem, and im really serious, this footage is from a 1st world country, here is a screwed 3rd world country with tons of poverty , violence and drugs...Btw, Harlem is fascinating, those days from 80s ans 90s were pure magic!Wish i could live back then...peace!
I wish these rich entertainer's from NYC would do something to help black neighborhood's, stay black. These rough, tough dirty neighborhoods, nursed and produced people who influenced every black in the USA. Whether music, fashion, or just plain culture. I LOVE THE HOOD. If only brothers would leave the drugs alone.
I live in New England myself. If I could find a job in NYC, I wouldn't be able to live there either. I think it's just whites breaking up black communities. Once the prices go up, most of us have to leave. I wish the rich blacks would help there people out, by buying real estate, instead of cars, and diamonds, etc.
+Matt Frazier They are pricing out people in bed-stuy too.Lets hope theres a housing glut.I remember when Iived on greene ave between bedford and nostrand.Hard to live there now
Gentrification and full cleanup of the city took away some of its best elements. The key for the future is to understand how to keep the novelty of this supreme urban grit while at the same time keeping the residents healthy and happy. No thugs like N.Y. thugs and that means environment research is needed albeit of an unwhite kind.
Why should it "stay black?" Why not live in peace together with people of different race and religion? Why segregate yourselves further then you already are? This is why Americans will never be united. Btw, Harlem was originally founded by white Dutch migrants. Once blacks from the south moved in, they moved out.
That is a great video! It shows exactly how things were prior to the modernization crud of today. The people of Harlem MADE it Harlem. Television used to portray it as Death Alley, and maybe still does. When I was a kid, we went to harlem quite a bit, and I never had any problems, and the people I met there were awesome. I wish I could find my friends from back in the mid 70's.
Hey man, It would be great if you guys could come to Detroit to restore a whole bunch of historic buildings, they must be saved, and Detroit really needs structures that are from it's prosperous past alive and looking good.
I really love this song. When I see all these pictures of that time I als have to think at ghetto poverty, subway graffiti, crackhouses, break dancing, rap and all those other important influences who made their mark in history... I'll always be greatfull...!
3/4 of NYC was a fuckin ghetto up until the 80s.Now the city has gotten incredibly safe.There were times when tribeca was as low-priced as east harlem.Not even mentioning the LES...even Yorkville was a slum up untill the 70s
I am sorry I hate to say I grew Up on Grant projects 125th & Broadway, I have four videos on my site,, but damn this is depressing, You are showing too much of the bad parts of Harlem, it sure reminds me of the South Bronx, I dont need to be reminded of the ghetto where I grew up in, and finally made it out, but I tell you this, never forget, never forget those who got stuck here, You show the bad side of Harlem, there is a whole lot more good in Harlem then what you are showing.
discolarry124 IT'S just a feeling. thats all if you cant relate. Don't participate . Because im traffaling Through brother. sorry about your Bad . I Can Imagine.. Peace
I’m sorry, is where you come from!! Is where you take yourself. I grow up in the proyects in The Bronx, but our education was let be better and show everyone it don’t matter where you grow, but how you see yourself in the future. And be very wise when you choose your friends. I thank God for my mother every day of my life, because manners, respect and principles are fundamental when you teaching your children how to live life. And she always encourage me and sibling to write those thing in our hearts and always put God 1st... with all this I just wanna say “That I’m proud to let people know that I was raised in the Bronx”
Me too I have this huge fascination an desire an wish I was around in that time just to see what it was like an I'm from the Caribbean.ive always been fascinated with Brooklyn an Harlem
@@khelframpton569 Yeah, I get it. Harlem was fascinating back then, how people managed to survive and culturally thrive in spite of the outward conditions. Now, it’s just White and bland, full of rich hipsters who are mostly rude.
@thruthealcove I will let them know. That business was the heart, soul, and essence of 116th st. You couldn't mention 116th st without mentioning Little Jim's. I was raised on that food myself and even helped out as I got older. My dad's cousin had passed in 1991 and my father took over until he started getting sick around 1995 and thats when it closed after 50 years of being there!!! Its great to hear people still talking about it even until today. Thanx for the love!!
Holy dumbbell tenements! Damn, those airshafts really are tight [still look the same today on most of those oldlaw tenements]. I remember how bad harlem was in the 90's, only being born in 88. Plus, tons of family pictures that show it. Way, things sure have changed..
My Aunt lived on 110th street back in 60's and part of the 1970's. It was horrible in that part of Harlem. I lived on 135th and Lennox Avenue right across the street from "New Harlem Hospital back in the late 60's to early 70's. That area was a bit more decent to live. Today Harlem is completely gone.
You know someone should really thank all the black people who stuck it out in Harlem From Canada and I grew up visiting new york city when I was younger in the 80's 90's visiting Brooklyn, but Harlem and Bronx was too scary if you didn't know anyone there, or had a reason to be there I went to Harlem in 2009 while visiting a bit of the Bronx and to maybe see the 80's Harlem, I was shocked by the amount of white people and Hipster kids. Now if I had was only older had some money , and had bought some of those brownstones. Jews of new york must be making a killing there Once and if fixed up its going to be one of the largest areas of pre world war 2 buildings in North America who knew its always a wait and see with areas like these. I would kill to live in one of these buildings fixed up or a brownstone Harlem was not the crazy place..the crazy place was really the Bronx
+Zoch Buppet It wasn't black people who made Harlem into something somewhat decent. It was white people. Blacks turn places into something like Chicago if you get too many of them in one spot.
+Zoch Buppet Black people are resilient throughout all the crap thrown at them.Surviving all the crooked landlord and poiliticians who took all their money out the community to build elsewhere.After it was run down, they came back to buy up everything dirt cheap and displace the very same people they stole from.Immigrating all the rich kids from all over america to take advantage of this expansion of displacing people..On these boards we have all these racist cock suckers who find it convienent to chime in with their 2 cents,and whom never been to the ghettos or experience first hand the evolution of whats happenning now.They are trying to cover up and beautify the neighborhoods by this phenomenon first hand.But it will not change anything.There will still be poor people,even more soon.Probably some from the same people who are taking advantage of this
I was just kidding....lol.... I like ghetto videos. I live in Brazil, and there´s a difference between brazilian & american ghettos. American ghettos are most abandoned houses & building when people no longer can afford to live there. So, they´re mostly ghost places. Brazilian ghettos, or the famous ´´favelas´´, are low income areas, but it´s not so bad, because they´ve their own culture and style of living making it a happy and fun place to live. And I like the culture of our ghettos.
Tee L if you want your girl to be seen . make sure she goes to bollie jeans. no matter if she has bald spots. that was the commercial on the Africa Islam show. lol
@@Blank-km4qr it was because of redlineing and then the economy crashed in the 70s making it look worst. Then crack came in to play and fucked it up even more. Also it didn't help that schools where underfunded and that land lords burned there building down so they could make money .
I'm a product of the 60's and 70's and about the mid to late 60's it took a turn for the worse. Sure it meant alot to most of us, but to those who could have made a difference, it meant little and now, those who could invest , did. And for those who couldn't, find themselves left on the outs and now Harlem is getting a facelift and sadly, it's not us!
None of NY will ever have the same charisma as before... All the people from this era left.. and are replaced with new ones... Even if crime did return, it will never be as fasinating as before
ciel222 go there now 110 to 125 between 5th and 8th ave.. rent and real estate taxes has exploded! million dollar condos and brownstones is what you'll see...
Like this one memory lane. The past, though not the prettiest, but hey it was home for me growing up and its all I knew at the time. Much love and continued success. I just wished the rebirth started a lot more sooner. Peace, Love, and Soul. D
1:55 ... looking at 116 and Lenox.. the shabazz dome is visible... wow! those two churches are still standing today.. go there on 116 and Lenox and you won't recognize it!! central Harlem
Instead of filming it in the early early morning, should have filmed it on the afternoon when it was filled with people hanging out all day and night. A lot of life there
Harlem 1980s....plays an early pure 1970s sound (Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street from 1973). Nothing in the 1980s sounded like that, that kind of soul funk was gone for a while before the 1980s started. Yes I'm old enough to know. Harlem 1980s would've been better represented by early street Hip Hop like Grandmaster Flash - The Message (1983).
👍🏾damn good point! I was enjoying this video. Came across ur comment...and yep- "The Message"🎤 woulda been next level for this "80s Harlem" joint. Still dope tho!
Our cities can be really ugly. But of course Harlem is famous and an important part of our history. A lot of cool people lived in Harlem. These were real neighborhoods. They were just legends to me, as I lived in the whitebread suburbs. But I knew the real life, and the coolest people lived in Harlem.
