Historic Harlem – 125th Street

From time to time, I hear Harlemites refer to 125th Street as the “real” midtown. Looking at the map though, it’s 110 Street that is the actual halfway point on the 220-street grid that makes up Manhattan. 125^th Street, however, has most of the major highway connections. Traveling east leads to the Harlem River Drive on the East River and going west, there’s access to the Henry Hudson Parkway on the Hudson River.

Along with the highways, 125^th Street is also a major transportation hub with stops on IRT subway lines 1, 2, and 3 and the lettered trains A, B, C, D which service the west side (west of Fifth Avenue). On the east side, the 4, 5, 6 lines all stop at 125th Street. In addition, the Metro-North commuter railroad, which connects Manhattan to Connecticut, has a station on 125^th Street.

Also known as Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (in all my research, I haven’t found one reference to when the renaming took place), 125th is also the home of major landmarks like the Apollo Theatre, the Hotel Theresa, Koch Department store (now an urban clothing store) and the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building. At 125th Street and Seventh Avenue (now Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd), Malcolm X used to give speeches. In 1937, the poet Langston Hughes opened the Harlem Suitcase Theater above a restaurant, and the distinguished scholar, W.E.B. Dubois, had offices at 139 W 125^th Street. More recently, former president William Jefferson Clinton, opened offices at 55 West.

Under a Clinton Administration program to revitalize distressed communities using public funds and tax incentive to attract businesses, several stores like Staples, Marshalls, H&M, etc., opened on 125^th Street within the last 10 years.

As a direct result of these developments, real estate and taxes increased forcing most of the smaller retail establishments that had serviced Harlem during its down days to close or relocate. The revitalization of 125^th also resulted in the still continuing transformation, not just of the street, but most of Harlem.

Sometimes when I walk down 125^th, I wish we could go back to the “old days” when it was less chaotic and had less people and cars. Don’t get me wrong: I love that I can shop and play in my neighborhood. But there are certain times during the day when the energy is so downright frenetic, I’m forced to use 124th or 126th Streets. I’ve often wondered if this chaotic energy is a result of the revitalization, the people or the fault line on which the street sits. Yes, 125th Street has it own fault line, called the 125th Street fault line. While it’s not expected to cause any major earthquakes, tremors have been felt. It’s because of the fault line that the No. 1 train runs above ground from 122nd Street on the west side.

Whether 125^th Street is the “real” midtown is unimportant. What is important is that it is the main street in Harlem, a street which also bears the name of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. who incidentally, was stabbed in 1958 while signing copies of his book, Stride to Freedom, in Blumstein’s Department Store on, you guessed it, 125^th Street.