By Eartha Watts Hicks
What’s your favorite spot on 125th Street?
The Studio Museum. I loved the aesthetics of the building and would frequently roam through the main floor’s gallery on the days that I’d arrive early.
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To be quite frank, I was disappointed when they decided to renovate. My first thought: Why? It’s already beautiful. What else could they do to it? I have yet to return to the grand reopening to answer that question.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue in Harlem?
The Swag. The Swag in Harlem has become the blueprint for the rest of the world. Yeah, I get it. That Harlem Swag is recognizable and undeniable, but possibly overrated.
If you could change one thing about Harlem, what would it be?
Equitable solutions that now prioritize long-time Harlem residents. There are those Harlemites who’ve weathered the worst of Harlem’s storms. There’s a particular pang of injustice felt when those who’d been denied access to loans for businesses and home ownership for years due to race and/or redlining must now face another hurdle to remain in their beloved community, now that it’s finally cleaned up.
Who’s your favorite Harlem Renaissance author?
My favorite Harlem Renaissance author is Zora Neale Hurston. Zora Neale Hurston was the first Black female graduate of Columbia University’s Barnard College.
What I love most about her writing is how she references love and lovemaking using nature. Erotic acts are drawn out symbolically with the use of metaphors in a way that is beautiful, Black, and eloquent. Zora Neale Hurston, the queen of the Harlem Renaissance, is marvelous. In 2007, I earned a scholarship for the Advanced Fiction Writing workshop offered by the Hurston-Wright Foundation at American University, where I studied under Chris Abani.
What’s your favorite place in Harlem?
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. When I became a member of the Harlem Writers Guild, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture was its meeting place and home for over 40 years.
I feel privileged knowing I’ve walked the floor Maya Angelou and Amiri Baraka danced across. As an active member of the Harlem Writers Guild since 2009, I have had an intimate relationship with the Schomburg Center for over 16 years. I appreciate the Schomburg Center Book Shop, the American Negro Theater, the auditorium, the Private Collection Research Room, the gallery space, and other areas of the library. The Schomburg Center will always be a special place for me.
What’s your favorite building in Harlem?
The Victoria Hotel. The top-floor lounge of the Victoria Hotel has the best view in all of Harlem.
What’s your favorite local business to support?
Brownstone. Harlem’s The Brownstone is more than a boutique. Princess Jenkins serves as a maven and mentor for Black businesswomen. How to do it, how to sustain it, how to network and stay connected –- Princess Jenkins is giving, sharing, and fostering community through information sharing and resources.
How would you describe the essence of Harlem in one word? Rhythm.
Like the cadence of skilled African drummers, Harlem has a pulse that needs no other instrumentation. Harlemites strut to it, vibe to it, sway to it, gesticulate, adjust their attitudes, pop their collars, and brush dust off their shoulders to it. Harlem’s rhythm is the music when there is no music, and it’s that element of those born and raised here that sets them apart wherever they are in the world. Harlem’s rhythm will never be replicated anywhere else, so the one word I will use to describe Harlem is rhythm.
Which Harlem park is your sanctuary?
I am torn between two. Through an organization called Underground Books, I’d performed spoken word in events hosted by Bob McNeil at the magnificent bandshell in Jackie Robinson Park, west of Frederick Douglass Boulevard, just north of 145th Street. However, my fondest memories, even more fond than those, are of attending Shakespeare in the Park at Mount Morris Park. I’ve loved every performance I’ve seen onstage at Mount Morris Park.
What’s the most important lesson Harlem has taught you?
Nothing that’s here in Harlem should ever be taken for granted. Cove Lounge, Red Lobster, and Café Mocha, like Pam Pam Coffee Shop and the Lenox Lounge, will haunt you with sweet memories. If there is a particular place in Harlem you value, show your support to help it stay in business.
Photo: Studio Museum, file photo
Eartha Watts Hicks is a Harlem World Magazine Executive Editor, the award-winning author of Love Changes, a member of the Harlem Writers Guild, and a New York City literacy ambassador for NYCHA/NAACP. For more information, visit www.earthaton.com.
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