Harlem

On Martin Luther King day, my friend and I went on a two-hour guided walking tour of Harlem, and saw Striver's Row and the Abyssinian Baptist Church and such. Actually, that doesn't have much to do with MLK at all, since he was a Southerner and Christian and non-violent and integrationist. The activism coming out of Harlem, as we learned on the tour, was way more radical. That's par for New York. This is the city whose Starbucks employees are organizing with the Wobs.

This picture shows one of the streets we walked down. All of the housing was all originally built in the late 19th and early 20th century as luxury condos or brownstones for white people. Only 15 minutes from downtown! they advertised at the time. It still takes 20.

It was freezing that day (and has been since), so before the tour started, I went into the corner bodega to get a coffee. This 70-year-old man flirted with me so I paid for his Ensure and his coffee as well. I think I got $19 in change back from a $20.