You are currently browsing the stories about the East Harlem neighborhood

At the Polo Grounds

by Thomas R. Pryor 04/06/2010
Neighborhood: East Harlem, Featured, Yorkville

"Hey Dad, who were you just talking to down at the end of the bar?" "Oh, that's Al Dorow, the quarterback for the New York Titans." It was fall 1961, Dad and I were in Loftus Tavern after throwing the ball around outside on York Avenue. My two teams, the New York Giants, football, and the Yankees, [...]

Brujeria

by Kelly Kreth 02/26/2010
Neighborhood: East Harlem

Having grown up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, most of my friends were Cuban. Marly was my best friend throughout high school and beyond. I loved hanging out with her and her mother, Mirna, because their home was so exotic. I loved eating her mom's rice and beans, okra and pork, and practicing my Spanish. [...]

I Lose My Cherry

by Thomas R. Ziegler 08/10/2006
Neighborhood: East Harlem

It’s mid-afternoon on a Saturday in April 1973, and my first-day tour on the job, when that seminal alarm sounds. The disembodied voice of the dispatcher booms from loudspeakers throughout the firehouse, “Attention the following units…Engines 83, 60, 41-1 Ladders 29, 17-2 Battalion 14…Respond to…” The box number and address are given, and then the dispatcher adds, [...]

The Man in the Window

by Vanessa Hartmann 07/06/2006
Neighborhood: East Harlem

I noticed him during the first week of living in my new apartment. I was staring down from my fourth floor two bedroom. He sat in a window on the south side of the block, to the west of Kelly's Flat Fix facing 3rd Avenue, his elbow hanging out the window as if he were [...]

Event Horizon & The Baby Blue Jordans

by Llanira G. 12/31/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

“The movie was mad nice,” said Anissa. “That movie was the dumbest movie I ever seen,” Brian answered. “It was a waste of money. I thought that Event Horizon would be the scariest movie of the month, but turns out it was just another dumb movie.” Anissa answered, “The only reason you think it’s dumb is because [...]

The Drano Kids

by Natalie M. 08/06/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

It was a nice Saturday morning, sun shining bright and all. I woke up to get ready to go to my grandmother’s house to go shopping for her. It was about 11:00 a.m. as I got ready to go. I put on my sweatpants, my slippers, a wife beater, and a hoody. I did not [...]

The Truth about Christmas Eve

by Fontae W. 08/06/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

Two weeks before Christmas, my Aunt Cooklyn and I were decorating. We decorated the Christmas tree, put lights on the windows; we also decorated the apartment door. It was snowing; the exact date was December 8, 2001. “Hurry up, you’re as slow as a half dead chicken, give me the tape.” said Aunt Cooklyn. I [...]

My Damn Sister

by Cinetra C. 08/06/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

One day I was on the M60 bus going across 125th Street. It was a nice bright sunny day. There were lots of people who had just came from shopping, from all the stores on 125th Street. I was with my friend and my little sister, who is four. My little sister’s name is Maya. [...]

Parades

by Aundrea C. 08/06/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

Sometimes I think about the reasons why I love New York, but the one thing I love the most about it is the parades in the summer time. When I was in Flatbush, Brooklyn, at my aunt’s house, we stayed to see the parade. It was the West Indian Parade and everyone was outside. There were [...]

Street Fight

by Miguel C. 08/05/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

The street fight had happened on 122nd between 2nd and 3rd Avenue in front of a bar. That was not the first fight that had happened on the block. There are many fight on that block. That block is real bad. The big issue that makes the block even worse is all the drugs and [...]

Rivers of Tears

by Jessica D. 08/05/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

It was March 16,1998 around 3:30pm, I remember it like it was just yesterday. As I made my way through my house door from school, I heard the phone ring from the kitchen. I went to drop my books off in my room which is at the end of the hallway. I went back to [...]

A Change in Time

by Shyla C. 08/05/2003
Neighborhood: East Harlem

Finally after eight years I can go back to where it used to be fun for me and other children to hang out at Wagner Project’s pool. It still looks the same but really doesn’t feel the same. The children are still splashing in the water, the babies are still in the baby pool with [...]