Category: Characters

In Search of “The Lost Arcade”

A new documentary titled “The Lost Arcade” serves as a scorned love letter to the Chinatown Fair and all it once represented. (The New Yorker)

Neighbors Mourn A Squatter, Known Widely but Not Well

For as long as anyone can remember, Baruba lived on the lot on Park Avenue near 126th Street in Harlem — a makeshift home that included a worn house trailer, an electricity hookup and milk crates. To developers who for years had tried to dislodge him, he was simply known as the Squatter. To others he was the Man With the Dogs. (The New York Times)

Words of Praise, and Loss, for Malcolm X’s Grandson

At the memorial service, family and friends remembered Mr. Shabazz as a reflection of his grandfather. They also sought to celebrate the man he was becoming, looking beyond the troubles of his youth, and his own violent end. (The New York Times)

All-Season Play for a Chess Crew in Harlem

Inside the storefront one cold evening, hands slammed on time clocks in a vigorous percussion, taunts lobbed between opponents – sounds reminiscent of combat. The games had been honed by years of chess matches at St. Nicholas Park, where regulars, hustlers and visitors played for hours on end, drawing crowds and creating street chess legends. (The New York Times)

A Send-Off for a Harlem Funeral Director

George Bernard Benta, a funeral director in Harlem for more than six decades, delivered his personal brand of service for luminaries known and little known. (The New  York Times)

A Watcher of the Police Says He Is Now a Target

Joseph Hayden is a familiar presence with his video camera on the streets of his native Harlem, ready to document interactions between the police and the residents. But Hayden, 71, recently found himself on the receiving end of police scrutiny, arrested on charges of weapons possession after a traffic stop. (The New York Times)

Effort to Save Harlem’s Murals From a Grittier Time

One of the first murals that Franco Gaskin, known as the famed artist Franco the Great, noticed missing was of a weeping Martin Luther King Jr. on the dreary metal front gate of an abandoned store on Harlem’s 125th Street where Dr. King was said to have had a book signing. Now as new businesses and higher rents remake the strip, much of Gaskin’s work – some 200 murals – has disappeared. (The New York Times)

They’re Still Swinging for the Rooftops

For old-time stickball players, much of their neighborhood has disappeared. But on Sunday mornings, the pride in their “poor man’s game” is on full display. (The New York Times)  

Keeping standards high at Boys Latin

David Hardy believes every young man at Boys’ Latin is “the architect of his own fortune.” But to build that future, students must first pass inspection. The high school also embodies Hardy’s vision of getting more boys, particularly African American boys, into college, an uphill battle. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Mick’s Inn, where heroes hang out

In the back room of Mick’s Inn are framed, autographed portraits of Medal of Honor recipients. And whenever the heroes are in town, they take to the stools of the dimly lit Port Richmond bar and sometimes buy a round. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)