On July 31st I flew into New York City for a one night stay before I headed overseas for my off season travels. I just happen to be there on a Wednesday night and I was able to finally go to Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater.
I arrived by subway about 2 hours ahead of the start time so I chose to walk around and eventually grab dinner. I started off walking from the subway station west to Morningside and then south along the park there to 116th St where I turned to head east. All along the way I could not help but admire all the older buildings (most around 4-6 stories tall). Each of these contained peoples homes and small businesses on the ground floor. I was simply one of many just walking around the neighborhood and I loved it. The real highlight was when I passed the building used for Pop’s Barber Shop in the Netflix show Marvel’s Luke Cage (corner of 119th & Malcolm X) (see cover photo).
interior of Amy Ruth’s
I looked online to see where people recommended eating dinner. Their were several Dominican restaurants and pizza joints, but Amy Ruth’s stuck out as some where I wanted to try with their authentic “soul food”, which is really just southern comfort food I am used to. I got meatloaf, cole slaw, fried okra, and corn bread and boy was it tasty! Way too much food for one person, but I gave it a good try.
After dinner I moseyed back toward 125th St where the Apollo Theater is and was amazed at the difference one block made. All of a sudden I was surrounded by big box stores and brand names. It could have been any mall in America and not the heart of Harlem. A good example is that surrounding the Apollo Theater is a Red Lobster, Banana Republic, and Game Stop. Welcome to gentrification!
