After months of busy labor and weeks of anxious arrival of a liquor license, Harlem Tavern, SoHa's outdoor beer garden, is now open. The neighborhood has seen cafes, restaurants, and luxury buildings pop up in the past couple of years, but Harlem Tavern now shows off the variety of people in the neighborhood like mannequins in a storefront window, beer in hand and burgers in all their glory.
A local businesswoman (Ok, the gurl who gets my hair did) wondered the other day how they'd be able to keep the riff raff out. I suggested that maybe by keeping higher prices. Her response, "That don't keep the riff raff out. Riff raff always manage to have money in their pocket."
I guess that's the thing about change and embracing new people and things. You never know what you're gonna get. Throughout my life I've seen that every socio-economic class and every race has their share of riff raff.
The thing with Harlem is that in the two years I've been here, I can see the change on the faces of the people walking down the sidewalk- women of West African descent in traditional garb and matching turbans, twinks in Lady Gaga inspired outfits, preppy bankers with traditional families, young black men with sagging jeans and a dream. Now, though, with this big outdoor bar in a prominent location, you can see the change conglomerated into one street corner. It is no longer just the nice facade of a trendy new restaurant; it's a restaurant with the nice faces of a new trend.
Is this new Harlem Renaissance gonna give us the next string of artists and inspire generations of artist across the globe like the Caribbean and Western African communities that eventually settled here? Are there artists of the caliber of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday emerging from this cross cultural intersection of differences? Here's to hoping.
Until then, this is Tony...and Harlem's what's going on.
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