The Harlems

Negro Harlem—Spanish Harlem—
Italian Harlem

Area: E. 96th St. and W. 110th St. on the south to W. 155th St. on the north;
from 5th Ave. (96th to noth St.), Morningside Ave., and St. Nicholas Ave. (125th
to 155th St..) east to East and Harlem rivers. Maps on pages 54-55 and 255.
Principal north-south streets: 1st, 5th, Lenox, 7th, St. Nicholas, and Edgecombe Aves.
Principal cross streets: 116th, 125th, 135th, and 145th Sts.

Transportation: IRT Lenox Ave. subway, noth to 145th St. stations; IRT Lexing-
ton Ave. subway (local), 96th to 125th St. stations; 8th Ave. (Independent)
Washington Heights or Grand Concourse subway (local), noth to 145th St. stations;
9th Ave. el, noth to 155th St. stations; 3d Ave. el, 96th to 129th St. stations; 2d
Ave. el, 92d to 125th St. stations; bus lines on all principal north-south streets.

Harlem is blocked in by the high ridges of Morningside Heights and
St. Nicholas Terrace, by the East and Harlem rivers, and by Ceneral Park.
Along the East River is the Italian section; north and east of Central Park,
the Spanish; and farther north, the Negro district, its boundaries extend-
ing into the Italian and Spanish neighborhoods and creeping northward
into Washington Heights.

Built up solidly with tenements, old apartment houses, brownstones
converted into flats, and occasional small frame residences, Harlem is a
poor man's land. Half a million persons are crowded into its three square
miles—the largest single slum area in New York. The nondescript drabness
of the streets is relieved by a chain of three "ribbon parks"—Morningside,