Many people know that New York Times Hunt columnist Joyce Cohen is both a excellent reporter and blogger, but probably far fewer people know that she is also an excellent maker of cat toys.

To help welcome the three of us (Cheryl, myself, and Cimbi) into our new home at Saturday's housewarming, Joyce offered to make Cimbi a Cat Dancer. The toy is made by using a large needle to thread a long piece of florists wire through four or five inch and half long pieces of cut paper bag handles. It drives the cat nuts.

Cimbi was back on her haunches swatting at the toy before it was finished. She cried wanting to play with it as Joyce made sure the wire's end was safely tucked into one of the bag handles. After completing the Cat Dancer, our small animal took off jumping and swatting in a delighted frenzy.

Cimbi has spent the past few couple days crying for Cheryl and I to play with the dancer, and sleeping with it when she tires. At night and while we are gone, Cimbi puts the end with the bag handles on her chair and dozes with her head on top of it.

Posted by Chris at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Cheryl and I had a great weekend. We hosted the best friends and neighbors anyone could ask for at our housewarming on Saturday. Despite our last guests leaving sometime around 4am, Cheryl and I woke up refreshed on Sunday, with a life-affirming glow that comes from being around great people.

Today, after a mellow Sunday with an early bed time, I have a burning fever and all of my joints ache. Life lesson here: never let the party end.

So, until I stop drenching myself in my own sweat, I am making this post easy, and making another submission to Stuff On My Cat in my ongoing quest to get Cimbi posted. Here she is covered in sanitation violations.

Posted by Chris at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the transportation side of things, Harlem's changes have been noted in the increased number of taxis and the mere presence of a pedicab on a street above Central Park. On Saturday, Harlem reached the next transportation benchmark in midtown's move uptown.

Having lived on 49th Street, which Central Park's horses use to return to their stables, I at first thought nothing of the horse hooves clicking on the street, until I remembered I was in Harlem. Looking out the window, like a ghost from the past, I saw an elaborate horse drawn carriage, all in white, steadily moving east along 116th Street.

Thankfully the carriage was slow going, as it took a little while for the Canon to power up. I did manage to take a shot of the end of the carriage as it passed, which is seen much better in this enlarged, but grainy, excerpt. For better viewing, the photos are on flickr.

Posted by Chris at 08:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Billie's Black, a new gourmet soul food restaurant on 119th between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and St. Nicholas Avenue, opens today, Friday, June 23rd.

UPDATE: As per a photo taken this morning, it seems Billie's Black still has a ways to go before opening.

UPDATED UPDATE As per Harlem Fur tipster flip, Billie's Black did open on Friday, and hosted a packed house!

NEXT: On Saturday, June 24th, Tribal Spears Gallery at 2167 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, between 116th and 117th Streets, holds an opening reception in both galleries from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.

The Tribal Gallery features sculptural artists Keith Anderson (California) and Yuko Ueno (Japan). The Johnson-Byrd Fine Art Gallery features abstract artists Derrie Clemmons (Chicago), Spencer Eldridge (Harlem), and Va Ronique Paronneau (France).

Tribal Spears Cafe offers a solid selection of coffee, tea and small edibles good for both gallery goers and those looking for place to access a free Wi-Fi connection.

Posted by Chris at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A Harlem Fur tipster let us know that Halstead Realty will be moving into storefront space in the Normandie, a Halstead listing, on Lenox Avenue at 119th Street. Halstead joins children's shoe store Purple Reign and organic dry cleaner Aphrodite in inhabiting the Normandie's ground floor.

Halstead's arrival in South Harlem will complete the real estate trivium quadrivium, with Prudential Douglass Elliman and The Corcoran Group and Warburg (thanks Tom) on Frederick Douglass Boulevard between 114th and 120th Streets.

Posted by Chris at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In response to yesterday's posting on the two Aphrodite organic dry cleaners opening in South Harlem, Scott wrote in to say that one recently opened near him on Columbus Avenue between 107th and 108th. Being that neither of the two Harlem locations are on the Aphrodite website yet, nor the Columbus and 107th location, I checked it out last evening to see if it is part of the same chain or just a cleaners with a similar name.

As determined by the logo, the Columbus Avenue location is part of the same chain.

With all of the Aphrodite cleaners opening up, I am wondering if in the near future people will be able to tell if someone is from above or below 96th Street based on a use of Starbucks vs. Aphrodite cleaners.

Person One: Hey, wanna go see The Road To Guantanamo at the Walter Reade Theater?
Person Two: Yes. Let's meet at Starbucks first so we can sit together.
Person One: Great. How about the Starbucks at 58th and 8th?
Person Two: No, let's go to the Starbucks at 60th and Broadway.

VS.

Person One: Hey, wanna go see what's playing at Imagenation's Soul Cinema theater?
Person Two: Yes. Let's meet at Aphrodite cleaners first so we can sit together.
Person One: Great. How about the Aphrodite at 117th and Frederick Douglas?
Person Two: No, let's go to the Aphrodite at 119th and Lenox.

Posted by Chris at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

No more need to carry one's dry cleaning to work, making the arm carrying the load even more sweaty than the rest of one's self. Two Aphrodite organic dry cleaners will be opening up in South Harlem for those of us damping up office attire in the summer heat. (I suppose they can also be used by those spilling caviar on themselves.)

I am sure my office mates are just as excited as I am.

The first is at 304 West 117th, between Frederick Douglass and Manhattan Avenues.

The second is on Lenox Avenue at 119th Street in the Normandie.

Posted by Chris at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Morgan is a 10 year old Harlem Golden Retriever. Morgan, who his professional photographer human says is a bit camera shy, gave us this nice profile shot.

You can catch Morgan playing at the dog run in Morningside Park.

Posted by Chris at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wireless Harlem Initiative, a community-based effort to close the digital divide in Harlem, signed on consultants to develop their Harlem-wide Wi-Fi initiative. The goal is to have inexpensive Wi-Fi access available to residents by spring of 2007.

Hiring plan writers is a big step towards getting this project off the ground. Glenn Fleishman at Wi-Fi Net News writes:

While regular readers of this site know that I am dubious about digital divide projects that focus entirely on "give them computers and the rest will come," I am entirely supportive of efforts that combine community input into what services are delivered, that include training for general users as well as specialized training in administration, and that has a comprehensive plan with measurable results for the money invested in these efforts. If the goal is a reduction in high-school dropouts, an increase in test scores, a burgeoning of eBay sellers, an improvement in basic literacy, scores of new businesses being started, or efficiencies that reduce expenses through better use of existing technology-any or all of these can be achieved with good planning and good follow-through.

But most importantly, all of Harlem will be able to read Harlem Fur.

Posted by Chris at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the drawbacks to South facing windows with unobstructed sunlight is that they can turn a room into an oven. Golden rays fade material, raise the indoor temperature, and magnify the smell of odorous things in their path. Take, for instance, cat urine.

Our living room window lets in copious amounts of sunlight that concentrates on a part of the couch where Cimbi decided to go wee wee. Coming into the apartment at the end of the day, I was hit with hot damp air inside about ten degrees warmer than the hot damp air outside, and with the same concentration of ammonia found in Jupiter's atmosphere. I was ready to put the couch and the cat on the curb for sanitation pick up the next day.

Cheryl calmed me down, and I plodded off to Posh Paws to pick up Nature's Miracle stain and odor remover. I knew about the product from seeing it mocked on the Colbert Report, the source of most of my knowledge.

I can now honestly vouch for the product and say that it worked, albeit after four applications across two days. Not wanting to throw the couch out, we followed the instructions to a tee. (Well, except for the part about testing the colorfastness the of the target area. Who cares if the colors bleed or not when the furniture reeks like cat piss?) We soaked the target area of the cushion and let it air dry at its own pace. The smell was not gone the first time, so we tried it three more times, and by then it was no more.

We did have a couple big things in our favor right from the start. The couch is leather, so the pee pee did not soak in like it would on a fabric couch. Also, Cheryl pays more attention to the cat's diet than my mother ever did to mine. By giving Cimbi high quality food, digestive supplements, and keeping fresh bottled water available, the cat's urine has very little odor from the get go.

To be totally truthful, Cheryl swears she cannot smell anything. I swear that if you really smash your nose into the target area and breath deeply, you can still kind of smell something.

(I was going to write that if your face was pressed into the couch and you were breathing deeply, then you have more important problems than negligible odors, but then I thought about it. In all the times I can think of when someone has their face pressed into the couch and they are breathing heavily, it's a great night. So, the couch may have to go after all.)

Posted by Chris at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

After a prolonged rain delay, the 2006 Harlem Motocross season has begun. Get ready for the non-stop summer action of teens on ATV's and dirts bikes, as well as one old guy on a motorcycle, once again going up and down Adam Clayton Powell and Lenox Avenues ad nauseam.

Just as in previous years, the 2006 Motocross substitutes for a fixed track a fluid central Harlem course largely determined by where police cars are not currently pursuing participants and the availability of chicks on the street to watch them ride wheelies.

In all seriousness, this totally baffles me. Where do Manhattan teenagers get an ATV, let alone store one? If Greg were to say "hey man, we really need ATVs by the end of the week; let's pick some up," I'd have no idea where to begin looking. And if I did get an ATV, where would I put it?

It's not like these kids are hiding a pack of cigarettes and some dirty magazines under the bed. These are multi-cylinder gas powered vehicles. Cheryl has a car, and I have a bike. Both are legitimate, and both are a pain in the ass to store in the city. Getting garage space for an ATV seems totally out of the question, as going through a credit check, putting down a deposit, and providing a billable address do not seem like things a fifteen year-old storing an illegal machine would want to do.

Cheryl has the best theory so far on what people do with their personal motor vehicles. She speculates that they buy them, begin ridding them, and, all lucid on Provigil, don't ever stop riding them until they are finally caught by the cops. This would explain why we hear the mosquito-like buzzing of their engines at all hours in the beginning of the summer, with their use tapering off until summer's end.

UPDATE

Thanks for the shout-outs from MX Replay, MotoNews, and of course, Curbed! Cheryl and I are now telling our friends we have the next best thing to a NASCAR condo.

Posted by Chris at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (1)

Harlem Fur tipster John let us know that Melba Wilson, of Melba's on Frederick Douglass Blvd. and 114th Street, is the person buying Native on Lenox Avenue and 119th Street. Melba tried to re-open Minton's Playhouse with Robert De Niro in 1999. Will she have better luck with Native?

Posted by Chris at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Cimbi and I tried going to Morningside Park this weekend. It confirmed that the best, and safest, place for taking a cat outside in Manhattan is Central Park's great lawn.

Cheryl's cat allergy is a dirty little Harlem Fur secret. Ninety-eight percent of the time she keeps her allergies well under control, but Sunday helped make up that two percent when cat dander gets the best of her. Cheryl asked that I take Cimbi to the park so she could rest her nose for a while. Looking to avoid parade day crowding in Central Park, and not wanting to have to protect my animal all day from Staffordshire Terriers in Marcus Garvey Park, we left for Morningside Park after Cimbi climbed into her Sherpa backpack.

Having a cat on a leash can draw a lot of attention, and I was not looking to field questions all day. So, Cimbi and I settled down where I could read the paper on an out of the way patch of grass. At first I was a little apprehensive about the area as five unsupervised kids ranging from 4 to 7 years old were running around nearby. It turned out Cimbi liked them and they liked Cimbi. The only people they were going to bother were themselves, as they spent the afternoon climbing back and forth over an 8 foot tall chain link fence.

Cimbi likes to go to the end of her 16 foot leash and sit there looking at whatever is nearby. It must give her some sense of independence. This has never been an issue.

As the afternoon wore on, I dozed off laying in the grass with the cat's leash in my hand. I was awoken by Cimbi's cries and slight tugs from her leash. When I looked in the direction of where she was, I saw three teens on bikes circling and taunting her, their bikes causing tugs on the leash as they ran over it. They took off as soon as I got up and yelled at them, but Cimbi was terrified for the rest of our time in the park. For the next half of an hour, my otherwise outgoing cat sat glued to me and quivering. The scare ruined the day, so we went home.

Back in the apartment, Cimbi quickly recovered. I went from being her hero to being her chew toy in a matter of hours. Right now she is sitting behind me and is fine.

Posted by Chris at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Harlem Fur tipster Sebastian from Street Easy wrote in yesterday to say that Elle & Lui, the Moroccan restaurant on 119th and Frederick Douglass, closed. Although Cheryl and I expected this to happen, as the place was almost always empty, it still put a pain in our hearts. Elle & Lui was by far our favorite restaurant in the neighborhood.

This restaurant should have stayed open. The dishes were expertly prepared; different olive flavors would come through in the homemade hummus, the fragrant lamb tangines was amazingly tender with robust accent flavors from the honey nutmeg sauce and caramelized prunes, and even the tea had an air of being carefully selected by the chef.

Cheryl and I talked with the owner and chef on a couple of different occasions and asked why he thought attendance was so low. He said, in his opinion, people still see Harlem as a bedroom community. There may be many people here with million dollar plus residences, but they still work and go out in other neighborhoods. It's not like he didn't do his groundwork in promoting Elle & Lui. The owner attended community and police precinct meetings and came to know the heads of at least two neighborhood home owners' associations, one with more than 400 members.

As for the restaurant moving into the space opening June 23rd, Sebastian says it will be serving gourmet soul food. Uptown flavor dug up the low down on the details. Billie's Black is the name of the new restaurant. They have kept the same phone number and have a website up here. In all seriousness thou, I would like to echo Uptown's sentiment that another soul food restaurant, gourmet, pedestrian or otherwise, is not what Harlem needs.

Here is to hoping that Elle's chef will soon be using his talents somewhere new.

Posted by Chris at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Cheryl and I met up with Scott and Lizz Thursday night to catch dinner at Dinosaur BBQ. On the way, of course, we saw the ubiquitous Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting no parking signs.

Around the corner from Dinosaur BBQ and the Fairway parking lot in the micronabe recently named ViVa (Viaduct Valley), no parking signs for "MJZ" production company to film the production "MJZ" were on the lampposts.

Unfortunately, street time for MJZ had come and gone, so there were no crew members around to be totally unhelpful when inquiring about what was being filmed. Cheryl and I took some guesses as to what MJZ stands for, which included "Mr. Jay-Z" filming a music video, his French counterpart "Monsieur Jay-Z" filming a music video that includes a baguette and aged cheese pungent enough to smell through the television, and, this is our favorite, MJZ is the code name for a secret crime fighting city program to put a film crew on every corner.

Anyone can put a cop on every corner, but a film crew? Imagine the possibilities.

WOMAN: Oh, the horror!
OFFICER: Mam, no need to tell us what happened. We have the prankster on high quality 35mm film placing the banana on the sidewalk. As we speak, our foley artist is dubbing a slide whistle over your slip and a bike horn over your subsequent fall.
WOMAN: Oh thank you!

This might seem far fetched, but seriously, who watches 'Rescue Me'?

Posted by Chris at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Delores Martin, a bar maid at Minton's Playhouse for 14 years before it closed in 1974, was able to take the stage and say a few words at the legendary jazz joint's re-opening on May 19th. Her son, Kevin McGill, shared some photos he took of the night with Harlem Fur.

We have to say Dolores looks great. Kevin is a graduate of New York Film Academy, with a background in television production, so he has a learned take on how to make a person look good. However, artistry aside, Harlem Fur thinks Delores has a timeless beauty. If we didn't tell you she is the woman on the left, could you guess which woman was her?

More of the photos Kevin sent are up on flickr here.

Posted by Chris at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greg, whose participation was integral to the Emperor's Roe and Society Coffee postings, picked up some spending cash when he dropped by Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The show taped last December, but due to confidentiality agreements, he couldn't talk about it until it aired, which it recently did.

Greg has a solid base of trivial knowledge and a warm sense of self-assuredness. He can tear through Times crossword puzzles with an uncanny ability. I watched him do it many times when we were Harlem roommates not too long ago. Sarah, his significant other and sometimes Emperor's Roe patron, said both his knowledge and self-assuredness came out in full force as he joked around with host Meredith Vieira. You can read all about it in his hometown newspaper.

A little extra scratch is always a good thing, but the real reason Greg was ready to meet the world head-on then was far more personal. He had decided to propose to Sarah, and he did shortly after in Puerto Rico. She gave him the final answer that he wanted, and their wedding is set for later this year. Greg and Sarah deserve a big congratulations.

Now they are planning the wedding and looking to buy a home. What is one neighborhood they are considering? Harlem, of course. There is a trend of hot dudes moving here.

Posted by Chris at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I am getting quite good at finding what I want in Harlem. When Cheryl asked on Sunday where we could get wheat grass to aid our cat's digestion, we tried Karrot on 117th Street between Frederick Douglass and Manhattan Avenues.

Karrot is a small health food store featuring wheat grass, mambo juice, and Jim's Organic Coffee. I passed it when taking Romeo to the Morningside Park dog run.

Have grass it does. Carlos, the gregarious owner, said that when opened, he had a sign out front that read "Best Grass In Harlem." People would walk by, look around, stick their head in and ask things like "do you have that Thailand stuff?"

What we wanted is a little more legitimate. Karrot offers wheat grass shots, both solo and in mambo juice, and the grass itself sold in sizes from a quarter sheet to a full sheet. Carlos said the quarter sheets are popular with cat owners in the area. We took a quarter sheet, which is more than enough for Cimbi.

BONUS: Karrot has flyers for the Hudson Street Proud Pet Parade this Saturday, June 17th at 2pm. Looks like it is something for dogs, so no outting for Cimbi. To register, email cruizroberts@gmail.com or call 646-678-5372. Three top dogs will be crowned. There is a $20 admission fee.

Posted by Chris at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Film crews have been out since Friday on Lenox Avenue between 119th and 122nd filming something. Given that it has been raining since Thursday, I had not ventured to find out what the production was. Today I braved a light drizzle and discovered that the project in question is "Illegal Tender," a Crunk Productions, Inc. movie.

I asked crew members nearby what the movie is about. When none of the them knew film's plot, I speculated based on the name. Was it about the age of women Elvis dated, someone sneaking Kobe beef across the U.S. border without testing it for BSE, or a conductor who powers his train with coal from a stolen railcar coupled to his locomotive?

It's none of the above. According to a press release, "Illegal Tender," written by the oddly punctuated Franc. Reyes (Empire) and produced by John Singleton ("Shaft," "Hustle & Flow"), "tells the story of Latino college student Wilson Jr. (Rick Gonzalez) and his courageous mother Millie De Leon (Wanda de Jesus) fleeing from the thugs that killed his father (Manny Perez). After years of uncertainty about the true meaning behind their life on the run, Wilson Jr. and his love, Ana, (Dania Ramirez) find themselves in life-threatening danger. Wilson Jr. must return to Puerto Rico to unveil the dark secrets from his family's past."

Posted by Chris at 09:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

...and the guest list was hotter than a Chevy tailpipe in summer.

The Chairman of General Motors Rick Wagoner, Mayor Bloomberg, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Charlie Rangel were all at the opening of Saturn and GM dealerships located at 2nd Avenue and 127th Street today.

For those of you who missed the broadcast, here is the 7 Online link.

I'll have some photos up later. Until then, please accept their stock chart in substitution. It goes very well with the Harlem Fur color scheme.

Posted by Chris at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times has a good article today on opportunity and experimentation in Harlem's schools. Students in charter school programs including KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) and Village Academies are earning higher scores than traditional schools, in addition to being in a much safer environment.

At Public School 125 at the top of Morningside Park, the article points out, "only 36 percent of the third- through sixth-grade students met city and state reading standards last year." 36 percent, as any third grader can tell you, is a big fat F. In comparison, students at the KIPP Star College Prep Charter School at West 123rd "earned some of the highest scores in central Harlem on last year's citywide reading exams."

Additionally, the new schools go beyond significantly higher test scores. Harlem's new schools are providing a safe place for children to learn. The story told by a Harlem parent about the abuse her daughter suffered at the hands of other students really caught my attention. "QuYahni Lewis said that she gave up on elementary schools in Harlem when her 9-year-old daughter came home with bite marks and a pencil stab wound. "Every day there was another story about this bully or that bully. I found that there were really no good options here outside of paying for school. Where else are we going to go? What else are we going to do?""

With the success schools like KIPP are having, it's understandable that even the critics are seeking to enroll their children: "Robert A. Reed, the president of a central Harlem council of parent associations, said, "They've picked this population as a guinea pig district." But he also acknowledged that he entered his young daughter in a charter school lottery and she won a seat for next year that she may take."

Posted by Chris at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)