How to Read Does This Bus Stop at 125th Street? RTF

A Harlem transplant tours his own neighborhood on a double decker tourist busEvery half hour, writer and former Harlem real estate broker Richard Daub saw a red double decker tourist bus pass by his West Harlem apartment window. Having lived there for several years and becoming very familiar with the neighborhood, Mr. Daub became curious what the tour bus guides were showing these tourists and what the tourists wanted to see in Harlem. Of course on 125th Street there was the Apollo Theater, Harlem's most iconic symbol, but what else was there? It seemed that the real estate boom that made Harlem one of the hottest investments in New York City from the early 2000s up until the financial collapse of late 2008 did not lead to a local business boom beyond the Starbucks coffee shop that opened on Frederick Douglass Blvd. Most of the retail businesses on 125th Street continued to cater to the pre-real estate boom residents while ignoring the influx of new residents moving into the sparkling new condos popping up all over the neighborhood. Mr. Daub sold many of these apartments to the newcomers, many of whom were from outside of New York, including numerous foreigners who were not fully aware of the stigma that Harlem had to those who remember it being one of the most dangerous drug-infested neighborhoods in the city up through the 1990s. The outsiders saw lower prices for brand new condos near the north end of Central Park and easy access to midtown Manhattan, and they had money they were willing to spend in the neighborhood. And, despite the economic downtown, the city's tourism industry was still huge ($28 billion in 2009 during the worst economic downturn in a generation, and $32 billion the year before)—so it seemed odd from an economic standpoint that most local businesses weren't doing more to capture their business. Many of the new residents openly wished that there was more to offer than so many retailers selling low end apparel and electronics on 125th Street, but the challenge of that would be to introduce new local businesses without pricing out all the old-timers and allowing the neighborhood to become a victim of the total gentrification that so many of New York City's neighborhoods had already experienced during the last couple of decades. From a real estate broker's perspective, Mr. Daub was aware of and understood the undercurrent of resentment from people who were worried about being priced out of their own neighborhood. However, from the standpoint of local business owners, it didn't make sense that they weren't doing even just a little more to attempt capturing some of the busloads of outside money that were passing right by their front doors before they turned and headed back downtown. Only one business—Madame Alexander's Doll Gallery and Gift Shop in West Harlem, which was far off the beaten path from the heart of 125th Street—was attempting to take advantage of this opportunity.So, what did modern Harlem look like to an outsider? This is what Mr. Daub and Harlem World magazine sought to discover and reveal in January 2010 when Mr. Daub arranged a ride on Gray Line's "Uptown Loop" that took tourists through the heart of Harlem on 125th Street. Normally New Yorkers scoff at the tourists who ride these buses and clog the streets of Times Square, but Mr. Daub was willing to spend a couple of hours among the ones who were willing to spend $44 a head to see what they saw as they rode through his adopted neighborhood and write this essay that Harlem World published with the intention of sparking a conversation among local business groups, civic leaders, and elected officials."Does This Bus Stop at 125th Street?"Essay9,073 Words44 Pages