Harlem

Harlem is where the Harlem Renaissance happened — the 1920s cultural explosion that gave the world Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, and a new idea of what American culture could be. That history is alive here. The Apollo Theater still books live shows. Abyssinian Baptist Church still has the best gospel service in the city on Sundays. The soul food restaurants are not ironic; they're the real thing.

**Walk:** Start at 125th Street (the main commercial spine) and the Apollo Theater. Walk east to the Studio Museum in Harlem (contemporary Black art). Head north on Malcolm X Boulevard to Striver's Row — four blocks of landmarked row houses from the 1890s that are among the most beautiful residential streets in Manhattan. Sylvia's Restaurant on Lenox Avenue for soul food lunch.

**What makes it special:** The cultural continuity. The Cotton Club is gone, but the jazz at Minton's Playhouse is still real. The church music on Sunday mornings is transcendent. Harlem is changing fast, but a lot of the soul remains.

**Eat & drink:** Sylvia's, Red Rooster (Marcus Samuelsson's), Charles' Country Pan Fried Chicken, Levain Bakery (Harlem branch), Harlem Shambles (butcher shop lunch).