amny.com33%
Harlem using history, art to drive business 12%
By Claude Solnik15%
8/1/2026, 6:00:27 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, Optimism Bias, and Begging the Question, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 20.7% saturation with 251 hits. Analysis detected 1,213 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,210 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 24.4% and a BS Rank of 12% (22,224 of 25,265 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 88.00% of the article peer group.
New York City officials united in Harlem July 31 to announce Manhattan grants to improve the public realm and shined a spotlight on a large Harlem mural, half map and half art, and far-reaching initiative funded in part by a previous grant.
The New York City Department of Small Business Services unveiled $1.5 million in Manhattan grants and more than $8 million to 96 grantees citywide.
They announced the grants near the 14-panel “Wayfinding” mural in Harlem completed in June with help of a $50,000 public realm improvement grant to the 125th St.
Business Improvement District.
NYC SBS Commissioner Kenny Minaya touted the program as investing in neighborhoods, as 125 th Street BID President and CEO Barbara Askins described their “Wayfinding” project as a crossroads between commerce and culture.
“This is what grant programs are designed to do, putting resources directly into the hands of community organizations and none of this happens without strong partners like the BID,” said NYC Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Kenny Minaya.
U.S.
Congressman Adriano Espaillat and Council Member Yusef Salaam celebrated the moment and recent 30 th anniversary of the more than 30-year-old BID as part of a new Harlem renaissance.
“125 th Street is what it is today, not just because of development or culture.
It’s because of all these things taking place over all these years,” Askins said.
“It’s great to have stores where you don’t have to leave your community shop, but you also want the experience.
And that is about the culture.”
The 125th Street BID, funded by 98 properties and 250 businesses, used a grant, supplemented by other funds, to mix culture and commerce, to create its “Wayfinding” initiative, using Harlem’s history and cultural institutions to attract visitors and income for businesses.
It’s designed to be the latest chapter for 125th Street, rezoned in 2008 from Broadway to Second Avenue and 125th to 126th Streets, to encourage mixed-use development, commercial growth and new housing.
The Wayfinding project, dubbed the “Harlem Main Street Passport,” uses art with a historic slant to attract attention to Harlem high points, its “character, history, and vibrant shopping experience through artistic expression.”
“125th Street is a major tourist attraction in the city.
It’s the culture, experience, food, music.
It’s easy to get to,” Askins said.
“You take the A train.
That’s a great song, but it’s the truth.
Take the A train from midtown and you’re in Harlem and it’s alive.”
Artist Paul Deo and the wayfinding emblem he designed Photo: 125th Street Business Improvement District
The event also celebrated more than 30 years of the 125th St.
BID, created in 1993, launching numerous programs to benefit those who live, work and invest in Harlem.
The BID’s Harlem Community Engagement Survey concluded culture can be a key to unlock economic growth, sparking the wayfinding project.
“We talked about all the city planning elements,” Askins said.
“The conversation always ended up back to history and culture.
We started looking at culture as a driving economic tool to grow 125th Street.”
Askins said they “wanted imagery that captured the culture to be displayed on street banners,” and “where retailers could put artwork on storefronts and property owners could put artwork in vacant storefronts.”
That included art for freight doors that “can become eyesores” which they saw “as an opportunity for canvasses for art.”
“It doesn’t just make sense for us to create directional signs,” Askins said.
“How do you tie the culture and life of the neighborhood into it?”
They held a contest for a Wayfinding emblem for the initiative, “Harlem Main Street Passport” to build Harlem’s brand and spotlight its “character, history, and vibrant shopping experience through artistic expression.”
“My creative mission is to continue Harlem’s legacy as a global center of art, intellect, and innovation,” emblem designer Paul Deo said in a written statement.
He added featuring “recognizable landmarks” such as the Apollo, Schomburg, Abyssinian Baptist Church and local markets “reinforces community pride while guiding residents and visitors through spaces that tell Harlem’s story.”
Art spotlighting historic people and places was put in streets on 62 banners, in window splashes and freight doors and an interactive online map.
“Stores have artwork created by local artists,” Askins said.
“We pushed the envelope to merge art into this.
We’re getting you to move through an experience.”
BID partners and local officials.
The mural’s the thing
The 14-panel wayfinding mural at Frederic Douglas Boulevard between 125th and 126th with a QR Code linked to an interactive map.
“The participants on the interactive map offer discounts,” Askins said of 16 businesses and institutions connecting commerce and culture.
“It’s about driving traffic as well.”
An image by “CultuREPreneur” Antonia Badon in a window splash at Settepani shows Harlem Renaissance figures riding the A train.
“These are things people relate to,” Askins said.
“You experience the Harlem Renaissance Here it is in words and images.”
Badon said her “work blends digital illustration, cultural history, and public storytelling,” using the A train as “symbol and structure, representing arrival, connection, and cultural exchange.”
Deo did art used as a window splash at Levels Barbershop, 425 W 125th Street, that Levels partner Larry Wilcon said stops “people in their tracks” and can “bring traffic in for people just to question or ask about the piece itself.”
Deo says the “Black barbershop has been one of the most sacred places in my life” filled with “conversation, laughter, disagreement, love, and mutual respect.”
Renovations in the works
The Apollo Theater, using two black box theaters, is renovating its main stage.
“They unveiled the marquis last month,” Askins said.
The Harlem Renaissance Marriott, formerly home of the Victoria Theater, preserves history and the past and houses two black box theaters run by the Apollo.
Steps in the hotel showcase names of Harlem Renaissance figures.
A green piano at that theater takes you back into the past.
“Some of the decor and artwork comes from the Harlem Renaissance,” Askins added.
“It’s like stepping back into time infused with the future.”
The National Black Theater tore its building down and is rebuilding.
The National Urban League moved its offices to Harlem, and is building a Civil Rights Museum on the corner of Malcolm X Boulevard.
Located in the same building as Trader Joe’s, Target and many other signature stores, the Civil Rights Museum could open by the fall.
“It’s very, very important,” Askins said.
“If you talk about preserving the culture, what better way than to have a civil rights museum?”
That’s in addition to Pandora Jewelry, Sephora, CAP USA, Native (a new West African restaurant), and Brasserie, a steakhouse that opened a few years ago.
Harlem Cycle, owned by an African American, opened a second location, in addition to one further uptown.
“Culture helped create smaller businesses,” Askins said.
“Go to a play, and you want to get something to eat.”
The wayfinding project, meanwhile, is designed to celebrate the present, future and past, making Harlem easier to navigate.
“You can see how 125th Street is a connector to the culture,” Askins said.
“We have great traffic.
People are coming.
We’re helping them not only look at the shopping, but also have the cultural experience.
It’s making it more user-friendly.”
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