Sherman's BBQ in Harlem
An article for the Fork in the Road blog at the Village Voice finds one writer walking down 125th Street and being shocked (dismayed even) at the site of shuttered doors where once-venerated M&G Diner stood. If you remember, the eatery was shut down by orders of the Department of Health, resuscitated for a bit, and then closed down for good. The closure of such a gem in Harlem’s history coupled with a gruesome nightmare scenario led the writer to posit some interesting questions:
In fact, M & G was one of the last remaining soul food holdouts in Harlem, a beacon on West 125th Street that instantly evoked the history of the neighborhood going back to the Harlem Renaissance and beyond. There are only two or three of those old-timers that remain.
In the ensuing nights, I had a recurring nightmare that Katz’s on Houston Street – one of my favorite restaurants in the world – also closed. Overnight, a condo tower rose on the site. In one version of the dream, a place called Katz’s is installed in a ground floor retail space, but it looks like a fast-food joint on the Interstate, and the indifferent counterguys are slicing the pastrami and corned beef on slicing machines.
Why does it have to be this way? Why is our culinary birthright at the mercy of the whims of real estate developers? The city is quick to grant giant tax abatements and other goodies to developers, why not to restaurateurs?
Indeed, we need some sort of cultural landmark system that will forestall the decimation of our cultural treasures. If the city readily permits condo towers to rise over Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, destroying the low-rise character of the neighborhoods in the name of economic progress, why can’t we be allowed to retain a handful of restaurants that really matter?
While I am not versed in landmark jargon, I do wonder what other food eateries would fall under the same category. A couple automatic ones would be Lenox Lounge, Amy Ruth’s, Sylvia’s, and Showman’s. But how about the lesser mentioned establishments like Sherman’s BBQ. It has been in Harlem’s history for decades. Now there is only one location left. Or how about Famous Seafood on 145th and St Nicholas Avenue, the now-defunct Charles Southern Fried Chicken or Copeland’s. And Pan-Pan! My how I miss that place? At which point does the historicity of a business trump its economic viability? Would it be fair to preserve a business when the demand for its services or goods isn’t there? Since usually it is the physical building and its architecture that is designated as landmark status would it even be appropriate to apply that paradigm to businesses because of their historical context within the community? What other eateries/bars/lounges would you like to see preserved as historial landmarks?
Read the whole article here.
Simone
January 10, 2009
I guess so-called leadership has spoken on what’s important and it’s not small business. Ironically, small business employs almost 80% of all Americans. This country is a hot mess.
BLACK COTTON
January 10, 2009
I remember riding the #10 bus uptown from 59th st and when the bus hit 116th street, you could smell the Bar-B-Q from Shermans at 125th Street.