Posted August 1, 200717 yr I just got this off a DJ list I'm on. But this is now typical of NYC, where the old established stores are being replaced by generic malls for tourists and newly moved residents... News article on eviction: Harlem icon sings blues Impresario, 90, facing eviction STAND UP HARLEM! STAND WITH HARLEM! Protest the Corporate Take Over of Harlem Rally and Demo for Bobby's Happy House Protest the Eviction of Harlem's First Black-Owned Business on 125th Street Friday, August 3, 2007 5 PM to 7 PM 2337 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (Between 125th & 126th Streets) Legendary record producer Bobby Robinson, now 90 years of age, opened Bobby's Record House, the first Black-owned business on 125th Street, in 1946. Robinson, a prominent African American independent record producer established six record labels between 1952 and 1962, Red Robin Records, Whirlin' Disc Records, Fury Records, Everlast Records and Enjoy Records. Robinson produced numerous million-selling records by such notable performers as Wilbert Harrison, the Shirelles, Lee Dorsey, Elmore James, Dave "Baby" Cortez, and Gladys Knight & the Pips' first hit, "Every Beat of My Heart." Years before Russell Simmons and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Bobby Robinson's Enjoy Records was the first hip-hop label. In 1979, he released "Superrappin'" by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Robinson went on to record other first-generation hip-hop artists including Pumpkin & Friends, the Funky Four + One More, Spoonie Gee, and the Treacherous Three (featuring Kool Moe Dee). Bobby Robinson also produced Doug E. Fresh's "Just Having Fun (Do The Beatbox)," the song that introduced beatboxing on record. At issue is whether or not Bobby's Happy House and other local Black businesses can remain in the "Harlem Has Arrived" corporate takeover of the world renowned community once called the "Black Mecca" in the US. For sure, the subsidized corporation takeover of Harlem is moving full speed ahead with the complicity of presidential hopeful Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Board of Trustees of Columbia University, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone and elected officials.
August 3, 200717 yr You would have thought it would be made into a 'working' museum at the least. Next the Appollo will go. The reality is that real estate value in Manhattan is as high as its buildings, so sentiment wont buy much time. As Edwin Starr(RIP) once sang 'Aint it hell up in Harlem' - coming true I think for Bobby Robinson. Ed
August 4, 200717 yr Not to quibble, but as great as Bobby's is, I bet it wasn't the first black-owned business on 125th street. I believe the first black - owned businesses in Harlem were created around the 1890's, not long after Harlem was first developed. By the 1920's, Harlem not only was home to many successful black business men, but also the first black business women millionaires (e.g. A'Lelia Walker) ... Independent free black businessmen have been a part of the New York scene since at least the early 1700's ....
August 6, 200717 yr In historical terms, the shop may have been the first black-owned on 125th Street during the Harlem Renaissance. But I seriously doubt that is ture. Before the subway was built, the area was mostly German/Eastern European Jewish. The business owners remained as many blacks moved out of the horribly decrepit conditions in Chelsea to the new apartments in Harlem. Wikipedia's article on Harlem explains in more detail.
I just got this off a DJ list I'm on. But this is now typical of NYC, where the old established stores are being replaced by generic malls for tourists and newly moved residents...
News article on eviction: Harlem icon sings blues Impresario, 90, facing eviction
STAND UP HARLEM! STAND WITH HARLEM!
Protest the Corporate Take Over of Harlem
Rally and Demo for Bobby's Happy House
Protest the Eviction of Harlem's
First Black-Owned Business on 125th Street
Friday, August 3, 2007
5 PM to 7 PM
2337 Frederick Douglass Blvd.
(Between 125th & 126th Streets)
Legendary record producer Bobby Robinson, now 90 years of age, opened
Bobby's Record House, the first Black-owned business on 125th Street,
in 1946. Robinson, a prominent African American independent record
producer established six record labels between 1952 and 1962, Red
Robin Records, Whirlin' Disc Records, Fury Records, Everlast Records
and Enjoy Records. Robinson produced numerous million-selling records
by such notable performers as Wilbert Harrison, the Shirelles, Lee
Dorsey, Elmore James, Dave "Baby" Cortez, and Gladys Knight & the
Pips' first hit, "Every Beat of My Heart."
Years before Russell Simmons and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Bobby
Robinson's Enjoy Records was the first hip-hop label. In 1979, he
released "Superrappin'" by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.
Robinson went on to record other first-generation hip-hop artists
including Pumpkin & Friends, the Funky Four + One More, Spoonie
Gee, and the Treacherous Three (featuring Kool Moe Dee).
Bobby Robinson also produced Doug E. Fresh's "Just Having Fun (Do The
Beatbox)," the song that introduced beatboxing on record.
At issue is whether or not Bobby's Happy House and other local Black
businesses can remain in the "Harlem Has Arrived" corporate takeover
of the world renowned community once called the "Black Mecca" in the
US. For sure, the subsidized corporation takeover of Harlem is moving
full speed ahead with the complicity of presidential hopeful Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, the Board of Trustees of Columbia University, the
Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone and elected officials.