• The new craft beer bar Harlem Hops, which debuted on Saturday, gives a starring role not just to small-batch brews but to Harlem itself. Among other signs that give props to the neighborhood is one that spells Harlem across the ceiling in big light bulb letters.
“It’s not just your regular-looking beer bar,” says co-owner Stacey Lee in a recent interview in The Undefeated. “We know that Harlem is one of the most recognized places in the world, so when people come to Harlem, we want them to think of Harlem Hops.” [The Undefeated]
• The film adaptation of In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony award-winning musical about a bodega owner in Washington Heights, is not only back on track, there's now a release date: June 26, 2020. [Page Six]
• U2 played an intimate, one-night-only concert at the Apollo Theater for SiriusXM subscribers on Tuesday. A review of the show on Stereogum features a handful of amateur videos from the concert that include the band playing "Angel of Harlem" and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," which Bono dedicated to Anthony Bourdain. Variety, in its own review, says U2 mesmerized, truly doing "something special." [Stereogum, Variety]
• There are ten days left to see the "Queenie" show in East Harlem featuring the art of Latin, Latin American, and Caribbean women from the permanent collection of El Museo del Barrio. Here's the New York Times on Alessandra Expósito's pink horse skull covered in crystals and other traditionally feminine decorations: "Such a concatenation of conventional gender markers can’t help but feel like irony, and inscribing the picture of a living animal on a gaudily decorated bit of its carcass seems like a bitter joke about the price of being a woman." [NY Times]
• This Harlem couple acknowledges there are pros and cons to their creative living space: Yes, they share a kitchen and bathroom with another apartment, but their studio has that unmistakable brownstone feel, including a charming old fireplace and a dark wood-panelled hallway. [Apartment Therapy]
• Here's your feel-good story of the week: Despite having to move out of her original Harlem home, one resident managed to hang on and find an affordable apartment in the neighborhood. “Harlem is not only a place, it’s a spirit, a feeling: the Schomburg Center, the Apollo Theater. I love the ambience,” she says. “You feel like you can get anywhere in the world from Harlem.” [NY Times]
