• Safe street advocates joined New York City Council Member Mark Levine at a vigil for Erica Imbasciani, the young woman who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Hamilton Heights over the weekend. They have been voicing their support for a redesign of Amsterdam Avenue between West 110th and 155th Streets for some years now. Changes would include a painted bike lane and turning bays for safer left turns. [Patch]
• Firefighter Michael Davidson, who died a year ago while fighting a blaze inside a Harlem brownstone being used for the movie "Motherless Brooklyn," was honored with a plaque at his former firehouse on West 143rd Street. [Daily News]
• A storied section of East Harlem–between Park and Pleasant Avenues and East 111th and East 120th Streets–is on its way to getting a spot on the National Registry of Historic Places. Lined with tenements, the area has been home to various waves of immigrants, from Italians to Puerto Ricans (hence its other name, El Barrio). [Gothamist]
• Hooray! Harlem's getting another "Cool Pool" this summer courtesy of the Parks Department. [amNewYork]
• "Nostalgia can be a sweet poison, but old traditions like Charles’ make New York worth living in," writes Reggie Nadelson in this paean to Charles' Country Pan Fried Chicken, a Harlem institution. [T The New York Times Style Magazine]
• Two of the apartments featured in this article about first-time home buyers in New York City are in, you guessed it, Washington Heights. [NY Times]
• Amateur Night, a mainstay at the legendary Apollo Theater, has been evolving as it tries to bring in new audiences. [amNewYork]
