Beyond the silver screen: a look at the vibrant history of Harlem’s Black film scene
Beyond the silver screen: a look at the vibrant history of Harlem’s Black film scene Isai Soto / Staff Illustrator While Harlem’s film history began in black and white, the stories that come out of the neighborhood are as colorful and eclectic as their ever changing community.
It only takes a stroll through the neighborhood to understand film’s place in Harlem’s history. The Jets of 1961′s “West Side Story” patrolled 110th Street, Denzel Washington’s titular character hung out at the now-defunct Lenox Lounge in 1992′s “Malcolm X,” and the quirky Tenenbaum family resided at a house on the corner of 144th Street and Covenant Avenue in “The Royal Tenenbaums.” A walk around the 125th Street area holds both the grand past of Harlem film and present-day big-name cinema with the remains of the Loew’s Victoria Theater and the current AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9.