This upper Manhattan neighborhood is surrounded by the Harlem River, Cantral Park, Fifth Avenue, and other such neighborhoods, though the greater Harlem area encompassing several other neighborhoods and extends west to the Hudon River.

Originally a Dutch village founded in 1660 after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands, Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom and bust cycles. In the 1920's and 1930's it was the center for the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement. The area has been the birth of much of today's modern music, particularly R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Soul.

• Vinnie Mathews