East Harlem Pride Cemented

Videos: The East Harlem Target Opening

The official East Harlem Target opening took place on Sunday July 25 in the early morning. A long line of shoppers eagerly lined up on the second floor of the East River Plaza, and the first 5,000 lucky customers received reusable wheeled Target bags. Marshalls, Old Navy, Best Buy and Kidstown also opened at the East River Plaza on Sunday. Did you show up for the grand opening? What do you think of the new stores?



Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum at the Target East Harlem Opening




Matthew Washington, Chair of Community Board 11 of Manhattan at the Target East Harlem Opening



The Ribbon Cutting

Dresser Dreams

James De La Vega's furniture design.

Joy Burger Heads Downtown

Joy Burger, the home of the burger sauce, is opening up a new location. So, when you venture downtown, specifically to the West Village, you'll get to enJOY :) your favorite East Harlem burgers.

Joy Burger Bar West Village
361 Sixth Avenue
Opening Soon

Mouth of the Border Finds East Harlem's Best Tacos

A few weeks ago I met the fantastic food blogger Emily Cavalier of Mouth of the Boarder. She (and a few fellow foodie bloggers) had recent discovered some great tacos up in East Harlem.





Here's their taco tour:
El Aguila
136 East 116th Street
New York, NY 10029

El Paso Taqueria
237 E 116th St
New York, NY 10029

Cascabel Taqueria
1542 2nd Avenue (at 80th)
New York, NY 10075

Get all the details at Mouth of the Border.

Did they miss any great taco joints?

A Target Just for East Harlem

The East River Plaza Target will officially be opening on July 25, and the store will be adding touches that make East Harlemers feel right at home. The East Harlem Target will offer lots of Spanish language items, apartment-sized merchandise and 400 jobs for the locals. The store will also be the first to hold the Harlem Designer Collections with items by Isabel and Ruben Toledo, renowned designer Stephen Burrows, and chef Marcus Samuelsson. Here's some information about the collections from the Target press release:


The IsabelandRubenToledo for Target(R) collection marks the first time Isabel and Ruben have partnered on a retail collection. The collection includes a beautifully psychedelic swim assortment with suits and towels in cerulean blues; cutouts and asymmetry make bold statements on one-piece suits ($17.99--$34.99). The Stephen Burrows for Target(R) collection provides an unexpected assortment of knits that embody an urban-street aesthetic, shown in the zip-front pocketed hoodie dress ($19.99--$34.99). The Marcus Samuelsson for Target(R) collection offers a range of aprons, placemats, kitchen towels, potholders and napkins, and features a pleasantly surprising assortment of men's, women's and kids' tees which will only be available at the East Harlem Target store ($3.99--$19.99).



Each collection will honor Harlem while giving to the local Harlem community. Target will donate 5 percent of each product's purchase price to a non-profit of the designer's choice. The non-profit selected by the Toledos is El Museo del Barrio [http://elmuseo.org]; The Fund for Public Schools in support of the library at The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem [http://schools.nyc.gov/site/M610] by Stephen Burrows; and The Fund for Public Schools in support of the library at Harlem PS 180: Hugo Newman [http://schools.nyc.gov/site/M180] by Marcus Samuelsson.


Hat Tip: Levi

amNew York Features East Harlem

This post is a little late, but in case you missed it: East Harlem was featured in the City Living section of amNew York early last month. The section was written by one of this blog's first readers, Levi Gibian Fishman. Levi interviewed me for the story and included a quote from me, "The area feels real. It's the sort of area that I always imagined living in when I thought about living in New York City." The section covers some of the haunts you've read about in this blog and a few new places you should check out. Take a look at the full article in amNew York (PDF).

Great article, Levi!