I usually save “roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” until at least late July or early August. But with the heat we have been experiencing, it seems as though there is no better time than the present to let it rip. Of course there have been the occasional rain storms, followed by a sudden drop in temperature, but who can forget the sweltering heat. Is it a sign of things to come?
Looking to cool off with a dip in the pool, hitting the tennis courts, playing that awesome game of spades or going for the 18 holes of golf were members and friends of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association at their fourth annual Theodore T. Jones Golf and Spades Invitational. However, the gang will have to look elsewhere to cool their jets because the outing has been postponed because of unexpected scheduling conflicts and thunderstorms, which were definitely enough to stop the show. A new date has been set for Oct. 2, so be sure to put in for that day off. The event has turned into a much-anticipated affair for both those who do and those who don’t.
As the saying goes, “When one door closes another one opens.” And so it applies to Chez Lucienne. Who knows what is going on behind the closed doors of one of Harlem’s favorite eateries? Meanwhile, you may need reservations to get into Catina, located on Lenox Avenue between 126th and 127th streets, which has been jam-packed since Day One. Also considered a new kid on the block, so new, it doesn’t have a name yet, is the new barber shop with a bar located on Fifth Avenue between 137th and 138th streets. Very attractive, well-lit and sparkling clean, you can tell it is a barber shop by the chairs, and a bar by the set-up that stands in the corner. But do they do press and curl?
Meanwhile, downtown never looked so good as Rush Hour Fridays at Gansevoort, 63 Gansevoort St. Fridays from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Gansevoort, located in the Meat Packing District between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street, has a continuous happy hour, hookah and food by Nadia’s Spice Kitchen. And what does Nadia have that Uptown doesn’t? The Café 63 bites menu includes crispy catfish and fries, sticky chicken on a stick with glistening emerald chimichurri fries, fried jumbo shrimp and fries with smoked remoulade, charcoal grilled street meat, rib eye, fries, drunken barbecue, sweet chili ginger, vintage jumbo shrimp cocktail with lime cocktail sauce and lemongrass remoulade, colorful skewered summer melons and pineapple with Aleppo chili and barbecue fries. Cocktails run the gamet from dark and stormy—dark rum, ginger beer and syrup and fresh lime juice; old fashioned—bourbon or rye, Angostura, sugar and orange peel; Swedish mule—vodka, lime juice, ginger syrup and ginger beer; cucumber infusion—vodka or gin, mint, cucumber, St. Germain, fresh lemon juice and sugar; spiced margarita—tequila, muddled jalapeno, Cointreau, lime juice and sugar; to the J. Cotter—light rum, club soda and splash of Coke. Music is by Rotating All-Stars.
Every month is Black History Month, when you celebrate the ups and downs and highs and lows of being Black in America. What better way to recognize one astounding individual than to pay tribute with a special postage stamp? This year’s individual was Dorothy Height (1912-2010), and rightly so. The tribute was done with a special dedication ceremony, held at the African Burial Ground, 290 Broadway, for the Dorothy Height United States postage stamp. Height had an illustrious life. Her stamp is the 40th stamp issued in the Black Heritage Series, and not a moment too soon.
Dr. Dorothy Irene Height was a true advocate for the civil rights of her race. While working at the Harlem Branch of the YWCA she had the good fortune to meet Mary McLeod Bethune and the then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She served as president of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., which was founded by Bethune, and president of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc., and she was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and 23-year-old John Lewis. Height is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Congressional Gold Medal (2004) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1994).
A woman of many talents and firsts, Height dedicated her life to civil rights. The first federal building in Washington, D.C. named after an African-American woman bears her name. How fitting then to have a stamp to go along
with the honor.
The event was hosted by the National Park Service, in collaboration with the Black Women’s Leadership Caucus, Inc., the United States Postal Service, the National Council of Negro Women and the Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections, and drew crowds from
far and near.
In case you didn’t know, the African Burial Ground National Monument is one of the most significant archaeological finds in U.S. History. The African Burial Ground is a 17th and 18th century cemetery that was rediscovered in 1991, when construction began on a federal office building in lower Manhattan. In 2003, the site was preserved as a national historic landmark by the secretary of the Interior and was later declared a national monument by presidential proclamation.
Until next week…kisses.