One of the city's main thoroughfares, 125th Street, is undergoing a rather extreme makeover, with changes that are as major as Columbia's Manhattanville expansion and as minor as new retailers and restaurants opening next to the historic Apollo Theater. Photographers Isaac Diggs and Edward Hillel see it, too, so they turned their lenses onto the changing nature of Harlem's main drag, aiming to chronicle "one of America's great 'main streets' during a time of profound transition as Harlem confronts questions of urban flux, gentrification, the loss of cultural memory and the preservation of community." Think ads emblazoned with P. Diddy and the Nike swoosh, mounted above old-timey shops or on the sides of decrepit buildings. The history of this cultural epicenter (PDF!) spans from the the 16th century to a 2007 rezoning (PDF #2!). Sixty-eight images are gathered in a coffee-table book due out in December called 125th: Time in Harlem.
· 125th: Time in Harlem [official]
· Microhood Map: Mapping the Changes Coming to Harlem's 125th Street [Curbed]
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