Harlem is enjoying a new renaissance — an explosion of development. Harlem residents are also finding a new range of shopping options, as 125th Street, once known for its independent bazaars that offered anything and everything for sale, is now also home to uptown sites for chains such as Disney, HandM, and Old Navy. There’s easy access to retail from such beautiful architectural enclaves as Harlem’s “Striver’s Row,” which features townhouses — many with multiple fireplaces and to-die-for molding — designed by the famous firm of McKim, Mead and White.

More If you work in a Harlem office, you might find yourself rubbing shoulders with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who moved into a newly renovated penthouse space on the West Side in 2001. For play, Marcus Garvey Park, twenty acres at Madison Avenue situated between 120th and 124th Street, offers Harlemites playgrounds, a swimming pool and plays and concerts in the park’s amphitheater, home to the city’s Charlie Parker Jazz Festival every summer. You can catch the next star at amateur night at Harlem’s landmark Apollo Theather, an institution which launched the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Lauryn Hill. Less