2903 FREDERICK DOUGLASS B, #5A

Extending north from Central Park to Washington Heights, historic Harlem includes most of northern Manhattan. While several subway lines make it easy to get to all points south, Harlem can still feel like its own world — and it was long its own village, founded by the Dutch and named after Haarlem in the Netherlands. Despite its 17th-century roots, the area became famous at the beginning of the 20th century. The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance — the burgeoning of music, literature, and political activism from the 1910s to the ’30s — lives on at museums and the legendary Apollo Theater. In recent decades it has been experiencing a second renaissance, as historic brownstones are being restored, and 125th Street is once again the lively commercial heart of the neighborhood.