1520 Sedgwick Avenue
1520 Sedgwick Avenue is an apartment building in the Morris Heights neighborhood in The Bronx. Recognized as a long-time "haven for working class families," the New York Times reported that it is the "accepted birthplace of hip hop.[1] After a long period of neglect and shady dealings in the 1990s and 2000s the building has been "highlighted by elected officials and tenant advocates as an emblem of New York’s affordable housing crisis." Senator Charles E. Schumer called the building "the birthplace of predatory equity," and Representative José E. Serrano, speaking of the building's recent purchase, called it, "such a visible building."[2]
History
The creation of the Cross Bronx Expressway uprooted thousands in the Bronx, displaced communities, and led to "white flight" due to lowered property values in its wake.[3] 1520 Sedgewick Avenue is located on the Expressway.
While hip hop first emerged in the South Bronx in the early 1970s, The New York Times has identified 1520 Sedgwick Avenue "an otherwise unremarkable high-rise just north of the Cross Bronx Expressway and hard along the Major Deegan Expressway" as a starting point, with DJ Kool Herc presiding over parties in the community room at a pivotal point in the genre's history.[4][5] Sources have noted that while 1520 Sedgewick Avenue was not the actual birthplace of hip hop- the genre developed slowly in several places in the 1970s- it was verified to be the place where one of the pivotal and formative events occurred that spurned hip hop culture forward.[6]
Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc, is credited with helping to start hip hop and rap music at a house concert at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on August 11, 1973.[7] At the concert he was DJing and emceeing in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue.[8]
In 2008 the building was sold to a real estate group that included Mark Karasick, a prominent real estate investor. After the United States housing bubble burst in 2007, a period of neglect and threats of forced evictions daunted residents,[9] and despite promises to the opposite, the building fell into decline.[10] In 2010 the city's Housing Development Corporation provided a $5.6 million loan to allow Winn Development and a new group called Workforce Housing Advisors to buy the building’s mortgage from Sovereign Bank for $6.2 million. Rafael E. Cestero, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said they supported the sale in order to help provide sustainable housing for working class families.[11]
See also
References
External links
- ↑ Borgya, A. (September 3, 2010) "A Museum Quest Spins On and On", New York Times. Retrieved 9/4/10.
- ↑ Dolnick, S. (September 6, 2010) "Hope for a Bronx Tower of Hip-Hop Lore", New York Times. Retrieved 9/6/10.
- ↑ Shapiro, Peter. Rough Guide to Hip-Hop, 2nd. ed., London: Rough Guides, 2005 ISBN 978-1843532637. p. iv
- ↑ David Gonzalez, "Will Gentrification Spoil the Birthplace of Hip-Hop?", The New York Times, May 21, 2007, retrieved on July 1, 2008
- ↑ Jennifer Lee, "Tenants Might Buy the Birthplace of Hip-Hop", The New York Times, January 15, 2008, retrieved on July 1, 2008
- ↑ Tukufu Zuberi ("detective"), Birthplace of Hip Hop, History Detectives, Season 6, Episode 11, New York City. PBS. Retrieved 9/3/10.
- ↑ Chang, Jeff. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. St. Martin's Press, New York: 2005. ISBN 978-0312425791. pp. 68–72
- ↑ Tukufu Zuberi ("detective"), BIRTHPLACE OF HIP HOP, History Detectives, Season 6, Episode 11, New York City, found at PBS official website. Accessed February 24, 2009.
- ↑ Dolnick, S.
- ↑ "A Building in Decline", New York Times. Retrieved 9/4/10.
- ↑ Dolnick, S.