Owen Levy says the social fabric has remained strong in the often-tumultuous 46 years he has lived in the neighborhood.
Owen Levy moved into his Harlem apartment just north of Central Park in the summer of 1979. “I never imagined that I would live here for 46 years,” he said. “That’s more than half my life.”
He found the place after responding to an advertisement in The New York Times. The rent-stabilized unit was cheap — $325 a month — and, more important, the landlord was kind.
“Her name was Ms. Brown and before I opened my mouth, she said, ‘You have the apartment — it’s yours.’ I guess I was in a suit and tie and she figured, ‘This is a good bet.’”
Ms. Brown was so kind, in fact, she reduced the rent. “She gave me a discount because I was going to do the renovations of the apartment,” he said. “She knocked off $25 so it was only $300.”
Mr. Levy’s early childhood was spent in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where his enterprising mother was a soda fountain attendant.
“We were one of the first interracial families on the block, and that was in the mid-fifties,” he recalled. “We brought down the neighborhood values, because we’re people of color. Back then when they were redlining the neighbors, because my mother was white, she was able to get a mortgage.”
