He's Traveled The World, But Harlem Is Home

HARLEM, NY — Last year, Sebastian Modak may have traveled more than anyone else on Earth, crisscrossing the globe as the New York Times’s 52 Places Traveler and writing dispatches from the beaches of Gambia and the mosques of Uzbekistan.

When it was all over, though, Modak settled back down in Harlem, where he has lived for nearly four years with his partner. Since his return, Modak, 32, said he's been startled by the charms of his own neighborhood.

“I really started appreciating how physically beautiful Harlem is,” he said, alluding to the tulips blooming near Hamilton Grange and on the City College campus. Following the spring’s COVID-19 lockdowns, Modak said the nightly 7 p.m. cheers have helped him get to know neighbors with whom he’d had little contact before.

“I’d see them step out of their front door every evening to cheer and we’d wave and acknowledge each other and be like, cool, we’re still here,” he said.

Modak, who now works as a freelance journalist, recently wrote for the Times about exploring New York by bike while hunkered down in his apartment during quarantine. He spoke to Patch by phone from his Hamilton Heights home last week to share a few of his favorite places in the neighborhood.

Best place for a cheap bite to eat

There’s a few. One of my favorites is Charles’ Pan Fried Chicken (on Frederick Douglass Boulevard near 132nd Street). It’s super affordable but I think it’s the best fried chicken I’ve had in New York, by a long shot. I don’t know what Charles does down there, but whatever it is, it’s magic.

You get a two-piece and throw in some mac and cheese and collard greens, and you’ve got yourself a very filling and very satisfying meal.

Best outdoor place to relax for an hour or two

I’ve really come to love St. Nicholas Park. It’s close to where I live, which is partially where I’m biased. It’s on a slope, and that incline makes it perfect to lay down a picnic blanket and bring a book and take a nap.

That was a very common place for us to go when it started to become clear that we could be outside. We’d just load up a thermos with some white wine, bring some books and a portable speaker and set up on that slope. It’s also less popular than Morningside or Riverside Park, so there’s always plenty of room.

Best neighborhood bike route

One of the reasons I love living up here is how easy it is to get out of the city from here. My favorite part about biking in Harlem is it’s so close to the George Washington Bridge, and you can be out in New Jersey and into Rockland County in half an hour, 20 minutes.

And on the West Side of Harlem, how easy it is to get down onto the Hudson River Greenway. You’re basically on a straight-shot bike highway to Downtown and the bridges over to Brooklyn. People who are used to spending their time downtown or in Brooklyn think about Harlem as being very far, but between the express trains and [bike lanes] it’s actually strategically very well-located.

Best place to get a drink

I live close to a couple of bars — there's that row on Broadway of Harlem Public and At The Wallace, [which] has a great, divey vibe. I've had many a solo beer there, they give them to you in these giant, frosted mugs.

There's been a few recent destinations that have made Harlem a great destination for beer. Harlem Hops is a really cool spot and is run by some incredibly cool people. Between that and this place that just opened up in Hamilton Heights called Oh Craft!, you can get some of the best craft beers you can find anywhere in New York.

The place that made Harlem feel like home when you first moved in

There’s a tiny little storefront on Amsterdam [near] 144th: One Stop Patty Shop. It’s just one woman in there who makes these Jamaican patties that are delicious, and incredibly cheap. We lived around the corner from there when we first moved to Harlem and I’d often stop in, and the woman behind the counter was always really friendly when I’d show up multiple times in a single week.

When I went in there and got my same order every time, I started feeling like: this place is home and I could hang out for a while.

Place where you’d bring an out-of-towner (in non-pandemic times) to show them what Harlem is like

Bill’s Place down on 133rd. It’s touristy in a way, but it’s touristy for a reason. You’re going to see a lot of Europeans who have heard about it from some guidebook, but it’s really special. It’s in the first floor of a brownstone in Harlem. You go inside and it’s this guy Bill and his friends who just play jazz every weekend.

It’s a tiny little room, it seats maybe 20 people. You’ve just got this guy with his saxophone in your face blaring away. You bring a six pack from the bodega around the corner or a bottle of wine and pour it into plastic cups and watch incredible jazz. Bill’s partner is a neighborhood historian so you get a history lesson at the same time about all the jazz that has happened in the neighborhood and why it’s so significant.

The few times I’ve taken people there who don’t live in the neighborhood, they’ve been blown away that something like this still exists.

Place you wish still existed

There’s a place called Farafina that closed a few years ago. I only went once but they had this incredible jazz show and incredible West African cuisine. I was really sad when I found out soon after I went there for the first time that it closed almost immediately afterwards.

Best route for a stroll around the neighborhood

That’s one of the things we do whenever people make the big trip up to Harlem. We’ll often take them on a route around the neighborhood.

I think Convent Avenue is, if not the prettiest, then one of the prettiest streets in all of New York City. We’ll usually take them down Convent in the 140s, past Hamilton Grange, which a number of people don’t realize exists, through City College’s campus. We do a 20, 30 block loop centered around all the churches on Convent.

It’s always fun to see people’s reactions. They’re like, “We had no idea it was so pretty up here!” It almost feels to some people like they're in a whole different city.