One of those new beer gardens is the modern and lively Bier International, the first return of a biergarten to Harlem, a Manhattan neighbourhood where beer baron Captain Fred Pabst opened a 1, 400-seat restaurant hall in 1900 to serve his eponymous brew.

BBC: The wiedergeburt (rebirth) of New York��s biergartens

North of Central Park, Harlem and other upper Manhattan neighborhoods are a relative bargain, but prices are rising quickly.

BBC: Living in: New York

Powell headed the Abyssinian church, the oldest black Baptist Church in New York from 1908 to 1937, and presided over its move from lower Manhattan to Harlem in the 1920s, where it grew to be a one of the largest congregations in the country with more than 7, 000 members.

WSJ: Time Runs Out for Historic Harlem Row House

The team conducted a review of alternative math programs, and Harlem Academy soon became the first school in Manhattan and one of the first in New York to use Singapore Mathematics in its core curriculum.

FORBES: An In-Depth Interview with Vinny Dotoli of the Harlem Academy

After a severe decline, development began again in Harlem in the 1990s, spurred by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone.

WSJ: Harlem Draws a Restaurant Crowd

Also under construction is the Second Avenue Subway that eventually will serve Manhattan's far East Side, from Harlem to the island's southern tip.

NPR: New York Expanding Nation's Biggest Transit Hub

"It was very significant that ... former President Clinton would have his office located here in central Harlem, " said Terry Lane, president and CEO of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone.

CNN: Harlem street jam welcomes Clinton to new office