Harlem's Halloween is laid out on a list of street permits, and the hours on that list tell you how the day will go. On Saturday, the institutions open early and wrap up around dusk. The streets that stay closed into the night belong to block associations, and they hold the latest hours on the city's calendar.
For the fifth year, NYC DOT is turning Open Streets, plazas and other corridors into car-free Halloween spaces through its Trick-or-Streets program. The program exists to free up pedestrian space on what the agency calls "one of the busiest nights of the year for NYC's streets." Each Harlem entry on that list names the group that applied for the street, and those names are the real story of the weekend.
Who Applied for the Streets
Look at the Manhattan entries north of 110th Street and you find mostly neighbors. On Saturday, October 31, these groups hold the closures:
- Hamilton Terrace Block Association has Hamilton Terrace from West 141st to West 144th Street, noon to 11:59 p.m.
- Kings Court West 139th Street Block Association has the Strivers Row Halloween Festival on West 139th Street, from Frederick Douglass Boulevard to Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, 3 to 8 p.m.
- Convent Avenue Friends has Convent Avenue between West 143rd and West 144th streets, 3 to 9 p.m.
- Marcus Meets Malcolm has the West 120th Street Open Street, from Mount Morris Park West to Malcolm X Boulevard, 4 to 8 p.m.
Hamilton Terrace's closure runs until a minute before midnight, hours past any other Harlem listing on the calendar. West 139th Street is the block of rowhouses known as Strivers Row, and the people who live there run its festival. Two blocks of Convent Avenue around the 143rd Street corner sit a short walk from Hamilton Terrace. That puts two block-run closures within a few minutes of each other in the same pocket of Hamilton Heights.
This is a habit of long standing. The DOT list also includes the "15th Year Kids Halloween Block Party" on West 133rd Street between Seventh and Lenox avenues, run by residents of the block. It took place on Saturday, October 10, three weeks ahead of the holiday.
On West 120th Street, the program starts before the street closes. Marcus Meets Malcolm's own event page lists a Halloween celebration from noon to 6 p.m. with pumpkin carving. The DOT closure on the same block runs from 4 to 8 p.m. The two windows likely cover different things, the program and the closed street, so families coming in early should plan on the sidewalk and a block still open to traffic.
The Institutions Take the Daylight
The programs run by nonprofits, public officials and the state run earlier, and every one of them is free.
Harlem Grown opens the day. Its Halloween Festival runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the 134th St. Farm, 116 W. 134th St., with farm activities, Halloween crafts, a haunted tent, the group's Mobile Teaching Kitchen, and music. The page links to a registration form, but Harlem Grown's community events page says advance registration is not required and that its community events are open to all ages. If it rains, the festival moves to Sunday, November 1, at the same hours.
In East Harlem, two events overlap from 1 to 3 p.m. Trick-Or-Streets! at La Marqueta, 1590 Park Avenue, is listed under Councilmember Elsie Encarnacion & Partners. It offers trick-or-treating, face painting, bounce houses, slime-making, a photo booth, and a Bindlestiff Family Cirkus show at 2 p.m. The listing is free and has a "Reserve a spot" option. A few blocks south, Uptown Grand Central and the East Harlem 125th Street BID hold East 112th Street between the two sides of Park Avenue for the same two hours.
On 125th Street, HarlemWeen takes over the plaza at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building, 163 W. 125th St., from 4 to 7 p.m. The New York State Office of General Services lists Daniel Carlton as host and DJ Stormin' Norman on the decks. The program includes a Thriller dance tutorial, a magic show, stilt walkers, costume and dance contests, and free candy while supplies last. HarlemWeen is the latest of the institutional events, and it still ends before Convent Avenue or Hamilton Terrace reopen to traffic.
Community gardens fall in between. NYC Parks lists the Sugar Hill Hope Garden annual Halloween party and candy giveaway at 475 W. 152nd St., 3 to 8 p.m., free and run by the garden itself. Its hours line up with the block parties on Strivers Row and Convent Avenue.
Friday Gets a Head Start
With Halloween falling on a Saturday, part of the weekend moves to Friday, October 30.
Haunted Heights: Halloween at Morningside Park runs 3 to 6 p.m. on the North Lawn at 120th Street and Morningside Avenue. NYC Parks, Friends of Morningside Park, the Columbia University Space Initiative and the Zuckerman Institute are putting on music, crafts, lava-lamp making, and a chance to handle human and animal brains. Admission is free.
Two Friday street events come from long-running local organizations. The Brotherhood Sister Sol has Johnny Hartman Plaza on Hamilton Place, from Amsterdam Avenue to West 143rd Street, from 1 to 8 p.m. Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement has Macombs Place, from West 150th Street to Frederick Douglass Boulevard, from 5 to 9 p.m. Hamilton Place is a short walk from Hamilton Terrace and Convent Avenue, so the same corner of Hamilton Heights gets closed streets two nights running.
Saturday, Hour by Hour
Laid out in time order, the institutional events and the block events take turns:
- 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Harlem Grown Halloween Festival, 116 W. 134th St.
- Noon Hamilton Terrace closes to traffic from West 141st to West 144th Street. Marcus Meets Malcolm's program starts on West 120th Street.
- 1 to 3 p.m. Trick-Or-Streets! at La Marqueta, 1590 Park Avenue, with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at 2 p.m. East 112th Street at Park Avenue is open to pedestrians for the same window.
- 3 p.m. Strivers Row Halloween Festival opens on West 139th Street, Convent Avenue closes between West 143rd and West 144th, and the Sugar Hill Hope Garden party begins at 475 W. 152nd St.
- 4 to 7 p.m. HarlemWeen at 163 W. 125th St. The West 120th Street Open Street begins at 4 p.m.
- 8 p.m. Strivers Row, West 120th Street and Sugar Hill Hope Garden wrap up.
- 9 p.m. Convent Avenue reopens to traffic.
- 11:59 p.m. Hamilton Terrace's closure ends.
Near the top of its list, DOT warns that events are subject to delay or cancellation. The block events have no program pages with activity schedules, so the list tells you where and when, not what will be set up on each street. If you are building an evening around one block, check the DOT page again Saturday morning.
Where the Night Can End
One of Harlem's newest dining rooms sits a few blocks south of the West 120th Street Open Street. Eater New York reported that Kinne, an upscale Senegalese steakhouse from the team behind Africa Kine, opened on Monday, September 14, at 205 W. 116th St., at St. Nicholas Avenue. HarlemWeen ends at 7 p.m., while the uptown block parties run until 8 and 9. That leaves room for a later dinner after the plaza or the West 120th Street Open Street, without having to leave early.
If you own a home on Strivers Row, Hamilton Terrace or Convent Avenue, or are thinking about what a sale might look like there, The Kantha Team brings block-level knowledge of Harlem's rowhouse streets to that conversation. Schedule a Consultation whenever the timing suits you.
