Harlem: the heart of it
125th Street, the Apollo, the Schomburg, and Striver's Row — the capital of Black America, walked with respect. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. The Apollo Theater
The marquee on 125th Street that launched Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and most of the rest. Amateur Night still runs on Wednesdays, as it has since 1934 — the same crowd that made and unmade careers. Stand under the sign; the names on the wall of fame do the rest.

2. The Studio Museum in Harlem
The museum that took artists of African descent seriously before the rest of the art world caught up — Harlem-based, and the launching pad for a generation of major painters. Check whether it's reopened in its new building before you go; the collection is worth timing a visit around.

3. 125th Street
The main artery — gospel record shops, the street vendors, the churches between the storefronts. This is a working high street, not a set; walk it the way you'd walk any neighbourhood's main street, paying attention and keeping out of the way. The soul-food tables are along here and the side streets.

4. Marcus Garvey Park
Twenty acres on a rock outcrop, named for the Pan-African leader. The cast-iron fire watchtower at the top is the last of its kind in the city. The Mount Morris brownstone blocks around the park are some of the handsomest housing in Harlem.

5. Striver's Row
West 138th and 139th between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass — three blocks of 1890s rowhouses so elegant that the Black professionals who 'strove' to live here gave the streets their name. The original 'Walk Your Horses' sign still hangs in one of the rear alleys. Quiet, residential; walk it gently.

6. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The research library that is, more than any single place, the memory of Black America — Langston Hughes's ashes are interred in the floor of the lobby. Free to go in and see the rotating exhibition. A fitting end before the 135th Street train.

Harlem: the heart of it