Harlem's Historic Tree Of Hope

from youtube user EZWoodshed

The legendary lucky Tree of Hope in Harlem returned in a dedication ceremony on June 23, 2007 and all were invited to the festivities that followed hosted by Big Apple Jazz / EZ's Woodshed. Here are some images of the related Harlem jazz and tap scene that is at once vanishing and reemerging just as the Tree of Hope has been doing for generations of Harlemites. This is the 4th incarnation of the Tree including #3:Algernon Miller's sculpture (1972); #2 The stump of the original tree dedicated in 1941 by Bill Bojangles Robinson and Mayor LaGuardia on the median at the corner of 131st and 7th Ave (AKA Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.) The original tree was cut down in 1934, with one log surviving on the stage of the Apollo Theater where it was brought by Amateur Night host Ralph Cooper, Sr. The Copasetics Connection are responsible for petitioning the NYC Parks Dept. to replant the Tree of Hope in its (close to) original location. See it across the street from Big Apple Jazz at 2236 7th Ave. Shot by Gordon Polatnick.