#The dapper dans crack

A simple trip to Sylvia’s, an iconic restaurant located around the corner from the Dapper Dan of Harlem boutique, could take an hour to get to because of all of the hands to shake and hugs to give along the way. He embraces the attention, and his dedication to the community does not go unnoticed. We keep it moving, and immediately, at least three separate times, we are stopped by fans.

#The dapper dans crack

People you would never imagine, I could have got this building for $65,000 but the crack dealers who owned it wouldn’t move out.” I used to sit out in front of my store and watch some of the most beautiful people you could imagine going up into here, the crack spot, before they would go to work,” Day says. “Did you know that Madonna performed there when she started out? And Bobby Brown and New Edition when they started out? And that Dapper Dan performed there when he started out?” He laughs.Īs we pass the original Dapper Dan boutique that opened in 1982, we stop at a totally nondescript door on 125th. And beneath that was the famous club, The Celebrity Club In Harlem,” he reveals. He sold it to the guy that I rented from. “The building I was in originally was owned by Babatunde Olatunji, a black African drummer. I’m walking through it and living it and not realizing it,” Day says. “I saw the jazz age, the Afro-Latino age, the Calypso age, the musical genres that kept developing.