Mr. John Isaacs chilling at Mr. Couch’s Uptown Express Women’s League in Harlem. I shot this photo in ‘07, and it is now very dear to me. Earlier last week, Mr. John Isaacs (1915-2009), one of the last remaining living members of the original Harlem Rens, passed on at the age of 93 years old. On Saturday, his funeral service was held at the Metro AME Church on 135th St. I’d been wanting to write something about my feelings for days, but I needed to do something first . . .

Today, I walked by the original Harlem Renaissance ballroom on 138th St. and 7th Ave. Once a tremendous structure housing the greatest Jazz legends one could imagine, it now humbly rests as what appears to be an abandoned, unattended building. In the 1930s, it was in these hallowed halls that Mr. John Isaacs cemented his Hall of Fame career. Read More »