Harlem Salsa was started to fill a void, for a devoted community of mambo and cha-cha dancers. This was that mature group, who in the fifties, sixties and seventies made their way every week to the World famous Palladium, then the Corso or the many other venues to dance their stress away.
Gone are these days when you could pick up the newspapers and select what band(s) you wanted to see. On Wednesdays or Sundays, you had at the Palladium the two Tito’s, Eddie, Machito, or Broadway.
On any given Fridays or Saturdays, there was Mongo, Charlie, la Playa, Tjader, Ray, or a host of the best Latin bands (as we call them before ‘Salsa’) playing at one of the many New York City’s dance halls. By the eighties, most of the Latin (Salsa) venues dried up when disco become the new fad.
In the nineties, the place for us to go dancing was “Tony Rodriguez’s La Maganette” every Wednesday, After Work Salsa. This was the only popular weekly place for Salsa dancing. Other than that was event promoters giving big concerts, but no dancing.
There an old saying,” You don’t miss the water until the well goes dry.” Sometimes we take things for granted, and before you realize it, it’s gone by-by. It was a terrible day in July 2005 when this mambo community lost its safe and friendly dancing institution.
The club where we went every Wednesday to dance for over ten years closed down. For the next two or more years, the mambo (Salsa) community was in the loss looking for a place to dance. What was needed is a site equivalent to the standard set by the La Maganette.
The promoter tried but couldn’t find another establishment with the elegance of the La Maganette. So for two years, the community refuse to support venues, which was not up to par or taste.
Harlem Salsa History 2007 – 2011
A little history about how Harlem Salsa got stated at the State Office Building. Windows Over Harlem asks me to work on their public relations. They wanted me to create some buzz for them to get their name branded. The only problem they didn’t have the advertisement budget for the creation of newspaper ads and fliers.
My fee for service was too high for them, so I (Sami) created a trade-off that would bring Salsa to Harlem. It was a traditional agreement standard with owners and promoters. The club would control the bar and food, and the developer brings the people and get the revenues from the door. We supply the DeeJay and other support staff.
May 2007, Harlem Friday After Work Salsa started. Our Salsa event catered to a loyal, mature following of salsa dancer who wants a safe, enjoyable environment to dance. This age crowd isn’t leaving work, going home, and coming out again. The retirees want to be home by 12:00. I was one of them doing this after-work party routine for about fifteen years.
For two and a half years, every Friday Salsa event at the State Office Building was the place to be. The announcement in February of 2010of the closing of Salsa at Window brought grown folk to tears.
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Those five hours were very therapeutic for them. It was a safe place where they could relax and release their tension. So we were doing community service and developed a family-like environment.
With the closing of State Office Building in February of 2010, Harlem Salsa moved to Gospel Uptown Supper Club. A new venue across the street where promoters unsuccessful try to compete with us. Gospel Uptown had the looks of an elegant downtown supper club, but their high overhead was ripe for failure. It serves a short term proposed in keeping our events consistent.
Although Harlem Salsa had a promotional commitment with the Gospel Uptown for the rest of August. Their financial situation said that they wouldn’t be around.
So, in September of 2010, the State Office Building was available. Doing business with the new contractor was too dear to be successful. We did do a couple of events there, but the relationship was not profitable for each party.
“When one door closes, another opens.”
We were referred to ‘The Leather Lounge,’ a supper club with a catering hall on 128th Street. It was located on a dead-end street with a private parking lot. A promoter’s dream, no parking problems.
‘The Leather Lounge’ worked out perfect for all-party because their young people’s event didn’t start until 12 o’clock. Our Salsa event ended at 11 o’clock. The main thing we have going for us is that we are a low maintenance event.
February of 2012, Community Board closes ‘The Leather Lounge’ because the young people’s events got out of control, causing a problem in the community.
Conclusion: why we at Harlem Salsa was successful
For the eight years promoting Salsa, we cultured a following by being consistent in providing an event every week. When picking a venue like a business, its location, location, location. Conveniently accessible Street Parking and multi public transportation options.
Combine the above with a strong word of mouth network and social media outlets consisting of 2.2K following. Presents on FaceBook and an email listing of about 1.7K. The use of significant event websites such as; HarlemOneStop, SalsaNewYork, Welcome to Harlem, etc.
The above items make it easy for us to jump-start our salsa event in a matter of days without going through the traditional public relations campaigns (flyer distribution, newspaper ads, etc.). Each of our events averages around 150 to over 300 participants.
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