Harlem burgeons as an art gallery district

The neighborhood is still a long way from replacing Chelsea or Brooklyn as the epicenter of the city's art scene, but Harlem is now home to about a dozen galleries and in the fall, two more big-name galleries are slated to open.

The Elizabeth Dee Gallery will occupy a two-story building that is next door to the National Black Theatre and two blocks east of the Studio Museum.

The newest addition, the Clara Francis Gallery, came about after area artists, curators and the community urged Rubie's father, Bernardo, to mount a solo exhibition of his son's works.

Some of those changes have unnerved long-time residents of Harlem, who worry that the wave of gentrification will make the neighborhood unaffordable and ultimately erode its historic place as a center of black culture.