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Friday, July 20, 2012

Sylvia Woods: "Queen Of Harlem" & Entrepreneur Extraordinaire: DEAD At 86! R.I.P.














Sylvia Woods dies: Sylvia’s was the first place that people thought of in Black America, the Rev. Al Sharpton says

Sylvia Woods was the definition of a pillar of the community. Not only did she build an institution that survived decades — it became a world famous meeting place.
Whether you went to take your family to dinner, or to summit meetings of black leadership, Sylvia’s was the first place that people thought of in Black America.

Other places served soul food, but it was the sweet matron persona of Sylvia Woods that made us all feel like we were home with mama — that kind of sweet personality that had more sugar than her sweet iced tea.

I remember when Sen. Barack Obama was coming to New York in 2007 to campaign in the backyard of Sen. Hillary Clinton and have a fund-raiser at the Apollo Theater.

He called me and said, “Let’s have dinner before we go to the Apollo to talk about how I see my race for President.”

I said, “Okay, where do you want to go?” He said, “Sylvia’s, of course!”
Sylvia met us at the door. And as we sat in the window, eating soul food and discussing politics and policy, she was putting napkins in our laps like a mother does for her house guests.

I had the same experience there with everyone from Caroline Kennedy to Puffy Combs. The world met at Sylvia’s.

Once you entered her door, there were no big shots or little shots — we were just all the guests of Sylvia Woods.



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Sources: NY Daily News, Youtube, Google Maps

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