James Van Der Zee established Harlem’s most in-demand studio, Guarantee Photo Studio, in 1916. At that time, the neighborhood was becoming the home of an emergent African American middle and upper class. As the Harlem Renaissance began to flourish, Van Der Zee fastidiously chronicled the neighborhood’s people, civic life, and celebrations. This photograph of a fashionable couple seated in a Cadillac in front of the brownstones on 127th Street confidently articulates their sophistication and affluence.