El Barrio

East Harlem, now known as El Barrio by the locals, is the area between Fifth Avenue and First Avenue from 96^th to 125^th Streets. With its unique history that continues to this day, El Barrio surrounds the people with its unique colors, rhythms, and culture.

East Harlem was settled in the late 19^th century and was quickly filled by an influx of Italian immigrants when the transit lines connected the neighborhoods (Schulz). The main group of people to move into the area were the Southern Italians and Sicilians, making the area then known as “Italian Harlem,” and was the first part of Manhattan to be referred to as Little Italy (Schulz). By the 1930s, over 100,000 Italian-Americans lived in the over packed buildings of East Harlem, three times less than the Lower East Side’s Little Italy (Schulz). As of today, only Pleasant Avenue remains an Italian community (Schulz). This community still hosts the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, since this location was the first Italian parish in New York City (Schulz). They also host the “Dancing of the Giglio,” the first Italian feast celebrated in New York (Schulz). East Harlem had started as a home for Italian immigrants but had grown to be something new.

East Harlem had grown to become a home for many Latin Americans. After World War I, Latin Americans and Puerto Ricans started to move into the area around 110^th Street and Lexington Avenue (Schulz). This area became the original Spanish Harlem enclave (Schulz). After World War II, more and more Spanish-speakers moved in as Italians moved out, making all East Harlem into Spanish Harlem (Schulz). By 1950, Puerto Rican immigrants became the dominant group, with their population reaching 630,000 (Schulz). El Barrio, which translates to “the neighborhood,” became a secondary name for the community (Schulz). Today, the neighborhood remains primarily Latino, but hosts immigrants from Mexico, Korea, Dominican Republic, Haiti, China, Central America, and South America (El Barrio). El Barrio is a home for many people of many different backgrounds but has become a place known for its Latin culture.

El Barrio is the home of a diverse group of people. When talking about the book “Beyond El Barrio: Everyday Life in Latina/o America,” Carlos Sanabria notes how the book has a more nuanced portrayal of Latino everyday life in America. The book does not show the mainstream images of Latinos in the U.S. as either a threat to American way of life, or even as an embodiment of the American values of hard work, family, and patriotism (Sanabria). The book also does not show the concept of a “barrio” as an urban ghetto with social isolation, disorganization and moral decay (Sanabria). It highlights Latin barrios as a place that inspires innovative cultural production, motivates progressive political activism, and fosters a positive ethnic identity (Sanabria).  The book addresses the efforts of Latinos to create community, especially through the sharing of a common culture, and the attempts of more recent immigrants to maintain close ties to their countries of origin (Sanabria). There is even diversity with the U.S. Latino population itself, recognizing the differences in race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation (Sanabria). El Barrio and the Latin population hold together diverse groups of people with their shared characteristics.

El Barrio is a home for Latino art and culture. In 1969, Raphael Montanez Ortiz founded El Museo del Barrio with the help of Puerto Rican parents, educators, artists and community activists (Palacios). The museum was created in response to the demands of Puerto Rican parents, teachers, and activists who thought their children should be able to receive an education that addressed their diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultures (Palacios). In 1977, the museum moved to its current home on Fifth Avenue and 104^th Street (Palacios). When the museum was founded, it focused on the culture of the Puerto Rican community, but as the city’s Hispanic population grew, so did El Museo’s mission (Palacios). Its mission began to include other Latin American and Latino art and culture (Palacios). Just as the residents of East Harlem benefit from El Museo by getting an institution where they can learn about their own histories and culture, El Barrio also benefits from being in a location that is flourishing with the art and culture that it aims to teach about (Palacios). El Museo’s permanent collection includes pre-Columbian Taino artifacts, traditional arts, twentieth-century drawings, paintings, sculptures, and installations, as well as prints, photography, documentary films, and video spanning more than 800 years of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino art (El Museo del Barrio). The museum even makes the programs it holds for certain cultures more universalized in its themes, such as the Day of the Dead celebration that discusses topics everyone can relate to, such memorializing loved ones who passed away (Palacios). El Barrio had given its community a place to embrace their culture and art.

El Barrio is the home for many people in different classes of life. Over the past ten years, average sales prices in the neighborhood have nearly doubled, from $476,090 in 2005 to $885,099 in 2015 (Schulz). A major development in East Harlem is El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, a former abandoned public-school building that was transformed into 89 living units for artists and their families (Schulz). With rent as low as $494 per month or two-bedroom units for $1022 per month, PS109 says it’s saving the “cultural fabric of a small corner of Manhattan that’s starting to change quickly” by preserving its affordable housing (Schulz). The neighborhood remains significantly more affordable than most other parts of Manhattan, including diverse restaurants, different stores, and local attractions (Schulz). Within the community is the Urban Garden Center, a 20,000-square-foot outdoor garden, and La Casa Azul Bookstore, which sells unique art and books that celebrate Latino tradition and literature (Schulz). El Barrio has become an affordable home for many people who want to embrace their Latino heritage with others.

El Barrio is a place of diverse history and culture. With its origins in the late 19^th century as a place for Italian immigrants, it then grew into the home of a diverse Latino community. The people of the Latin community have many differences in different aspects of life, but they came together under a common culture to celebrate. The art offered by the community is unique, offering many different ways to learn about their history and culture. The neighborhood itself is affordable compared to most of Manhattan, allowing those who want to live with people of the same culture the chance to. Within New York, El Barrio offers one of the most culturally rich environments for the Latino population.