Spanish Harlem Totally Explained

Everything about East Harlem totally explained

Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio and East Harlem, is a low income neighborhood in Harlem area of New York City, in the north-eastern part of the borough of Manhattan. Spanish Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, and still harbors a small Italian American population along Pleasant Avenue. However, since the 1950s it has been dominated by residents of Puerto Rican descent, sometimes called Nuyoricans. The neighborhood boundaries are Harlem River to the north, the East River to the east, East 96th Street to the south, and 5th Avenue to the west. The neighborhood is part of Manhattan Community Board 11. The primary business hub of Spanish Harlem has historically been East 116th Street from 5th Avenue headed east to its termination at the FDR Drive. The area is patrolled by both the 23rd Precinct located at 162 East 102nd Street and the 25th Precinct located at 120 East 119th Street.

Demographics

Spanish Harlem has a population of 117,743 as of the 2000 US census. For decades East Harlem has been one of the poorest communities in the United States of America. Almost half the population lives below the poverty line and receives public assistance (AFDC, Home Relief, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid). Over 25% of the population resides in units managed by the NYCHA. East Harlem has one of the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in all of New York City. The vast majority of units in Spanish Harlem are renter occupied.

History

The construction of the elevated transit to Harlem in the 1880s urbanized the area, precipitating the construction of apartment buildings and brownstones. Harlem was first populated by German immigrants, but soon after Irish, Italian, Lebanese and Russian Jewish immigrants began settling in Harlem. In East Harlem, Southern Italians and Sicilians soon predominated and the neighborhood became known as Italian Harlem, the Italian American hub of Manhattan. Puerto Rican immigration after the First World War established an enclave at the western portion of Italian Harlem (around 110th Street and Lexington Avenue), which became known as Spanish Harlem. The area slowly grew to encompass all of Italian Harlem as Italians moved out and Latinos moved in in another wave of immigration after the Second World War.
   In the 1920s and early 1930s, Italian Harlem was represented by future Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress, and later by Italian-American socialist Vito Marcantonio. Italian Harlem lasted in some parts into the 1970s in the area around Pleasant Avenue. It still celebrates the first Italian feast in New York City, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Some remnants of Italian Harlem, such as Rao's restaurant, started in 1896, and the original Patsy's Pizzeria which opened in the 1930s, still remain.
   Spanish Harlem was one of the hardest hit areas in the 1960s and 1970s as New York City struggled with deficits, race riots, urban flight, drug abuse, crime and poverty. Tenements were crowded, poorly maintained and frequent targets for arson. The area still has some of the worst problems with poverty, drug abuse and public health in New York City. Latin Kings are extremely prevalent in Spanish Harlem. However, like the rest of New York, it has enjoyed a resurgence in terms of construction in the past two decades.
   With the growth of the Latino population, the neighborhood is expanding. It is also home to one of the few major television studios north of midtown, Metropolis (106th St. and Park Ave.), where shows like BET's 106 & Park and Chappelle's Show have been produced. The major medical care provider to both East Harlem and the Upper East Side is the Mount Sinai Hospital, which has long provided tertiary care to the residents of Harlem. Many of the graduates of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine make careers out of East Harlem public health initiatives including the battle against asthma, diabetes, unsafe drinking water, lead paint and infectious disease.
   Many famous artists have lived and worked in Spanish Harlem, including the renowned timbalero Tito Puente (110th Street was renamed “Tito Puente Way”), Jazz legend Ray Barretto and one of Puerto Rico’s most famous poets, Julia de Burgos among others. Piri Thomas wrote a best-selling autobiography titled, "Down These Mean Streets" in 1967.
   The Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts serves as a focus for theatre, dance, and musical performance in the neighborhood, as well as its hosting the annual competition to award the Charlie Palmieri Memorial Piano Scholarship, a scholarship established in Palmieri's memory by Tito Puente for the benefit of intermediate and advanced young (12-25) pianists' study of Latin-style piano. El Museo del Barrio, a museum of Latin American and Caribbean art and culture is located on nearby Museum Mile and endeavors to serve some of the cultural needs of the neighboring community. There is a diverse collection of religious institutions within the confines of East Harlem: from mosques, a Greek Orthodox monastery, several Roman Catholic churches, including Holy Rosary Parish-East Harlem, and a traditional Russian Orthodox church.
   Despite the moniker of "Spanish Harlem" or "El Barrio," the region is now home to a new influx of immigrants from around the world. Yemeni merchants, for example, work in bodegas alongside immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Italians live next to the influx of Central and South American immigrant populations. Other businessmen and local neighbors can be Korean, Chinese or Haitian in origin. The rising price of living in Manhattan has also caused increasing numbers of young urban professionals, mainly Caucasians, to move in and take advantage of the inexpensive rents, relative to the adjacent neighborhoods of Yorkville and the Upper East Side.

Social Problems

Many social problems associated with poverty from crime to drug addiction have plagued the area for some time. Despite crime declines versus their peaks during the crack and heroin epidemics violent crime continues to be a serious problem in the community. Spanish Harlem has significantly higher drop out rates and incidents of violence in its schools. Students must pass through metal detectors and swipe ID cards to enter the buildings. Other problems in local schools include low test scores and high truancy rates. Drug addiction is also a serious problem in the community. Many households in the area are headed by a single mother which contributes to the high poverty rate. Many of the families living in Spanish Harlem have been in poverty for generations. The incarceration rate in the area is also very high. Many if not most males in the community have been arrested at some point in their lives. This has a direct correlation to aggressive policing tactics including "sweeps" due to the area's high crime rate. Spanish Harlem is home to a significant number of inmates currently held in New York state prison and jail facilities. With a decrease in affordable housing, homelessness has become a worsening problem. Many families double or triple up in a single apartment, relocate to other neighborhoods, or leave the city completely.

Urban Renewal

After a wave of arson ravaged the low income communities of New York City throughout the 1970's and "planned shrinkage" policies, many of the residential structures in Spanish Harlem were left seriously damaged or destroyed. By the late 1970's, the city began to rehabilitate many abandoned tenement style buildings and designate them low income housing.

Gentrification

In recent years, property values in Spanish Harlem have climbed along with the rest of the Manhattan and the metro area. Many people priced out of more affluent sections of the city have begun to look at Spanish Harlem as an up and coming area due to the neighborhood's proximity to Manhattan's core and subway accessibility. With increased market rate housing, including luxury condos and co-ops, there has been a severe decline of affordable housing in the community. White non-Hispanic young professionals have settled in the newly constructed buildings. Many believe that Spanish Harlem real estate developers hoping for a wave of gentrification, wish to displace current low income and long time residents. This has created tension in the community.

Land Use and Terrain

Spanish Harlem is dominated by public housing complexes of various types. There is a high concentration of older tenement buildings between these developments. Newly constructed apartment buildings have been constructed on vacant lots in the area. The neighborhood contains the highest geographical concentration of low income public housing projects in the United States. The total land area is 2.2 square miles.

Low Income Public Housing Projects

There are twenty-two NYCHA developments located in Spanish Harlem.

335 East 111th Street; one, 6-story building.
East 120th Street Rehab; one, 6-story rehabilitated tenement building.
East River Houses; ten buildings, 6, 10 and 11-stories tall.
Edward Corsi Houses; one, 16-story building.
Gaylord White Houses; one, 20-story building.
George Washington Carver Houses; 13 buildings, 6 and 15-stories tall.
Governor Dewitt Clinton Houses; six buildings, 9 and 18-stories tall.
Jackie Robinson Houses; one, 8-story building.
James Weldon Johnson; ten, 14-story buildings.
Lexington Houses; four, 14-story buildings.
Metro North Plaza; three buildings, 7, 8, and 11-stories tall.
Metro North Rehab; seventeen, 6-story rehabilitated tenement buildings.
Milbank-Frawley; two rehabilitated tenement buildings 5 and 6-stories tall.
Park Avenue-East 122nd, 123rd Streets; two, 6-story buildings.
President Abraham Lincoln; fourteen buildings, 6 and 14-stories tall.
President George Washington Houses; fourteen buildings, 12 and 14-stories tall.
President Thomas Jefferson Houses; eighteen buildings, 7, 13 and 14-stories tall.
President Woodrow Wilson Houses; three, 20-story buildings.
Senator Robert A. Taft; nine, 19-story buildings.
Senator Robert F. Wagner, Sr.; twenty-two buildings, 7 and 16-stories tall.
U.P.A.C.A. (Upper Park Avenue Community Association) Site 6; one, 12-story building.
U.P.A.C.A.. (Upper Park Avenue Community Association) U.R.A. Site 5; one, 11-story building.

Further Information

Get more info on 'East Harlem'.

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