The New York City neighborhood of East Harlem, now known as El Barrio, has been the first stop for many immigrants over the decades. I recently took an early morning walk through part of El Barrio to enjoy some of its original architecture.
East Harlem developed as the first train lines were built during the second half of the 19th century. Between WWI and WWII, the area was the landing place for mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants. They built businesses, churches and synagogues. After WWII, the children of these families used their GI benefits to go to college, and to buy homes in the outer boroughs and suburbs of New York. So by the 1950s there were plenty of apartments ready for the “great migration” of Puerto Ricans. They moved into the area, which was close to jobs in lower Manhattan, and which came with the Catholic infrastructure already in place. So East Harlem became known as “Spanish Harlem,” or, to the people who lived there, El Barrio—The Neighborhood.
El Barrio, like many working class neighborhoods in large cities, went through tough times in the 1970s. Landlords abandoned buildings. The government eyed the area for “urban renewal.” By the 1990s, just like with earlier immigrant families, the younger generation took advantage of educational opportunities, and started to move out of El Barrio. The next wave of immigrants moved in. Mostly from Mexico, they found a place that already had an infrastructure in their native language, and rents that were reasonable.
Today, El Barrio carries the remnants of all these populations. Buildings that originally served as synagogues are now Spanish language Pentecostal churches. There are still some classic Italian restaurants in the area. Bodegas sell Mexican food alongside their Caribbean selections. Many Puerto Ricans still live in the area, and families return all the time to celebrate their history of arts, culture and food. El Barrio is still a hub of Puerto Rican life in New York City.
El Barrio stretches from East 96th street north to 125th Street, from 5th Avenue east to Pleasant Avenue. There is a lot to see and many great places to eat.
