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Spanish Harlem

By Janet Stilson
June/July 2007

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The cool, bright air of New York City hits a gigantic mermaid, stars, and men sprawling up a brick wall. The four-story mural, “The Spirit of East Harlem,” is one of several along Mural Row in Spanish Harlem. It resonates with Manny Vega, a lifelong neighborhood resident and an apprentice to artist Hank Prussing when he created “Spirit” in 1973.

“I came out of high school and asked Hank for a job,” says Vega, as he cuts bits of mosaic tiles in his studio. In 1997, when the paint started fading and peeling, Vega painstakingly restored the mural. “A lot of people in that image used to live in the building,” he says.

The murals splashed throughout El Barrio—the affectionate term for Spanish Harlem—attest to the area’s revitalization. Long gone are the tough times of the 1960s and 1970s, when many New York neighborhoods, including Spanish Harlem, were crime- and poverty-ridden. Now real estate prices are climbing, and locals grumble about creeping gentrification.

A thousand sensory experiences make the neighborhood fun to visit—from Reggaetón dancing to the aromas of food and perfume. To savor it all, you don’t need to hike the entire area, which runs from 96th Street to 125th Street along the east side of Manhattan. Nor do you need to spend a lot of money.

But it certainly pays to bring an empty stomach—and to wear comfortable shoes.

Begin your walking tour at Mural Row at the corner of East 104th Street and Lexington Avenue, down the street from the East 103rd Street stop on the Lexington Avenue subway line.

“The murals were done as a way to give a sense of pride to the community and a way to teach outside the classroom,” says James De La Vega, who created some of the murals, including a portrait of legendary Cuban singer Celia Cruz.

Tips

Download two self-guided walking tours—Focus on Fifth, Latino Lexington—and learn about free tours offered on Saturdays from mid-April to mid-October, at Eastharlemtourism.org.

Find cultural points of interest at Eastharlempreservation.org.

Learn about El Museo del Barrio at Elmuseo.org.

Call 212-860-8821 for information about Poetas Con Café events.

You’ll see some of that pride in a tiny gem nearby, the Modesto Flores Garden, which features Poetas Con Café’s open-air poetry jams on second Saturdays from June through September.

Across from Mural Row, Exotic Fragrances stocks more than 1,000 natural fragrances and essential oils. The same block—Lexington between East 103rd and 104th streets—also emits the aromas of Mexican eateries. Among the most notable is El Paso Taqueria (try the carnitas estilo Michoacán), a favorite of Carolina González and Seth Kugel, authors of Nueva York: The Complete Guide to Latino Life in the Five Boroughs.

Mexicans have become more of a neighborhood force over the last decade, the authors note. Before that, the “Spanish” in Spanish Harlem referred primarily to the large Puerto Rican community, which began gravitating to the area in the 1950s.

Just west of El Paso Taqueria, the Justo Botánica’s facade bespeaks the era when the shop was established—the 1930s—and carries everything from Jabón de tapa boca (Shut Up Soap), from Mexico, to incense to spiritual artifacts.

Walk a few blocks west to El Museo del Barrio, on Fifth Avenue across from the elegantly manicured Central Park Conservatory Garden. El Museo is one of New York’s leading Latino cultural institutions, and it boasts a great gift shop.

To enjoy more eye candy, walk north along Fifth Avenue and then head east on 106th to Park Avenue to the Graffiti Hall of Fame, lining the fences of a junior high schoolyard. Walk further east on 106th to view one of the neighborhood’s most beautiful buildings: the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center, a former school that houses the Taller Boricua art gallery.

The Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos, considered the patron saint of El Barrio, is the subject of a mosaic masterpiece by Manny Vega on the northeast corner of East 106th Street and Lexington. Vega calls his style “Byzantine hip-hop,” which marries the ancient art of mosaic portraiture with meaningful words—in this instance, de Burgos’s poetry.

Spanish Harlem’s cultural corridor runs along 106th Street, where Carlitos Café y Galería, just off 106th on Lexington, provides a performance space for neighborhood musicians and actors.

Among the best of the Puerto Rican restaurants, La Fonda Boricua, just past the MediaNoche gallery, dispenses with menus: ask for mofongo—mashed plantain with pork, chicken, or shrimp.

Continue up Lexington to bustling East 116th Street to fruit-juice stands operated by Mexican immigrants and the Casa Latino Music Shop, which González calls “an unofficial salsa museum.”

The corner of East 116th and Second Avenue boasts two fun cocina criolla restaurants—the downscale but yummy Sandy Restaurant and El Nuevo Caridad, adorned with baseball decor.

But in Vega’s opinion, the neighborhood’s culinary star is Itzocan Bistro, on Lexington Avenue at East 101st, which melds Mexican flavors with French technique. It’s not for the cash-poor, but “the saucier there—boy, he really knows what he’s doing!” Vega says.

As does the rest of Spanish Harlem.

Try our web exclusive recipe for mofongo!

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