El Barrio in the 21st Century

August 27, 2013 12:02 PM by Ed Morales

For my family, East Harlem, or Spanish Harlem/El Barrio was the core community that defined being Puerto Rican in New York. My parents met in the neighborhood after migrating from different towns in Puerto Rico, and much of our extended family lived there at one time or another. They shopped in a food market called La Marqueta on Park Avenue, and on Saturday nights they danced at the Park Palace on 5^th. Tito Puente was born and raised on 110^th Street, and Spanish was spoken everywhere on ...

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