The East Village has for decades been one of New York City’s most vital Hispanic enclaves, and a thriving hub of latin culture. One need only look at Avenue C’s official designation since 1987, “Loisaida,” to get a sense of the Latin-American footprint in the neighborhood. The term “Loisaida,” a phonetic transliteration of the Spanish […]
Great Poetry Reading Day is celebrated each year on April 28. Poetry is one of humankind’s oldest art forms. In ancient times, prior to written alphabets and other forms of literary prose, poetry was used to convey historical facts, culture, and traditions from generation to generation. When written language was invented, poetry was one the […]
Native American poet Diane Burns was a luminous, integral fixture of the Downtown arts scene beginning in the 1970s until her death in 2006. Her poetic body of work contains achingly earnest descriptions of her personal experiences as a Native American woman to droll, prophetic indictments of early gentrification in the East Village. Born in […]
On September 15th began the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. This month coincides with many important dates, starting with the celebration of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in 1821. Additional events during the month include El Día de la Raza on October 12th. Translated as “Day of the Race,” this […]
Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated to recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans, runs from September 15th through October 15th. There is a reason for this oddly scheduled “month.” On September 15th, 1821, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua declared their independence from Spain. Mexico and Chile celebrate their 1810 declarations […]
Few places in America have made more significant contributions to civil rights and social justice struggles.
Over 2.4 million New Yorkers, or nearly one-third of its population, identify as Hispanic or Latino, including myself. National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) is one of many occasions that allows us to reflect on the impact that Hispanic and Latino residents and revolutionaries have had on our neighborhoods for over 400 years. Juan […]
In the second half of the twentieth century, particularly during the city’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s, the East Village experienced high rates of crime and drug use, and a number of its buildings were abandoned by private property owners and the city government. During this period, cultural and arts organizations began to repopulate these […]
Village Preservation collaborated recently on a major project with Google Arts + Culture. We put together tours of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo that highlighted the deep and rich cultural and artistic movements in our neighborhoods, one of them being Latinx History. With Google’s innovative technology and a voice-over by actor John Leguizamo, going through the Latinx tour on the Google […]
The tumult and unrest in the streets of Puerto Rico right now harken back to a time when many Puerto Rican New Yorkers were also agitating in the streets for long-overdue reform and change. One milestone in that history took place 50 years ago when several Puerto Rican activists gathered in the East Village to found […]
Good news, all Off the Grid-ers: we’ve made it to March! In addition to marking the near-end of winter, March is the month for two important celebrations – Irish Heritage Month and Women’s History Month. So central to the history of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, these subjects are near and dear to […]
“For the poor New York Puerto Rican, there are three survival possibilities,” the poet Miguel Algarin wrote in 1975. “The first is to labor for money and exist in eternal debt. “The second is to refuse to trade hours for dollars and to live by your will and ‘hustle.’ “The third possibility is to create […]
Puerto Rico is in our hearts and minds these days, both as the island continues to work towards a sustainable recovery after Hurrican Maria, and with the upcoming federal holiday named for Christopher Columbus. Columbus landed on Puerto Rico in 1493, which was already populated by the Taino people, whom the Spanish also referred to […]
Off the Grid is highlighting the 2016 Village Awards winners in the lead up to the June 14th Annual Meeting & Award Ceremony. Click here for more information about the event and to RSVP. Read about other awardees here. Today we look at Steve Cannon, poet and “keeper of the multicultural flame and flavor of downtown […]
Free Image from Creative Commons The Jones-Shafroth Act, which conferred United States citizenship upon residents of Puerto Rico and set the stage for the huge migration of Puerto Ricans to NYC following WWII, was enacted on March 2, 1917. In 1945, there were 13,000 Puerto Ricans in New York City. Within 10 years this number […]
On some level, whether it’s top-of-mind or just part of the mental wallpaper, the consciousness of a Greenwich Village lover is often occupied with mourning. You walk the ever-changing streets past the locations of the café you used to love, the bookstore you admired, the theater you always wanted to go to, or that mysterious […]
