The Bronx is a cultural forge, a place where legends are made. The 1970s were hard, but the Bronx is beautiful now. Hip hop and New York salsa on2 are from here. Latin jazz passed through.
Latin Culture in The Bronx
La India, “La Princesa de la Salsa” Sings for Mother’s Day
LEHMAN CENTER, Jerome Park, The Bronx 🇵🇷
Anthony Blackwell Casa de Tango Explores the African Origins of Argentine Tango at the New Bronx Music Hall
BRONX MUSIC HALL ~ Tango’s African and Spanish Flamenco connections 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇪🇸
BALANCE ARTS CENTER, Chelsea, Manhattan, Tuesdays and 4th Saturdays
CENTRAL PARK, Manhattan ~ Casa de Tango, June-September Thursdays
Pregones/PRTT is Two Puerto Rican Community Theaters In One
PRTT ~ Nuyorican Poets Cafe Monthly Grand Slam 🇵🇷
PRTT ~ “The Desire of the Astronaut” Puerto Rican science fiction play 🇵🇷
PRTT ~ Teatro SEA’s “The Crazy Adventures of Don Quixote” (Las locaventures de Don Quijote) puppet theatre 🇵🇷
CONCOURSE, The Bronx (Pregones)
HELL’S KITCHEN, Manhattan (PRTT)
Teatro SEA Takes Ricitos & the 3 Bears on Tour to Hostos Center
HOSTOS CENTER, Mott Haven, The Bronx
Ricitos y Los 3 Ositos (Ricitos and the 3 Bears), a bilingual Goldilocks 🇵🇷
PUERTO RICAN TRAVELING THEATER, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Las Locaventuras de Don Qujote (The Crazy Adventures of Don Quixote) 🇵🇷
CLEMENTE CENTER, Lower East Side, Manhattan (touring in 2024)
Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band; Featuring Antoinette Montague, Jennifer Jade Ledesna, and Janis Siegal; Plays Jazz at the Brand New Bronx Music Hall
BRONX MUSIC HALL, Melrose, The Bronx 🇵🇷
New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays, Major League Baseball at Yankee Stadium
YANKEE STADIUM, Concourse, The Bronx 🇺🇸 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇭 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇳🇮 🇵🇷 🇻🇪
La Sonora Ponceña Plays Puerto Rican Salsa at Lehman Center
LEHMAN CENTER, Jerome Park, The Bronx 🇵🇷
Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans Women in Latin Jazz Festival at Hostos Center
HOSTOS CENTER, Hostos College, Mott Haven, The Bronx 🇳🇮 🇧🇷 🇵🇹
Conzo: A Look Back at The Bronx, 1977-84 Hip Hop and Salsa at Bronx Documentary Center
BRONX DOCUMENTARY CENTER, Melrose, The Bronx 🇺🇸 🇵🇷
Forever Freestyle 16 Old School Latin Hip Hop at Lehman Center
LEHMAN CENTER, Lehman College, Jerome Park, The Bronx 🇵🇷
Andy Montañez is a Puerto Rican Salsa Legend
LEHMAN CENTER, Jerome Park, The Bronx 🇵🇷
Bronx Neighborhoods
The borough has more space and diverse communities. There is a Garifuna community in Crotona. The Little Italy on Arthur Avenue in Belmont is popular. Fordham has a university. Concourse, the “Champs-Élysées of The Bronx” is busy. Kingsbridge is cool. Riverdale is upscale. Pelham Bay has green space. Mott Haven is gentrifying rapidly because it’s so close to Manhattan.
Bronx Park
Bronx Park is the big park in The Bronx. It was founded during NYC’s park-building…
Concourse
Concourse, The Bronx is the home of Yankee Stadium, Pregones/PRTT, the Bronx County Courthouse civic…
Concourse Village
Concourse Village, The Bronx is a residential neighborhood that includes the Bronx Museum of the…
Crotona Park East, The Bronx
Crotona Park East is a residential neighborhood in The Bronx. It is also known as…
Hunts Point
Hunts Point, The Bronx is an industrial neighborhood on the East River waterfront that hosts…
Jerome Park, Bronx
Jerome Park is the home of Lehman College, Lehman Center the Jerome Park Reservoir. Latin…
Longwood, The Bronx
Longwood, The Bronx is a mixed-use neighborhood that is mostly Hispanic and very Puerto Rican.…
Melrose, Bronx
Melrose, The Bronx is an urban residential neighborhood that is undergoing a major renaissance. “The…
Mott Haven, The Bronx
Mott Haven, The Bronx is a place where legends are made. The neighborhood is one…
The Bronx is Latin
The Bronx is majority Latin at 55% in 2020.
Latin Art in The Bronx
- Bronx Documentary Center is a non-profit gallery and educational space that uses documentary photography to build lives and promote social change. bronxdoc.org
- Bronx Museum of the Arts collects art created by artists in Bronx communities.
Latin Dance in The Bronx
- Nieves Latin Dance Studio is a famous salsa and Latin dance school.
- Yamulee Dance School is a famous salsa and Latin dance school.
Latin Festivals in The Bronx
152 Street Cultural Festival is a Puerto Rican street fair; in Longwood, The Bronx; that kicks off the National Puerto Rican Day Parade. It’s in late May or early June. 🇵🇷
Bronx Week is a two-week festival of the best of Bronx culture in May.
Latin Food in The Bronx
- Arthur Avenue is one of New York City’s Little Italys.
- Bronx Night Market is first Saturday’s from April to October. maschospitalitygroup.com
- Hunts Point is the home of New York City’s food distribution complex.
Latin Music in The Bronx
- Bronx Music Hall
- Bronx Music Heritage Center
- Hostos Center
- Lehman Center
- Universal Hip Hop Museum uhhm.org
Latin Sports in The Bronx
- El Maestro cultural center is a boxing gym and Puerto Rican community center. Facebook @elmaestrobx
- New York City Football Club (NYCFC)
- New York Yankees
- Yankee Stadium
Latin Theatre in The Bronx
- ID Studio Theater is a Colombian performing arts studio. 🇨🇴
- Pregones PRTT is a Puerto Rican community theater. 🇵🇷
We Love The Bronx
The Bronx has a reputation from the 1970s, but it’s not like that any more. Now the problem is gentrification.
For the record, we got the blame, but it wasn’t our fault. The Bronx was a place you moved to when your family become middle class. It was moving on up.
The problems started when New York City Commissioner Robert Moses destroyed healthy neighborhoods to build the Cross-Bronx Expressway. The construction divided communities and led to abandonment. The New York City government shut down services to try and get everyone to leave so it could redevelop the land. It allowed property owners to burn their own buildings for the insurance money.
The 1970s were fifty years ago. The Bronx is beautiful. It is still a cultural forge.
What Happened
The Old South Bronx used to be like Harlem or Greenwich Village, a vibrant center of culture. It was a fully integrated place. That’s cool now, but back in the day, some of the powers that be didn’t like that.
Because of its perfect location next to Manhattan, generations ago New York politicians decided they wanted to redevelop the area. But they had one problem ~ the people who live here.
They decided to purposefully make life very hard so we would leave and they could take the land. They cut off city services and prevented landlords from fixing their properties. Landlords ended up burning the whole thing down. It was all blamed on us, of course. That media circus put a stain on the South Bronx, but it is a false characterization. The Bronx is beautiful.
Anyway, the people didn’t leave. We stayed. This is home. And now The Bronx is rising again. And ironically, it’s rising, not because of the politicians, The Bronx is rising because of the people who live here.
We ❤️ The Bronx!
Bronx Demographics
The Bronx is over 54% Latin (“Redistricting NYC: Demographic Change and the Hispanic Community” (2022) by Carlos Vargas-Ramos and Jorge R. Soldevila Irizzary of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. centropr.hunter.edu).
We are mostly Dominican (41%), Puerto Rican (33%), Mexican (10%), Ecuadorian (4%) and Honduran (3%).
Three generations after the “Great Migration” of the 1950s, Puerto Ricans are moving out. Dominicans and Central Americans are moving in.
That’s the immigrant experience. The first generation knows the heritage language and culture. The second knows both. The third generation is fully American.
Bronx Parks
- Bronx Park is the home of the New York Botanical Garden and The Bronx Zoo.
- Crotona Park is the home of a vibrant Garifuna community.
- Pelham Bay Park is the home of Orchard Beach, and Salsa Sundays at Orchard Beach.
- Soundview Park
- Van Cortlandt Park