New York Latin Culture Magazine®

World-class Indigenous, European & African Culture since 2012

Ecuadorian NYC

Ecuadorian NYC is one of The City’s five largest Latin communities.

The community is centered in Corona and Jackson Heights, Queens, but is also in Bushwick, Brooklyn; Fordham, The Bronx; and East Newark, New Jersey.

We are a mix of Indigenous Kichwa (Quechua) and Shuar, Spanish, and African.

Ecuadorian NYC Restaurants

  • Barzola
  • El Quayaquileño
  • Ecuadorian Food 2
  • Equatoriana Restaurant
  • Mi Castillo Equatoriano
  • Ñaño Ecuadorian Kitchen
  • Sabor Latino

Ecuadorian NYC Festivals

Ecuadorian New York City

  • Alianza Ecuatoriana Internacional
  • Ecuadorian American Cultural Center
  • Ecuadorian Civic Committee of New York
  • Ecuadorian Consulate

Ecuadorian Culture

  • Bomba del Chota
  • Emeralds
  • Inti Raymi
  • Marimba
  • Panama Hat
  • Pasillo dance
  • Quipu (string writing)

Ecuadorian American Cultural Center is in Astoria, Queens. ecuadorcenter.org or Instagram @ecuadorcenter

Ecuadorian NYC News

Dance Parade 2025 is Once Again About Reclaiming the Freedom to Be Yourself

SIXTH AVE, 8TH ST, TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, East Village, Manhattan
🇺🇸 🇦🇴 🇦🇷 🇧🇴 🇧🇷 🇨🇳 🇨🇴 🇨🇩 🇨🇬 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇭🇹 🇮🇳 🇮🇩 🇮🇹 🇮🇪 🇰🇷 🇯🇲 🇯🇵 🇲🇽 🇵🇾 🇵🇷 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇪🇸 🇹🇼 🇹🇭 🇹🇹

Continue Reading Dance Parade 2025 is Once Again About Reclaiming the Freedom to Be Yourself

Hispanic Heritage Month in New York City 2024

A meditation on what it means to be “Hispanic” in America today.

🇦🇷🇧🇴🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇪🇨🇸🇻🇬🇶🇬🇹🇭🇳🇲🇽🇳🇮🇵🇦🇵🇾🇵🇪🇵🇷🇪🇸🇺🇾🇻🇪

Ecuadorian NYC Archive

November 2022

German-Ecuadorian Steinway pianist Boris Cepeda RAICES: Piano Works from Europe & South America plays 19th century European music and contemporary classical music from Ecuador and Argentina (Albéniz, Guevara, Canelos, Liszt, Ravel, Ortiz, Cárdenas, and Piazzolla) in the Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 8pm. From $60. 🇦🇷 🇪🇨 🇫🇷 🇭🇳 🇲🇽 🇪🇸

September 2022

OPENING RECEPTION
Ronny Quevedo: entre aquí y allá, an exhibition exploring Indigenous Ecuadorian heritage, migration and community, opens with a reception at Alexander Gray Associates in Chelsea, Manhattan on Thursday, September 8, 2022 from 6-8pm. The show runs to October 15. alexandergray.com 🇪🇨

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration of the Americas, through October 15. 🇦🇷🇧🇴🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇪🇨🇸🇻🇬🇶🇬🇹🇭🇳🇲🇽🇳🇮🇵🇦🇵🇾🇵🇪🇵🇷🇪🇸🇺🇾🇻🇪

The Queens Hispanic Parade 2022 marches on 37th Avenue from 69th St to 86th St in Jackson Heights, Queens on Sunday, September 25, 2022 starting at 11am. 🇦🇷🇧🇴🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇪🇨🇸🇻🇬🇶🇬🇹🇭🇳🇲🇽🇳🇮🇵🇦🇵🇾🇵🇪🇵🇷🇪🇸🇺🇾🇻🇪

Ecuadorian Culture

Indigenous culture remains strong in Ecuador. In addition to Spanish, Kichwa (the old Inca Quechua language), Shuar (an Amazonian language) and other Indigenous languages are recognized official languages. The coast also has Afro-Ecuadorian culture.

The modern country is the northern part of the Inca Empire so the mountains share Andean culture with southern Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and parts of Chile and Argentina. These regions are connected by the old Inca road system.

Ecuador’s northernmost province is Esmeraldas. That’s Spanish for emeralds. The legendary Atahualpa Emerald which belonged to the last Inca emperor, is in the Crown of the Andes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Panama hats actually come from Ecuador.

Several Ecuadorian culture forms are recognized by UNESCO as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity.

  • Zápara language and culture are an Indigenous language that speaks with the sounds of the forest, and a culture with deep knowledge of plants and the ways of the land.
  • Traditional Ecuadorian toquilla straw hat production is a coastal culture of palm farming and weaving what is better known as the Panama Hat.
  • The Marimba music, chanting and dancing of the Esmeraldas Province is an Ecuadorian recreation of a Central African faith and family tradition.

Visit Ecuador

Ecuador has something for everyone. There are the Galapagos Islands, the Pacific coast, Andes mountains, and Amazon jungle. There are even active volcanoes.

It’s a beautiful land. The country is the home of several UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Ecuadorian colonial architecture is a blend of Indigenous and Spanish Baroque styles, built by Indigenous artists. The style is called “Escuela Quiteña” or Baroque School of Quito. It’s known for harmonizing with nature. Traditional Spanish architecture is tuned to the land, but Escuela Quitena takes it to another level. It really is Indigenous Baroque.

  • Galápagos Islands are famously biodiverse Pacific islands.
  • Qhapaq Ñan is the old Andean Road System that runs along the Andes from Colombia to Chile.
  • Quito, the capital, was founded in 1534 in an abandoned Inca city.
  • Sangay National Park is an undisturbed natural area in the middle of the Ecuadorian Andes.
  • Cuenca is a colonial town founded in 1577 built around an Indigenous community that was modernized in the 1800s.

Quito

The Ecuadorian capital was founded on the ruins of an Inca city high in the Andes. It’s among the best preserved colonial cities in Latin America. Soccer teams from other countries struggle to play there because of the high altitude.

San Francisco Church on the main square in Quito, Ecuador (Pablo Borca/Dreamstime)
San Francisco Church on the main square in Quito, Ecuador (Pablo Borca/Dreamstime)

The San Francisco Church (La Iglesia de San Francisco) is a stunning example of Escuela Quiteña architecture.

San Franciso Church interior, Quito (Brizardh/Dreamstime)
San Franciso Church nave, Quito (Brizardh/Dreamstime)
San Francisco Church crossing, Quito (Mfmegevand/Dreamstime)
San Francisco Church crossing, Quito (Mfmegevand/Dreamstime)

There is much more to see in Ecuador.

South American NYC