Spanish Harlem (American Scene, 3)

Spanish Harlem, New York's oldest barrio, is home to some 120,000 people, half of whom are of Latino origin. To live in Spanish Harlem is to confront some of the city's worst problems: crime, drug abuse, AIDS, chronic unemployment. But Spanish Harlem also serves as the "capital of Hispanic America." The mecca where Puerto Ricans first settled is now shared with African Americans and new arrivals from Latin America. Each year, former residents of Spanish Harlem return for "Old Timer's Day," a celebration of the flamboyance and the gritty self-reliance of the neighborhood.
Joseph Rodriguez's photographs bring the reader inside Spanish Harlem - from the Good Friday procession, to the Dominoe social club, to the dance called the Bomba Plena, to vibrant stoop life in the neighborhood. Spanish Harlem remembers its past even as a new future is forged. On a street corner, an ice cream cart sign reads: "Puerto Rico is my enchanted. Here is where I stay."