Spanish Harlem vs Washington Heights
versus
tue 11/25/2008
| name | Spanish Harlem. | Washington Heights. |
| aka | El Barrio. | Dominican Heights. |
| epicenter | 96th street to 116th street. | 145th street to 200th street. |
| predominantly | Puerto Rican. | Dominican. |
| historical landmark | East Harlem Firehouse. | The Cloisters. |
| where to chill | Corner bodega. | Fort Washington Park. |
| homegrown politician | Congressman Charles B. Rangel. | NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Guillermo Linares. |
| how to get there | Take the 6 train. | Take the A or C or the 1 and 9 trains. |
| hometown music heroes | Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Tito Puente and Ray Barreto. | Juelz Santana, Proyecto Uno and Kat DeLuna. |
| as heard on | Ben E. King's Spanish Harlem and Santana's Maria Maria, featuring Wyclef. | KRS-One's Washington Heights. |
| gringos like to visit | Museum of the City of New York. | The Cloisters. |
| where to eat? | La Fonda Boricua. | Caridad Restaurant. |
| what to order | Arroz con pollo. | Sancocho. |
| cultura | El Museo Del Barrio. | The Hispanic Society of America. |
| as seen on | Movies Carlito's Way and Honey. | Washington Heights The Movie and Broadway musical In The Heights. |
| school | J.H.S. 117, the Tito Puente Education Complex. | P.S. 132, Juan Pablo Duarte School. |
| saying | ¡A fuego! | ¿Que lo que? |
round two
daily dos
mon 9/1/2008
"Welcome to the Jungle," the classic Guns N' Roses track, turns out to be an ode to the Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City.
In The Heights
what's that
fri 12/7/2007
In The Heights, a new musical about New York's Washington Heights, is already earning comparisons to West Side Story and Rent.
Written by and starring 28-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, In The Heights flips hip hop, merengue and salsa to portray life in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Home to Dominicans, some Puerto Ricans and a few Cubans, the real-life Heights is rarely portrayed as a nice place to visit, let alone a good place to live. Not so in this version.
Miranda first wrote In The Heights as a love triangle while attending Wesleyan University. Seven years later, he retooled the play to focus on three generations: a bodega owner named Usnavi, his grandmother, "Abuelita Claudia", Daniela and Vanessa who work in a beauty salon, and Nina, a college student at Stanford returning home to visit her parents.
The award-winning musical has earned glowing coverage for its blend of traditional Broadway and accessible hip hop – Miranda cites the early '90s rap of The Pharcyde and Black Sheep as influences. But not all reviewers have been convinced by a vision of Washington Heights which one critic likened to "Sesame Street without the puppets." Variety slammed the musical for pushing an "idealized fairy-tale world" free of crime and poverty, prompting Miranda to respond in a YouTube rap:
Some say I got the 'hood sanitized
they only scandalize
they ain't never seen Hispanic guys
without smacking their wives
or packin' knives
or having real lives
I went online just to analyze
the rate of crime up in Washington Heights, yo
the crime rate is twice as high on the upper East Side
Yeah, that shit was astounding to me
I ain't seen no slangin' or bangin' in Woody Allen movies
After a successful run off-Broadway, In The Heights will make its Broadway debut in February of 2008.
recommended listening:
myspace.com/ intheheightsthemusical
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