8 Iconic New York City Landmarks to Visit During Hispanic Heritage Month
Celebrating the rich cultures, contributions and histories of Hispanic Americans.
Observed from September 15 through October 15, Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual celebration of the rich cultures, contributions and histories of Hispanic Americans in the United States whose ancestors span from Spain, Mexico, The Caribbean, and Central and South America. During this commemoration, the purpose of the four weeks is to honor the countless generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively impacted and enriched the United States.
As a means to highlight Latine communities in New York City and the places of significance they frequent to immerse themselves in their heritage, we’ve devised a list of eight iconic landmarks to visit and experience.
Nuyorican Poets Café
Over the last 40 years, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe has served as a home for groundbreaking works of poetry, music, theater and visual arts. Functioning as a multicultural and multi-arts institution, the Cafe gives voice to a diverse group of rising poets, actors, filmmakers and musicians as a way to champion the use of poetry, jazz, theater, hip-hop, and spoken word to facilitate a form of social empowerment for minority and underprivileged artists.
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Café Con Libros
Intersectional feminist book store and coffee shop based in Crown Heights coffee shop owned by Afro-Panamanian, Kalima Desuze. Owned and founded by Kalima DeSuze in 2017, the bookshop was an interest ignited by her mother’s love of literature. Today, the Brooklyn-based landmark prides itself on being able to facilitate community and a shared love of literature along with showcasing the works of underrepresented voices, ranging from Alice Walker and Jesmyn Ward to Helen H. Wu and Lizz Huerta.
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Toñitas
Described as the “last Puerto Rican social club of the neighborhood, the Williamsburg Caribbean social club has served as a space to not only cultivate and foster community, but preserve a history and a way of life that has proven difficult to find in Brooklyn and New York City. The Caribbean Social Club was opened in 1980 by María Antonia “Toñita” Cay. Originally from Puerto Rico, Toñita is considered the matriarch of the latinxs for her support, generosity and service. People from different generations and cultures gather there to play dominoes, billiards, to play songs on the jukeboxes and enjoy the free food. Toñitas not only provides free food for the community but a collective place where all people feel at home.
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Arepa Lady
Founder, Maria Piedad Cano and her family sell the very same arepas that the smiling matriarch once sold at a cart underneath the 7 train. The actual “arepa lady,” Maria Piedad Cano, used to ply her trade on the street, but eventually her children decided to anchor the family tradition by giving her ephemeral creations a brick-and-mortar home, serving Colombian corn cakes and tropical juices for the community in Queens.
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Harlem’s Heaven Hat Shop
Evetta Petty is a graduate of New York’s Fashion institute of Technology with a degree in Textiles and Fashion Marketing. For over 20 years, the formally-trained milliner has designed hats in her uptown New York studio — Harlem’s Heaven Hat Shop. Her sublime work and artistry has captured worldwide attention and her hats have been featured in notable publications like: Vogue, Essene, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, NYT and more.
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Repertorio Español
Founded in 1968, Repertorio Español’s goal is to bring the best of Latin American, Spanish and Hispanic-American productions to a broad audience in New York City and across the country. Since 1991, the company has featured an infrared simultaneous translation system that allows non-Spanish-speaking audiences to enjoy its vast selection of plays.
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Graffiti Hall of Fame
Located in the Jackie Robinson Playground, the Graffiti Hall of Fame honors the art form that bubbled up in New York City in the late 1960s and ’70s with a rotating exhibit by a who’s who of street artists. For over thirty years the historical and cultural landmark founded by Ray “Sting Ray” Rodriguez, has served as a place where graffiti artists could come and practice their skills with a spray paint can during a time when the art itself was moving away from simply scrawled tags to bright, expressive murals. Today, the destination operates with a rotating cast of internationally renowned street artists visiting the Hall of Fame and each lend their artistry by leaving their artwork on the hall of fame’s wall.
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El Kallejon
El Kallejon is a local favorite for its authentic Mexican food served with innovative ingredient combinations, decor, amazing service and a chic back area that you can check out if you ask nicely. Their sophisticated cocktail and food menu will transport you to another world with tasty dishes like tapas with a twist, house guacamole that has been topped with shrimp and pomegranate seeds to decadent flatbreads enhanced with mushrooms, goat cheese and truffle oil — everything at El Kallejon reflects a piece of founder Nestor Leon’’s life in Mexico. The entire space is brightly painted with turquoise, orange, yellow and fuchsia, and each piece of art and other decorations have a personal story.
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