As documented by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, roughly 4,000 Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States, each year, between the years of 19. A few decades later, German Jews, fleeing anti-Semitism in the wake of the Nazi regime’s rise to power, arrived in Washington Heights in such numbers that the neighborhood became known as “Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson.” Later, immigrants from Greece, whose population in New York peaked in the 1960s, settled there.īut as these groups gained steadier footing in the city, they began trading in Washington Heights for more attractive real estate, creating the opportunity for a new wave of immigrants, this time from Latin America, to call the area their own. The Irish, escaping the Great Potato Famine, settled in the neighborhood after the Lower East Side proved inhospitable. As affluent families moved their estates south-developing alongside today’s Fifth Avenue and the Upper East Side-Washington Heights became an enclave for immigrants from Europe. In addition to the neighborhood’s physical beauty, it drew interest for its historical significance, having been the site of Fort Washington, a strategic point of defense in the Continental army’s efforts to protect New York from the British during the Revolutionary War.īy the year 1900, the face of Washington Heights began to change. Regal estates, like that of famed naturalist John James Audubon, took advantage of the area’s rolling hills and waterfront views. But when it was first developed in the 1800s, it was the area that wealthy New Yorkers called home. In the writing stages-he famously wrote the play during his sophomore year at Wesleyan University-he drew from his own life experiences to create something that was “honest,” and he talks about how many of his own life’s most important memories actually took place in Washington Heights, where he still lives today.īy the time Miranda was growing up, the neighborhood had long been considered a refuge for immigrants in search of the American dream. As someone who grew up in Inwood, the neighborhood next door, that desire to break away from violent stereotypes was personal for Miranda. Involved in stage acting from an early age, Miranda says that it was the lack of Latino representation in Broadway and Hollywood that, in part, inspired him to create a work that shined a positive light on Latino immigrants, as opposed to the one-dimensional gang members seen in the classic 1957 musical West Side Story. The movie adaptation of In the Heights debuts in theaters and on HBO Max this week. Situated in the northernmost part of Manhattan, between 155th Street and 195th Street, the neighborhood’s story is one of hardship, prosperity and communal spirit-themes aptly mirrored in the Tony Award–winning musical. Home to a vibrant Latino community, Washington Heights, known colloquially as “ Little Dominican Republic,” comes alive on stage and on screen, imbuing every scene with an unmistakable, pulsating presence. The setting of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights is as central to the musical’s plot as its characters.
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