Photo: Friday night at the Dominoe Social Club, 1987 © Joseph Rodriguez
Spanish Harlem. It’s an attitude, a mood, a way of living that is open, emotional, and warm. It is dominoes on the street as the sun sets as the music of Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri wafts through the air from passing car stereos. It’s a place where open bottles and open fire hydrants are welcome in equal measure. Spanish Harlem is the city’s oldest barrio, dating back to the 1940s, when Puerto Ricans first established themselves in this little corner of upper eastside New York. Home to 120,000 people, half of which are Latino, the neighborhood has been forced to confront some of the city’s endemic problems of crime, drugs, AIDS, and chronic unemployment, many times as a result of systemic racism. Yet, like most true Yorkers, the people have a spirit and a will to survive.
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For photographer Joseph Rodriguez, Spanish Harlem is sacred ground, a place he has returned to throughout his life to engage with the community. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Rodriguez first went uptown to visit his uncle who had a candy store in el barrio. Then, in 1984, as a student at the International Center of Photography, he was given the assignment of documenting the gentrification of East Harlem.
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Photo: Vietnam Veteran, 1988 © Joseph Rodriguez
Photo: Night scene, 1988 © Joseph Rodriguez