York, goes on now and then in Spanish Harlem. The place and time are
carefully guarded; the audience gathers surreptitiously in a basement or
empty room, where a small shallow wooden "ring" has been laid with
dirt and sand. The cocks' steel-tipped talons are examined carefully by
their sponsors. The birds are brushed, caressed, huskily exhorted, and then
let loose amid excited betting and low-pitched cheering. Not till one of
the cocks lies dead is the fight finished. Then the winner is embraced,
washed, and hurried into hiding.

Most of the Latin-Americans in Spanish Harlem are of peasant or peon
stock. The majority are American citizens. (All Puerto Ricans are.) They
have an intense love of their homelands, and despite an occasional flurry
of nationalist jealousy, a warm sense of neighborhood solidarity. Almost
all are propertyless working people. They have their own political clubs,
and during the past few years some organizations that were once inter-
ested primarily in the politics of the homelands, have become powerful
pressure groups fighting for improved conditions in Spanish Harlem. As
a result, their influence in city politics has increased. In 1937 this district
elected O. Garcia-Rivera, a Puerto Rican lawyer, to the New York State
Assembly.

The majority of Spanish Harlemites are Roman Catholics. The neigh-
borhood Catholic churches include St. Francis de Sales, 137 East 96th
Street; St. Cecilia, 220 East 106th Street; and Our Lady of the
Miraculous Medal, 77 St. Nicholas Avenue. The Iglesia Metodista
Episcopal, 1664 Madison Avenue, where services are held in Spanish,
is an outgrowth of a Methodist mission among Puerto Ricans and other
Spanish-speaking people in New York.

The most important holiday observed in Spanish Harlem is Dia de la
Raza (Day of the Spanish Race), celebrated on Columbus Day by all
Spanish-speaking people. They hold a ceremony in front of the statue of
Columbus—a copy of the one in Madrid by Sufiol, the Spanish sculptor—
at the south end of the Central Park mall.

Italian Harlem

Area: 96th St. on the south to 125th St. on the north; from Lexington Ave. (96th
to 116th St.) and Madison Ave. (116th to 125th St.) east to East River.

Italian Harlem comprises a district which borders on the East River and
overlooks Ward's and Randall's Islands