It's been a long time since the New Yorker Diary has walked the streets of our beloved New York and today is a good time to do so. Actually, it'
s always a good time to fly to New York, if only in your imagination.
Sometimes we daydream about walking the long avenues of New York, and other times it's the pages of a novel that take us to the Big Apple. As a lover of New York City, any story set in its streets inevitably falls into my hands. And, as it could not be otherwise, "Las hijas del Capitán" (María Dueñas) occupies these days a preferential space in my free time.
"
Las hijas del Capitán" tells the story of Spanish immigrants in the New York of the difficult 1930's. Specifically, it tells the vicissitudes of three sisters from Malaga and their mother who, with little desire and less money, are forced to take a ship to a new city, hostile and remote, in which to fight for an uncertain future.
And in this New York of the 1930s, María Dueñas perfectly transports us to what was the
oldest enclave of the Spanish colony in New York: the Lower East Side.
This neighborhood southeast of Manhattan was decades ago a poor, unhealthy neighborhood with immigrant roots. This is the Lower East Side of 1936, when the protagonists of Dueñas' novel landed in the city.
However, over the years, this area of the city, located between Lower Manhattan and Brookyln, has become one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the city that never sleeps.
Yes, if the Arenas sisters, protagonists of the novel, had landed in the Lower East Side of 2018 they would have found the charm of the fusion between cultures. The appeal of art mixed with luxury, cradle of new designers and alternative boutiques in which to find a different point of view.
The streets of the Lower East Side are home to the only museum in Manhattan entirely dedicated to contemporary art: the New Museum. In addition, this area has a high concentration of art galleries.
But beyond fashion and art; beyond its alleys and rusty fire escapes, the Lower East Side stands out for its great gastronomic offer. Gastronomy is one of the most important signs of identity of a country; it seems logical to think that the neighborhood that years ago welcomed immigrants from all corners of the world has become the best place to enjoy their cultures through good food.
If you want to give your palate a treat and also learn a little more about the history of the Lower East Side, you can sign up for the
Lower East Side Food and Culture Tour.
Landing on the docks of the East River was no easy task for immigrants. The dream of a better life was a great incentive, but dreaming was not the only condition for prosperity. Rather, work was an essential seasoning for illusions to become realities.
Thus, the immigrants made the Lower East Side a neighborhood full of life, opening small businesses in the first floor of the
tenements or characteristic buildings of the area.
If you want to learn about the way of life of the first New York immigrants, make a note of a visit to the
Tenement Museum. This museum recreates their homes, their stores and, in general, the daily life of those who, like the Arenas sisters, made New York the starting point for a better life.
I don't know this museum, but it will be one of my must-sees on our next trip to New York.
As you can see,
no matter how many times you've been to New York, you can always find a good reason to come back. In my case, to visit the city to look at it from a different perspective; to see it through the eyes of those brave immigrants, with half-empty suitcases and hearts full of hope.
Now, with the Arenas sisters' experiences under my skin, I can't wait to return to the Big Apple to immerse myself in Cherry Street, 14th Street or the East River waterfront.
See you on the Lower East Side?
