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Spanish Harlem

East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and East 96th Street up to roughly East 142nd Street[ east of Fifth Avenue to the East and Harlem Rivers. It lies within Manhattan Community District 11. Despite its name, it is generally not considered to be a part of Harlem.

The neighborhood is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City, mostly made up of Puerto Ricans, as well as sizeable numbers of Dominican, Cuban and Mexican immigrants. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which the remnants of a once predominantly Italian community remain. The Chinese population has increased dramatically in East Harlem since 2000.

East Harlem has historically suffered from many social issues, such as the highest jobless rate in New York City, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, drug abuse, homelessness, and an asthma rate five times the national average.[ It has the second-highest concentration of public housing in the United States, closely following Brownsville, Brooklyn. Police services to the neighborhood are divided between the 23rd and the 25th Precincts. East Harlem is notable for its contributions to Latin freestyle and salsa music.

However, East Harlem is undergoing some gentrification. In February 2016, East Harlem was one of four neighborhoods featured in an article in The New York Times about “New Hot Neighborhoods”, and the city was considering re-zoning the area.