East Harlem

Understanding East Harlem

El Museo describes changing immigrant communities and the postwar Puerto Rican arrivals who helped shape El Barrio. Murals and cultural institutions record that neighborhood history.

In 1969, artist and educator Raphael Montañez Ortiz turned a Puerto Rican history-and-culture curriculum project into a community museum. El Museo’s origins connect education, art and neighborhood representation.

Places to explore

• El Museo del Barrio

  Fifth Avenue at East 104th Street

  Choose the galleries and consult current exhibition and admission information. The museum's bilingual neighborhood material provides context for nearby public art.

  Read the NYFE place guide

• Museum of the City of New York

  1220 Fifth Avenue, at East 103rd Street

  Place the neighborhood within the wider history of New York's people and places. Check the current exhibitions before choosing a day.

  Read the NYFE place guide

• El Barrio murals

  El Museo’s Around the Block activity cards

  The guide includes Spirit of East Harlem, Graffiti Hall of Fame and other works. Choose a work using that context; a schoolyard or community-garden address is not a promise of unrestricted entry.

Planning a visit

The Museum of the City of New York lists the 6 to 103rd Street and an approach west to Fifth Avenue. Check service and station accessibility separately.

For the Museum of the City of New York's ramp entrance, use 104th Street. Check station accessibility and individual public-art sites separately.