Washington Heights, the most vibrant Latino neighborhood in Manhattan
Lin-Manuel Miranda knows first-hand everything he has to say in a New York neighborhood. The actor and composer grew up in the same washington heights where the story that Usnavi, Benny, Nina and Vanessa share takes place. While still a college student, he drew the plot and characters of In the Heights based on what he saw, daily, on the street.
Before an enthusiastic reception of his first performances, Miranda added rap and salsa musical numbers that led him to premiere the work first in the Off Broadway and, later, in the great league of Broadway. That same spring of 2008, he swept the Tonys by taking the awards for best musical and songs.
This great stage phenomenon finally arrives in cinemas around the world and that offers us the opportunity to get infected by his catchy music and explore a neighborhood, north of Manhattan, to which we usually always turn our backs.
The film shows a lot of love and respect for Miranda's work, who appears in several scenes as the seller of the frozen canoe cart, rolling in those same streets.
But, before reviewing its locations and essential places to visit, a brief and necessary note of history. Although the film bears, in Spanish, the generic title of In a New York neighborhood We speak, of course, of one in particular, Washington Heights, and is located in Upper Manhattan, between Harlem and Inwood, from 155th Street to Dyckman Street.
The neighborhood is named after the first president of the United States, George Washington, who lived in those same lands one of the most savage battles against the British army and that led him to culminate the independence of the North American colonies.
After the war, its remote location attracted wealthy families who set up their mansions but, late 19th century , the improvement in communications by train promoted the development of housing for immigrant families who landed in New York to carve out a future.
First came the suitcases of the Irish, followed by African-Americans, fleeing the racism of the southern states, and finally, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans, and Cubans, mid-20th century. Currently, the Latino community in Washington Heights reaches 70% and Spanish is the language of exchange practically in any corner.
Corey Hawkins and Leslie Grace in a scene from 'In a New York Neighborhood'
This may be the first time you've read about Washington Heights, but it's a neighborhood well known to New Yorkers. Especially for drivers crossing from New York to New Jersey, or vice versa, for the George Washington Bridge, the busiest bridge in the world and one of the main entrances to Manhattan.
The bridge is a symbol of the neighborhood and appears several times in the film. One of the most impressive locations is the one offered by the J. Hood Wright Park.
The park, named after a philanthropic banker who lived on one of its corners, is the scenario of the theme When You're Home shared by Benny and Nina. The couple walks through their basketball courts and their feet take them to one of its highest points where they find a vantage point with unbeatable views of the George Washington Bridge and the cliffs of the Hudson River.
george washington bridge
Another point that fans of the musical and the most restless explorers will not want to miss is the intersection of 175th Street and Audubon Avenue. A good part of the action takes place here because in its corners the Usnavi warehouse, Kevin's taxi company where Benny works and the hairdresser where Vanessa and her companions spend their hours.
The production walked the entire neighborhood to find the perfect intersection where they could recreate these businesses. until he finds the one that appears in the film. In fact, there was already a warehouse and a taxi service in two of its corners, although they underwent a Hollywood-style facelift, and they only had to invent the façade of the room. Most of the interiors were later built in the film studios.
You don't have to go much further to visit Abuela Claudia's house, who becomes a matriarch for the neighborhood. The woman lives just three doors down from the warehouse, following 175th Street and past Audubon.
This is one of the streets that we see the most in the film but you have to go down to 173 to find the Highbridge Play Center pool featured in the dazzling musical number titled 96,000. This is the amount of the lottery prize that Usnavi gives as the winner and the neighbors are revolutionized imagining how it can change their lives. Although, in New York, it does not give for much either.
The team filmed in the Highbridge Olympic swimming pool before it opened to the public for the summer season and with the misfortune of having cold and rainy days that interrupted the recording countless times and gave more than one of the extras a cold.
The picturesque New York subway could not be left out of the film, especially the red line 1 which, in Washington Heights, has an elevated part and bisects the neighborhood like a scar.
Here the production took a little license because, at the foot of the track, they shot a scene in which Vanessa and her father visit the Floridita restaurant, whose menu fuses Cuban and Dominican gastronomy. Washington Heights has its own little Floridita, but for this particular scene, the second location above, in the Inwood neighborhood, was used.
Right on the border of the two neighborhoods is the oppressive subway tunnel of station 191, but which, by the magic of cinema, becomes a passageway full of light and color. here it was shot the moving scene in which Grandma remembers her past in Cuba with the song Paciencia y Fe, words that become a real anthem.
This great stage phenomenon finally arrives in theaters
The tunnel has an entrance on Broadway, in this area known as Juan Rodriguez Way , and plunges into the bowels of Manhattan to cover three entire streets.
In a New York neighborhood it has inspired a new tourism campaign to the city to rip visitors away from Times Square and invite them to discover a neighborhood as charming as Washington Heights. It cannot be missing on your next trip.