Lincoln Center

The ground you are walking toward was once known as San Juan Hill. This neighborhood served as a cultural epicenter for Black, Puerto Rican, and Afro-Caribbean residents in the early twentieth century. It was a thriving, densely populated community and a vital hub for early jazz, counting musicians like Thelonious Monk among its creative residents. In the mid-nineteen fifties, however, this neighborhood was razed under a massive urban renewal project directed by Robert Moses. Thousands of families and hundreds of businesses were displaced to make way for the sixteen-acre complex that stands here today.