Mambo Legends Orchestra
Friday, May 16, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Meet us on the dance floor to celebrate the storied history of Latin music and dance in this area, featuring live music by the Mambo Legends Orchestra. Learn more »
Events & Exhibits
Nina Chanel Abney: San Juan Heal
Nina Chanel Abney’s monumental work of art for the façade of David Geffen Hall pays homage to San Juan Hill. Learn more »
Past Events & Exhibits
Jazz, Afro-Caribbean Music, and the Sounds of San Juan Hill
Wednesday, April 02, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Join us for a program celebrating the cross-cultural musical innovation of San Juan Hill, with performances by rising star Andre Perlman and his jazz ensemble and moderated by Loren Schoenberg, Founding Director and Senior Scholar at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Learn more »
Buffalo Sonnet: Launch Event for Audio Described Digital Comic
Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 4:00 pm
Join us for a live virtual event to experience the full comic, scrolling with audio description, designed for audiences who are blind or have low vision. Learn more »
San Juan Hill: Manhattan's Lost Neighborhood
A Film by Stanley Nelson
Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Join us for the world premiere of this documentary directed by three-time Emmy Award winner Stanley Nelson, a preeminent documentarian of the African American experience. Learn more »
Artist Talk with Kamau Ware, creator of Buffalo Sonnet
Saturday, June 22, 2024 at 2:30 pm
A conversation with the writer and illustrator Kamau Ware and dramatist Michael Dinwiddie on the making of the comic book. Learn more »
From Stride Piano to Bebop: Celebrating the Music of James P. Johnson, Benny Carter, and Thelonious Monk (1900–1950)
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Explore the evolution of jazz in San Juan Hill through a live musical performance. Watch the video »
Rena Anakwe's Lifting the Ground Up
Saturday, May 04, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Participate in a site-specific, public performance art ritual inspired by the element of earth, incorporating sound, visuals, plants, and scent. Learn more »
James Reese Europe: Latin Jazz and the Harlem Hell Fighters Band (1900–1920)
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Join us for a conversation with artists and scholars about the multicultural military band that fundamentally shaped jazz. Watch the video »
James Reese Europe: A Musical Life (1900–1920)
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Join us for a conversation with artists and scholars about the life of an iconic figure, whose influence on music echoed far beyond his time. Watch the video »
The Creative Life of San Juan Hill (1900–1960)
Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 7:00 pm
Explore the history of San Juan Hill's cultural spaces, the artistry that thrived there, and how they reflect the dynamics of 20th century NYC. Watch the video »
Jazz in San Juan Hill
One Neighborhood’s Impact on Music that Made History (1900–1950)
Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 7:00 pm
A conversation about this compelling era in jazz history, whose influence has resonated over decades. Watch the video »
Elements of Humanity: Garments of San Juan Hill
July 17–28, 2023
Designer Sabrina Guillaume-Bradshaw's installation features garments inspired by San Juan Hill inhabitants during the 1950s and '60s. Learn more »
Sydnie L. Mosley Dances’ PURPLE: A Ritual in Nine Spells
June 9–25, 2023
A choreopoem created by Sydnie L. Mosley Dances and inspired by playwright Ntozake Shange illuminates the power of deep sisterhood for social change. Learn more »
Latin Jazz in New York City (1920-1960)
Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 7:00 pm
Join us for a discussion and live musical demonstration of the Latin jazz forged in and around San Juan Hill in the last century, an integral part of the jazz canon and the legacy of the neighborhood that still resonates today. Watch the video »
Exploring the Puerto Rican Experience in New York City (1920–1960)
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 7:00 pm
A conversation on the Puerto Rican experience in San Juan Hill—a defining chapter in the history of Puerto Rican New York. Watch the video »
Lincoln Center Archives Exhibit
Thelonious Monk’s San Juan Hill, Nina Simone’s Lincoln Square
The re-imagined David Geffen Hall includes a multimedia exhibit developed from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts archives as part of our work to document and understand the story of the neighborhoods of San Juan Hill and Lincoln Square, as well as our role in their histories.
New York City's Black Bohemia (1900–1920)
Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 7:00 pm
Leading scholars and cultural leaders discuss the origins of San Juan Hill and how the founding of that neighborhood reflects the struggles and triumphs of the African diaspora in New York City over one hundred years ago, while shining a light on today. Watch the video »
EX VANDALS – San Juan Hill Project Mural
Recently on view at the east side of Amsterdam Avenue and 62nd Street, the mural tells the story of the neighborhood’s evolution from the early 20th century to today. Learn more »
Is This Land Our Land?
Monday, October 3, 2022 at 7:30 pm
A discussion of the history of the San Juan Hill and Weeksville neighborhoods, New York City communities that thrived with culture and tradition but were dismantled, leaving behind a heritage of displacement and erasure that echoes to the present day. Watch the video »
Thanks to Our Collaborators
Legacies of San Juan Hill is presented by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in collaboration with CENTRO, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
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