named after them. but what about us latinos? we ve been here in this city, and we ve got every kind of latino. you want your puerto ricans? wepa. you want your cubans? dale! dominicans? que lo que tigre. colombianos? todo bien, todo bien. mexicanos? no manches, guey. and this is where i grew up, too. and when i was a kid, i don t know what the streets were paved with, but it damn sure as hell was not gold. but that didn t stop latinx new yorkers from making big contributions. basquiat, rita moreno puerto rican. cardi b dominican. supreme court justice sotomayor, nuyorican from the bx. even the very first non-indigenous person to live and work in the island of manhattan in the 1600s was juan rodriguez, a dominicano. mira eso, right from the start, we ve been here making this city great. now, i don t know what new york would be without latinos, but it sure as hell wouldn t smell as good, it wouldn t taste as good, and it definitely wouldn t sound as good. that s right, cause
- you know how they used to say the streets of new york were paved with gold? and then wave after wave of immigrants came here to make their lives better for themselves. the irish, the italians, the jews, the chinese they all got whole neighborhoods named after them. but what about us latinos? we ve been here in this city, and we ve got every kind of latino. you want your puerto ricans? wepa. you want your cubans? dale! dominicans? que lo que tigre. colombianos? todo bien, todo bien. mexicanos? no manches, guey. and this is where i grew up, too. and when i was a kid, i don t know what the streets were paved with, but it damn sure as hell was not gold. but that didn t stop latinx new yorkers from making big contributions. basquiat, rita moreno puerto rican. cardi b dominican. supreme court justice sotomayor, nuyorican from the bx. even the very first non-indigenous person to live and work in the island of manhattan in the 1600s was juan rodriguez, a dominicano. mira eso, rig
but what about us latinos? we ve been here in this city, and we ve got every kind of latino. you want your puerto ricans? wepa. you want your cubans? dale! dominicans? que lo que tigre. colombianos? todo bien, todo bien. mexicanos? no manches, guey. and this is where i grew up, too. and when i was a kid, i don t know what the streets were paved with, but it damn sure as hell was not gold. but that didn t stop latinx new yorkers from making big contributions. basquiat, rita moreno puerto rican. cardi b dominican. supreme court justice sotomayor, nuyorican from the bx. even the very first non-indigenous person to live and work in the island of manhattan in the 1600s was juan rodriguez, a dominicano. mira eso, right from the start, we ve been here making this city great. now, i don t know what new york would be without latinos, but it sure as hell wouldn t smell as good, it wouldn t taste as good, and it definitely wouldn t sound as good. that s right, cause salsa music was in
basquiat, rita moreno puerto rican. cardi b dominican. supreme court justice sotomayor, nuyorican from the bx. even the very first non-indigenous person to live and work in the island of manhattan in the 1600s was juan rodriguez, a dominicano. mira eso, right from the start, we ve been here making this city great. now, i don t know what new york would be without latinos, but it sure as hell wouldn t smell as good, it wouldn t taste as good, and it definitely wouldn t sound as good. that s right, cause salsa music was invented here in new york, that s right. [vocalizing along to salsa music] you re welcome. i wanna retrace my steps from queens, where i grew up, all the way to the bright lights of broadway and show you how latinos have contributed to the culture of the greatest city on earf. that s right, i said earf. and you can t tell latino stories without plenty of good food, music, and dancing. so come on, let s go, let s go. come on. [upbeat music] welcome to jackso
- i know, that s what miriam was walking by in the 60s. - miriam colón, which was the founder, right? - the founder of this theater. and she saw this boarded up, and she says, there s gotta be a theater in there. - the legendary miriam colón became well-known in the theater community after her performance in the acclaimed play the oxcart by puerto rican playwright rené marqués. but she was also the latina in hollywood in the 50s and 60s and became best known for her role as mama montana in scarface. - she hated hollywood. she was like - why d she hate hollywood so much? - because she was so distant from her people. - right. - and in 67, she founded the puerto rican traveling theater. she was taking theater to the people. and she says, that s my calling. i have some people inside from the company that wanna say hello to you again. you wanna come in? - yeah, yeah. oh, i know some of you. - you know these people? - of course i do. some of the great new york talent. this t