NEW YORK – For Hispanic Heritage Month, CBS News New York’s Lisa Rozner got an inside look at a historic Chelsea nonprofit that has been a welcoming center for immigrants from Spain for more than a century.
Founded in 1868, La Nacional is the oldest Hispanic cultural center in the United States, according to Michelle Miron, the organization’s director of institutional relations.
She says many people fled Spain in search of better opportunities.
“We actually started in Lower Manhattan. And then the Spanish immigration group, most of whom docked here on the piers, society moved here. [to 14th Street] in 1925,” she said.
La Nacional helps Spanish immigrants in New York find a community
Miron says Spaniards like Rogelio Alvarez, 92, would walk to La Nacional for food, a place to stay, work and even for medical needs. Alvarez arrived in New York City in 1955, in his early twenties.
“I bring them 40, 40 dollars… When I come here to La Nacional and ask for my food… [they] Say, ‘No, you don’t have to pay right now,'” Alvarez said. “Pero, I can’t do my job here because I don’t speak English.”
He learned English and met his wife here.
The father and mother of nonprofit Jose Fernandez, immigrants from Spain, met at a picnic organized by La Nacional. Fernandez is now 95 years old.
“During the Spanish Civil War there were a lot of fundraising events taking place… My father came at least once a month,” he said.
La Nacional has a restaurant open to the public that serves dishes found all over Spain, and the chef behind it is from Valencia. It’s food made with love to educate visitors and remind long-time members of where they came from.
La Nacional is also the organizer of the annual Hispanic Day Parade, held Sunday along Fifth Avenue. It will feature cultural dances and floats from more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries. It started decades ago to strengthen ties between Spain and other countries.
Local businesses and residents support La Nacional
The block was once known as Little Spain, where about 30,000 to 40,000 Spaniards lived, according to La Nacional. Many commemorated life events in the adjacent La Guadalupe church.
“The first church to have a Spanish Mass in the entire state of New York, and that was because the locals went to the archdiocese and asked for the Mass because there was no place for them to go to worship,” Miron said .
A wall covered in newspaper clippings shows how local businesses helped support the community.
“Like here, Don Quijote, Unanue – that family opened Goya Goods, the largest Spanish-speaking company in the United States. And Angel Cansino opened a dance school where his daughter was their best dancer. , and that is Rita Heyworth,” said Robert Sanfiz, executive director of La Nacional.
Copies of old membership cards hang on another wall.
“During the Cuban Revolution, a lot of people came. Especially a lot of Spanish Cubans came… And we also have a lot of membership cards with people from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Argentina,” Sanfiz said.
Lisa Rozner
