Loisaida
"Loisaida" is Spanish for "Lower East Side." Some claim that "Lower East Side" is below Houston Street, and "Loisaida" is above Houston Street. Puerto Rican immigrants came to the area in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Spanish name was applied.
Bittman John "Bimbo" Rivas (1939-1992) wrote the poem "Loisaida" in 1974. In 1992, Avenue C was re-named "Loisaida Avenue."
Wikipedia: Bimbo Rivas
Bittman John "Bimbo" Rivas (November 11, 1939 – May 21, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor, community activist, director, playwright, poet, and teacher who lived in the Lower East Side of New York City. He also served in the U.S. Air Force. He was one of the pioneers of the Nuyorican Movement and was involved in the Nuyorican Poets Café.
Based on his experiences, Rivas wrote the poem "Loisaida", coining the term that today gives the Lower East Side its nickname. On May 27, 1992, Avenue C became known as Loisaida Avenue.
Newspapers.com
13 July 1976, The Journal-News (Nyack, NY), "Ethnic purity tours?," pg. 6A, col. 1:
...or, for $8, a trip through "some of the great ethnic communities of New York", including the Hispanic Loisaida Community, the multi-ethnic Henry Street settlement, Little Italy or Chinatown.
7 January 1977, New York (NY) Times, pg. 25:
The Magi, or Three Wise Men, visited a Puerto Rican community on the Lower East Side yesterday afternoon.
Their parade route led them through Loisaida (the neighborhood south of 14th Street, east of Avenue A) where they viewed abandoned buildings now being renovated by residents on East 11th Street.
Newspapers.com
11 September 1977, Daily News (New York, NY), "Youth Gang Fights Battle on Poverty" by Martin King, pg. M1, col. 1:
But the big event of the summer was a block party or festival held over the Labor Day weekend and featuring A Band Called Loisaida, a group which is almost an integral part of the Katos gang.
Newspapers.com
13 December 1978, Ithaca (NY) Journal, "Hispanics are a growing minority" by Mort Rosenblum (Associated Press Writer), pg. 44, col. 3:
The street -- officially, 24th Street -- is in San Francisco. But it is no less Latin that New York's "Loisaida" -- Lower East Side -- or sections of many major U.S. cities.
NYS Historic Newspapers
13 November 1980, The Villager (Greenwich Village, NY), pg. 1, col. 1:
The Loisaida Purchase
Newspapers.com
4 December 1980, Daily News (New York, NY), "Gentrification comes to the lower East Side" by Jan Hodenfield, pg. W3, col. 1:
Ave. A. is still the DMZ. While the one side has the East Village since the days of hippie heaven, the other side has become known, by Spanish-speaking locals, as Loisaida, and, by handrubbing realtors, as Alphabet City.
27 May 1981, New York (NY) Times, letters, pg. C8:
Loisaida, actually, is the area between 14th and Houston Streets, from Avenue A east. This sunny, flowery, Spanish-flavored name for the Lower East Side was conferred on an unpromising piece of real estate by our Puerto Rican fellow residents to cheer things up a bit. The title, pronounced lo-ee-SIDE-ah. was in use before 1977, when I moved here to start the magazine The Quality of Life in Loisaida. Bimbo Rivas, poet and playwright, is credited with first applying the name and using it in a poem.
Bittman John "Bimbo" Rivas (1939-1992) wrote the poem "Loisaida" in 1974. In 1992, Avenue C was re-named "Loisaida Avenue."
Wikipedia: Bimbo Rivas
Bittman John "Bimbo" Rivas (November 11, 1939 – May 21, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor, community activist, director, playwright, poet, and teacher who lived in the Lower East Side of New York City. He also served in the U.S. Air Force. He was one of the pioneers of the Nuyorican Movement and was involved in the Nuyorican Poets Café.
Based on his experiences, Rivas wrote the poem "Loisaida", coining the term that today gives the Lower East Side its nickname. On May 27, 1992, Avenue C became known as Loisaida Avenue.
Newspapers.com
13 July 1976, The Journal-News (Nyack, NY), "Ethnic purity tours?," pg. 6A, col. 1:
...or, for $8, a trip through "some of the great ethnic communities of New York", including the Hispanic Loisaida Community, the multi-ethnic Henry Street settlement, Little Italy or Chinatown.
7 January 1977, New York (NY) Times, pg. 25:
The Magi, or Three Wise Men, visited a Puerto Rican community on the Lower East Side yesterday afternoon.
Their parade route led them through Loisaida (the neighborhood south of 14th Street, east of Avenue A) where they viewed abandoned buildings now being renovated by residents on East 11th Street.
Newspapers.com
11 September 1977, Daily News (New York, NY), "Youth Gang Fights Battle on Poverty" by Martin King, pg. M1, col. 1:
But the big event of the summer was a block party or festival held over the Labor Day weekend and featuring A Band Called Loisaida, a group which is almost an integral part of the Katos gang.
Newspapers.com
13 December 1978, Ithaca (NY) Journal, "Hispanics are a growing minority" by Mort Rosenblum (Associated Press Writer), pg. 44, col. 3:
The street -- officially, 24th Street -- is in San Francisco. But it is no less Latin that New York's "Loisaida" -- Lower East Side -- or sections of many major U.S. cities.
NYS Historic Newspapers
13 November 1980, The Villager (Greenwich Village, NY), pg. 1, col. 1:
The Loisaida Purchase
Newspapers.com
4 December 1980, Daily News (New York, NY), "Gentrification comes to the lower East Side" by Jan Hodenfield, pg. W3, col. 1:
Ave. A. is still the DMZ. While the one side has the East Village since the days of hippie heaven, the other side has become known, by Spanish-speaking locals, as Loisaida, and, by handrubbing realtors, as Alphabet City.
27 May 1981, New York (NY) Times, letters, pg. C8:
Loisaida, actually, is the area between 14th and Houston Streets, from Avenue A east. This sunny, flowery, Spanish-flavored name for the Lower East Side was conferred on an unpromising piece of real estate by our Puerto Rican fellow residents to cheer things up a bit. The title, pronounced lo-ee-SIDE-ah. was in use before 1977, when I moved here to start the magazine The Quality of Life in Loisaida. Bimbo Rivas, poet and playwright, is credited with first applying the name and using it in a poem.