Little Dominican Republic (Washington Heights and Inwood)
The northern Manhattan communities of Washington Heights and Inwood have received many immigrants from the Dominican Republic since the 1960s. “The little Dominican Republics of Washington Heights” was printed in the Daily News (New York, NY) in 1990, and “Little Dominican Republic NYC” (for Washington Heights) was printed in a 1998 book.
Both Washington Heights and Inwood were officially nicknamed the “Little Dominican Republic” in 2018.
Washington Heights has also been called “Quisqueya Heights.” “Quisqueya” is an informal nickname of the Dominican Republic.
Wikipedia: Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the northern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The area, with over 150,000 inhabitants as of 2010, is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on the island of Manhattan by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the British forces. Washington Heights is bordered by Harlem to the south, along 155th Street, Inwood to the north along Dyckman Street or Hillside Avenue, the Hudson River to the west, and the Harlem River and Coogan’s Bluff to the east.
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Ethnic makeup
Today the majority of the neighborhood’s population is of Dominican birth or descent (the area is sometimes referred to as “Quisqueya Heights”), and Spanish is frequently heard spoken on the streets.[99] Washington Heights has been the most important base for Dominican accomplishment in political, non-profit, cultural, and athletic arenas in the United States since the 1960s. Most of the neighborhood businesses are locally owned. Many Dominican immigrants come to network and live with family members.
4 March 1990, Daily News (New York, NY), “New York Needs John Gotti” by Jerome Charyn, pg. 35, col. 3:
But there’s also another New York: the brick sand dunes of the South Bronx, the back streets of Harlem, the new Odessa of Brighton Beach, the little Dominican Republics of Washington Heights, and those vast bedroom communities of Brooklyn and Queens.
Google Books
Diary of a Dirty Boy:
Collected Writings of Luis Miguel Fuentes
By Luis Miguel Fuentes
New York, NY: Wallace Hamilton Press
1998
Pg. 18:
I invite them for a Friday-Sunday sleepover and adventure in my Washington Heights apartment. For two suburban white boys to say “yes” to a weekend in Little Dominican Republic NYC, this should be interesting.
Google Books
Fast Food, Fast Track:
Immigrants, Big Business, And The American Dream
By Jennifer Parker Talwar
Boulder, CO: Westview Press
2004
Pg. 33:
Little Dominican Republic The northern part of Washington Heights (commonly referred to as “Little Dominican Republic”), located above Harlem between 170th Street and the tip of Manhattan at 218th Street, has received a steady stream of mmigrants since 1965, mainly from the Dominican Republic. Dominicans are one of the largest immigrant groups in New York City, and this community in Little Dominican Republic is the largest group of Dominicans outside the Dominican Republic.
Twitter
Frigga
@LiLFridayHOE
Wash heights is Little Dominican Republic @MAXsoul
5:46 PM - 4 Mar 2009
Twitter
Patrice Elizabeth
@SolWorksInk
off to washington heights aka little dominican republic.
4:30 PM - 16 Oct 2009
Untapped Cities—New York
NYC’s Micro Neighborhoods: Little Dominican Republic in Washington Heights, Manhattan
Brennan Ortiz 02/11/2014 GUIDES, NEW YORK
Little Dominican Republic
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Amidst the hills of Upper Manhattan, one can find New York’s Little Dominican Republic. The Washington Heights neighborhood, also referred to by locals as “The Heights,” is pleasantly nestled between Fort Washington Park (whose secrets are revealed here) and Highbridge Park. Sharing the northernmost tip of Manhattan with its sister neighborhood Inwood, both communities hold one of the greatest concentrations of Dominicans not only throughout the five boroughs, but outside of the Dominican Republic. The migration of Dominicans into this section of the city has resulted in one of the most culturally vibrant neighborhoods on the island of Manhattan.
WNYC
Welcome to the Little Dominican Republic
Sep 7, 2018 · by Beth Fertig
Dominicans have deep ties to Washington Heights. But with their population slipping, the neighborhood around W. 175th St. and Broadway is now officially being dubbed the Little Dominican Republic in an effort to boost tourism and cultural pride.
PIX11
Some residents say ‘Little Dominican Republic’ is not little enough
POSTED 8:31 PM, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018, BY JAMES FORD
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan — At nearly 1 million strong, it’s a community of significant influence in New York City, and now, New Yorkers with roots in the Dominican Republic have a part of the city that’s both named after, and dedicated to, them.
Not everyone is pleased with the new designation, however, and a few of its details remain unclear.
The new district, called Little Dominican Republic, was unveiled in a ceremony on Friday afternoon that was led by its sponsor, Democratic state senator Marisol Alcántara.
Manhattan Times (NY)
La República, Resized
“Little Dominican Republic” unveiled
Story and photos by Gregg McQueen
September 10, 2018
Call it the Caribbean condition – and add it to the list with Little Italy and Chinatown.
Cultural leaders joined with uptown elected officials to announce that the neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood, the largest Dominican community outside of the Dominican Republic, have been designated as “Little Dominican Republic.”
The commercial and cultural designation is intended to highlight the contributions of Dominicans to the area while boosting tourism, officials said during a press conference at Plaza de Las Americas on September 7.
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The initiative is a collaboration with CaribBEING, an organization that builds awareness of Caribbean heritage, the Washington Heights Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights (NMCIR), and Catholic Charities/Alianza Dominicana.
amNewYork
Why Manhattan’s ‘Little Dominican Republic’ is a home away from home for recent immigrants
Locals in Washington Heights and Inwood say an official designation just reflects what’s been true for years.
By Allegra Hobbs
Special to amNewYork
Updated September 23, 2018 4:48 PM
A large swath of upper Manhattan spanning Washington Heights and Inwood is now dubbed a “Little Dominican Republic” — the cultural and commercial designation was put in place this month by elected officials in a symbolic gesture recognizing the contributions of the Dominican immigrant population that spans the conjoined neighborhoods.
But to longtime locals who have lived, worked and started businesses there, the city blocks stretching from 145th Street in Washington Heights to 220th Street in Inwood have always been a Little Dominican Republic — the city is just now catching on to what Dominicans have known for decades, they say.