Rainy Day in El Barrio

Our first years in New York City were spent on the border of the Upper East Side and East Harlem. It didn’t take long to realize that whenever we craved flavor—both in food and in life—all we had to do was cross East 97th Street. And that’s the thing about New York: a single street can transport you to a different world.

We eventually moved to El Barrio - as a Filipino, I felt an immediate connection to its energy. The air was thick with the rhythm of Latin music, the scent of home-cooked meals spilling onto the sidewalks. Tíos and Tías gathered on stoops, catching up on the day’s gossip, their laughter and conversations blending into the street’s natural soundtrack. It was loud, it was chaotic—and it was exactly what I had missed from home.

El Barrio is a place where life spills onto the streets, where culture is alive in every block. It’s where you can find yourself caught in an impromptu salsa dance at Pabade on a Saturday morning, swept up in the spontaneity of the moment.