Loisaida, I love you. Your buildings are burning up

October 13, 2022 4:29 PM

A Spoken History Of The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe started in a small New York City living room in 1973 and has since then nurtured countless artists, such as poet Pedro Pietri (“Puerto Rican Obituary”). Today, the Cafe continues to hold space in Losaida (Lower East Side's Puerto Rican & Hispanic community as renamed by artist Bimbo Rivas) and online. Aja Monet, who was the youngest poet to win the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe Grandslam Championship, speaks about the importance of the space in an interview just last month.
posted by spamandkimchi (5 comments total)

Man, I used to love going there back in HS. They definitely did *not* card. The poetry was awesome. The whole thing felt super cool. And the Lower East Side was very much not what it is now.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 7:07 PM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

Thanks for posting this-- looking forward to digging in.
posted by travertina at 7:58 AM on October 14, 2022

I somehow got an anthology from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in high school, and I loved it and read favorite poems over and over - not the same as a poetry slam, but a big expansion of my world as a sheltered small-town Bible belt teen when the internet was still nascent. Giving diverse voices space is good for everyone!
posted by momus_window at 11:05 AM on October 14, 2022

I recall going to the Nuyorican when I lived in Manhattan in the mid 90s. One night we started chatting with the guy in front of us in line waiting to get in. He told us that in fact he was performing that night! He was brilliant onstage. His name was Justin Chin, sadly gone before his time.
posted by vacapinta at 6:14 AM on October 15, 2022

When MF Doom appeared.
posted by lkc at 4:00 PM on October 16, 2022