Puerto Rican and Latin American immigration after the First World War[REF] established an enclave at the western portion of East Harlem - around 110th Street and Lexington Avenue - which became known as "Spanish Harlem".
In the 1950s and 1960s, large sections of East Harlem were leveled for urban renewal projects, and the neighborhood was one of the hardest hit areas in the 1960s and 1970s as New York City struggled with deficits, race riots, urban flight, gang warfare, drug abuse, crime and poverty.