Paper short abstract:

In the 1960s and 70s, the New York City Puerto Rican tradition of building casitas began as a grassroots response to urban renewal’s effect on the urban landscape. Transforming abandoned space into places to feel at home, this paper examines Casita Rincón Criollo, one of city’s best-known casitas.

Paper long abstract:

In New York City, "casita" (or "little house") refers to the small Puerto Rican structures and community gardens that dot landscape, tucked amongst the high-rise structures that dominate the skyline. In the 1960s and 70s, urban renewal, industry relocation, and other factors created a growth in vacant and abandoned property. Concerned individuals began to take action. It was against this backdrop that the New York Puerto Rican tradition of creating casitas and gardens on vacant city lots began. Turning these spaces into places to feel at home, casitas were designed to physically evoke the vernacular architecture and environment of Puerto Rico. Sites included wooden structures as well as gardens and other recreational amenities as places to gather and share. Casitas tended to be built as impermanent structures because community members often erected them illegally on abandoned lots. Such was the case with Casita Rincón Criollo, built and founded by José "Chema" Soto around 1970. One of the city's oldest and best-known casitas, Rincón Criollo is known most significantly for its role as an important incubator for the musical genres of bomba and plena in the region and nation. In 2011, the American Folklore Society Working Group in Folklore and Historic Preservation Policy began a pilot project to recognize Rincón Criollo on the United States National Register of Historic Places. The on-going project, despite its many challenges, has important ramifications for Rincón Criollo, as National Register listing is a cornerstone in US preservation policy.