Layout of the Area

Long before it became a complex for the performing arts, the site of Lincoln Center was home to one of the largest black neighborhoods in Manhattan, San Juan Hill.  San Juan Hill, within the borders of larger Lincoln Square, was located between 59th and 65th streets between Amsterdam Avenue and 11th Avenue.   

     

This map shows the area as it was in 1939.  

 

In contrast, this map shows the same area in 1990, when, as you can see, instead of individual streets, the area is made up of squares that include various streets that were once separate.Similarly, the aerial views also changed greatly.  

   

Above is an aerial view of the future Lincoln Center site in 1955.

 

This is a more recent aerial view of the same blocks.  

Neighborhood Characteristics

The neighborhood of San Juan Hill was home to working class and poor residents, and full of brownstones, tenements, warehouses, and industrial lofts.  It was notorious for two reasons: race conflicts and a thriving arts community.  The large African-American population often clashed with the Irish and Italians who lived in neighboring Hell's Kitchen as well as to the east and north. These race riots were so fierce that many believe that the neighborhood was named San Juan Hill as a way of comparing these conflicts to those fought during the Spanish-American War.  

On the other hand, San Juan Hill also had cafes, music halls and theaters, and became a place where one could find a wide selection of jazz, opera, rock' n 'roll, plays, musical theater, and the visual arts.  Theaters in the area attracted such artists as Fred and Adele Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk.  Monk was one of a community of artists who also came to call San Juan Hill home.    

Changing Times

The first major changes came to San Juan Hill after World War II when, in 1947, all of the tenements located between 61st and 64th streets were torn down to make way for the Amsterdam Houses, a cluster of 13 public housing buildings in an unusual, natural setting. 

In the mid-1950s, the neighborhood experienced even greater change, when Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill were deemed a "blighted slum ripe for urban renewal" by the Mayor's Committee on Slum Clearance, under the direction of Robert Moses.  The residents fought against this declaration, but they were unsuccessful.  In 1958, nearly 17,000 residents of Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill were forced to leave, and the area was cleared to become the site of Lincoln Center and various high-rise buildings.