A giant steel image of the flag of Puerto Rico greet visitors to the Paseo Boricua in Humboldt Park (Antonio Zavala)
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CHICAGO – To walk along Division Street in Chicago is to immerse yourself in the culture of Puerto Rico. This stretch of Division Street from Western Avenue to California Avenue, on the southeast edge of Humboldt Park, is as much Puerto Rico as the island itself.
They call it the Paseo Boricua.
Officially known as Humboldt Park, the community takes its name from the vast park that is next to it. Two huge Puerto Rican steel flags on either end of Division Street let you know you are in the city’s lively Puerto Rican enclave.
Back in the 1960s this was a forgotten community. In fact, Humboldt Park was the only Hispanic community to have rioted in the 1960s to protest police brutality and to be cut off from any meaningful services.
But today all that has changed as the Puerto Rican community has ample political representation at all levels and its culture seems to have flourished to the delight and amazement of its 102,703 residents of Puerto Rican extraction.
And on February 8, the Puerto Rican community had one more reason to celebrate. Its Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) was designated by the Chicago Park District as a Museum-in-the-Park, one of eight such ethnic museums in the city.
The institute has been housed for the last ten years and now it will become the first museum in the country dedicated to the arts, culture and history of Puerto Rico.
“This is a historic day for Chicago’s Puerto Rican community,” said Ray Vazquez, president of the board of IPRAC when he got the news. “But more importantly, it speaks to Chicago’s commitment to diversity.”
Jose Lopez, the executive director of IPRAC said the victory for the new museum belongs to the entire Puerto Rican community.
“This is an accomplishment of the Puerto Rican community but also of the residents of the rest of the city,” said Lopez. “The city will have another cultural offering.”
Lopez said becoming a museum will permit the Puerto Rican institute to be considered for grants and subsidies from philanthropic institutions and even from some city departments.
As a result, according to Lopez, the new museum will be able to expand its vision and organize exhibits that connect the city’s Puerto Rican community with the 4 million people of Puerto Rican ancestry in the rest of the country and the other 4 million inhabitants of the island of Puerto Rico.
The museum itself consists of several galleries, classrooms, office space and a gift shop stacked with books and cultural souvenirs from the island of Puerto Rico.
The building has historic landmark status and it used to house stables at the turn of the 20th century. Several exhibits are already on display here, including one titled: “Un Año de Martorell en Chicago,” which consists of large black silhouettes on white paper hanging from the ceiling by Puerto Rican artist Antonio Martorell. Another is a photo exhibit of this Puerto Rican community as it was in the 1960s.
Julio Urrutia, assistant director, and Nereida Aviles, employee, in front of the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, home of a new museum. (Antonio Zavala)
A New Tourist Attraction
Merchants along Division Street hope the new museum will act as a magnet to attract new tourists to this “Pedacito de Patria” (a piece of the Fatherland), as locals here call this unique neighborhood.
And it’s not an exaggeration either. The Paseo Boricua along Division Street has a series of metal plaques on the sidewalk with the names of famous Puerto Rican figures such as Willie Colon and others.
Even honorary street names here suggest you are visiting Puerto Rico. There is a Gobernadora Sila M. Calderon sign above one street and a Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos sign above another.
On the east end of the Paseo Boricua sits Clemente High School, an eight-story school named after the famous baseball star who died in 1972 in a plane crash while taking emergency aid to Nicaragua.
Dozens of organizations and businesses dot the area such as Lily’s Record Shop which stocks and sells thousands of salsa records and musical instruments such as congas, guiros, plenas and even jibaro hats and more.
“If the museum focuses on the culture and art of Puerto Rico this will attract new visitors and it will help the local businesses,” said an employee of Lily’s Record Shop, who asked not to be identified.
Outside visitors always pause at Café Colao, another popular stop on Division Street, to sip coffee and absorb the local culture.
“We support anything that has to do with the culture and music of Puerto Rico, “said Café Colao employee Eliza Ortiz about the possibility that the Puerto Rican museum will draw new business to the area.
At least that has been the case in other neighborhoods with local museums located in neighborhood parks.
The National Museum of Mexican Art in the Pilsen neighborhood attracts busloads of students and tourists, who after visiting the museum wander into the rest of the neighborhood to shop, eat and sight see.
Culture and Identity
The new museum has the potential to shape the cultural identity of future generations, said a local educator interviewed by VOXXI News.
“The fact that IPRAC is so close to our school, it helps not only as a resource for our students and teachers but it helps in being able to create a space where we can go and teach our young people and help them learn about themselves as Puerto Ricans, so it’s a great resource,” said Ruben Herrera, a mentor with Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, an alternative school for 175 students.
Herrera said the designation of the new museum is a “momentous occasion” mainly because the Puerto Rican community fought hard and long to achieve this dream.
“I’m extremely excited as a Puerto Rican born and raised here in Humboldt Park,” said Herrera. “IPRAC and now the new museum is an example of the fruit of our struggle.”
Lily’s Record Shop in Humboldt Park is home to the nation’s largest collection of salsa records. (Antonio Zavala)
