Little Spain vanished from New York decades ago, now one woman just brought it back

Move over Little Italy and Chinatown. Manhattan has just changed a piece of its street map, and the story behind the return of Little Spain is one that anyone passionate about their roots will appreciate.

Growing up on stories of Calle Catorce

Michelle Miron grew up in Brooklyn hearing about a Spanish corner of Manhattan that barely exists anymore. Her Galician father used to tell her about the dances, the restaurants and the community feel that once filled West 14th Street, a stretch that locals nicknamed “Calle Catorce”. At its peak, roughly 30,000 Spaniards called this small patch of the West Side home. Restaurants such as Cafe Madrid, La Bilbaina, Bar Coruña and Trocadero Valencia lined the block, shops sold paella pans and Spanish magazines, and Casa Moneo kept the whole neighbourhood stocked with a taste of home from 1929 onwards.

A community sitting in the background

Little Spain never grabbed headlines the way Little Italy or Chinatown did, but its influence was most definitely there. Two household names, Goya and Cafe Bustelo, trace their roots back to this very community. Miron points out a curious detail, tiles at the nearby Eighth Avenue subway station carry the red and yellow of the Spanish flag, though historians have never confirmed whether that’s a deliberate tribute or simple coincidence.

Working as Director of Institutional Relations at La Nacional, the oldest Spanish cultural organisation in the United States, Miron spent years listening to former residents and members share their memories. “We know the story of the Italians, that’s why Little Italy exists. We know the Chinese community’s story, that’s why we have Chinatown,” she explained. “Almost nobody knows the story of Spanish immigration to New York.” That realisation started a four-year long campaign to give the corner of West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue an honorary “co-naming”, a second name that sits side by side proudly with the official street sign.

Petitions, paperwork and a lot of patience

Getting there took real determination and grit. Every signature of support had to come from a verified local resident, and Miron’s first attempt at collecting them stalled badly, partly because technology wasn’t much help back then. Things picked up two years later once petitions moved online, however strict deadlines meant a single slip could have sent her back to square one. Manhattan Community Board 4 eventually backed the plan unanimously in January 2026, recognising La Nacional’s long history of supporting the Hispanic community.

The new street sign that keeps a community’s memory alive

Spanish immigration to the area slowed sharply after 1965, when new US immigration rules made it harder for Europeans to settle there, and by the 1990s most of the old shops and restaurants had closed for good. One tradition lived on a little longer: the annual Feast of St James, when residents held a feria and paraded a statue of the saint down 14th Street, filled the block with music, culture and food. These days, Spanish food culture has found a flashier home nearby too, at chef Jose Andres’s Mercado Little Spain in Hudson Yards, though Miron is keen for people to remember where it all really began.

Now, anyone looking up at the corner of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue will spot a new sign reading “Little Spain–La Nacional Way”. “I don’t want it to only be about looking backwards,” she said. “It’s a way of honouring the achievements and sacrifices of those who came before, but it’s also a call to new generations to add something of their own and keep Spanish culture alive.”