Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In the first half of the twentieth century, the area where Lincoln Center now stands was known by another name: San Juan Hill. The neighborhood’s clubs and theaters nurtured creative geniuses like James P. Johnson, Josephine Baker, Rogelio “Ram” Ramirez, and Thelonious Monk. Home to a largely working-class community, San Juan Hill was redlined in the 1930s and targeted by “urban renewal” in the 1940s and 1950s, when thousands of residents were displaced to make way for Amsterdam Houses, Lincoln Center, Fordham University, and additional developments. Their stories of home, belonging, and resilience have gone untold for far too long… until now. San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood, a documentary directed by Stanley Nelson and narrated by Ariana DeBose, traces the neighborhood’s rise and fall—and celebrates the people, arts, and culture whose enduring legacy still resonates today.
Presented by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in association with Film at Lincoln Center. This film is made possible by support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
In the first half of the twentieth century, the area where Lincoln Center now stands was known by another name: San Juan Hill. The neighborhood’s clubs and theaters nurtured creative geniuses like James P. Johnson, Josephine Baker, Rogelio “Ram” Ramirez, and Thelonious Monk. Home to a largely working-class community, San Juan Hill was redlined in the 1930s and targeted by “urban renewal” in the 1940s and 1950s, when thousands of residents were displaced to make way for Amsterdam Houses, Lincoln Center, Fordham University, and additional developments. Their stories of home, belonging, and resilience have gone untold for far too long… until now. San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood, a documentary directed by Stanley Nelson and narrated by Ariana DeBose, traces the neighborhood’s rise and fall—and celebrates the people, arts, and culture whose enduring legacy still resonates today.
Presented by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in association with Film at Lincoln Center. This film is made possible by support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
