Puerto Ricans begin settling in New York's East Harlem. The area eventually becomes the largest Puerto Rican neighborhood in the U.S. and is often called "Spanish Harlem" or "El Barrio"

The "great wave" of Puerto Rican immigration to New York City begins as large numbers of Puerto Ricans arrive after the end of World War II. Most come searching for better opportunities and employment in the U.S.'s booming economy. The huge numbers of immigrants continue through the 1960s before slowing down. Today, more than 1 million Puerto Ricans live in New York City alone — more than in Puerto Rico's capital of San Juan.

Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez is born in New York City. Alvarez is the award-winning author of Yo!; How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents; In the Time of the Butterflies; and numerous other works of fiction and poetry.

New York holds its first Puerto Rican Day Parade. The parade later becomes the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in 1995 and a fixture in New York City's annual cultural events.

After the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, emigration laws become much looser in the Dominican Republic. Thousands of Dominicans leave their homeland and come to the United States. More than three quarters of these immigrants settles in New York, primarily in New York's Washington Heights and Inwood sections. Only the Dominican Republic's capital of Santo Domingo has a larger Dominican population than New York City. Today, Dominicans are New York City's largest ethnic population, eclipsing Puerto Ricans.

Oscar de la Renta, a Dominican-American fashion designer, opens his own shop in New York. His work is met with great critical acclaim.

In a protest aimed at raising awareness of the needs of the Puerto Rican community, the Young Lords, a Puerto Rican student activist group, shut down the City College of New York, East Harlem People's Church, and Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. Their activities help establish Puerto Rican studies departments in universities and lead to the creation of other Puerto Rican activist groups.

The "Nuyorican Poet's Café" is founded in New York's Lower East Side. It is founded by a group of Puerto Rican New Yorkers (sometimes called "Nuyorican"). In 1993, the Municipal Society of New York declared the Cafe one of the "Living Treasures of New York."

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announces that June 7 through June 14 is Puerto Rican Week in New York City.