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Before West 14th Street became a corridor of chain stores and crowded subway entrances, one block between Seventh and Eighth Avenues was known as Calle Catorce—or Little Spain.
Now, the neighborhood’s name is returning to the corner: the intersection of West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue will be co-named “Little Spain–La Nacional Way,” commemorating the generations of Spanish immigrants who made this stretch between Chelsea and Greenwich Village their home during the 20th century.
Little Spain never became quite as famous as Manhattan’s Little Italy or Chinatown, but it developed its own tightly knit collection of restaurants, shops, religious institutions and social clubs. Businesses including La Bilbaína, Trocadero Valencia, Bar Coruña, Café Madrid, Mesón Flamenco and El Faro served the community, while Iberia supplied Spanish clothing. Casa Moneo, a Spanish food and gift shop, opened at 210 West 14th Street in 1929.
Two institutions anchored the neighborhood: the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, founded in 1902 as Spanish immigrants began settling in the area and La Nacional–Spanish Benevolent Society. Founded in 1868, La Nacional became both a gathering place and a safety net for newcomers, helping Spanish immigrants establish lives in New York while maintaining ties to their language and culture.
The neighborhood’s biggest celebration was the annual feast of St. James, which continued until the mid-1990s. For the occasion, residents paraded an image of the saint along 14th Street, cleared traffic from the block and filled the neighborhood with Spanish food, music, and folk performances.
Little Spain even had a connection to one of New York’s most famous actors. During the 1950s, a young Robert De Niro reportedly lived with his mother, artist Virginia Admiral, in a top-floor studio at 219 West 14th Street owned by Galician entrepreneur José García.
Over the decades, many of Little Spain’s businesses closed and much of the community dispersed. La Nacional, however, remains at 239 West 14th Street.
The new street sign will be unveiled at noon on Monday, September 21, during Hispanic Heritage Month. A reception at La Nacional will follow, but the lasting attraction will be overhead: a permanent reminder that this heavily traveled Manhattan corner was once the heart of Calle Catorce.