Google Maps has incorporated the name of Little Dominican Republic to a large area of Upper Manhattan. The area was officially given the name in September 2018. The footprint goes from 145th Street to 220th Street.
Uptown Collective, an online news site, and the Rick H. Podcast sent out tweets on Tuesday, 24 March celebrating the Google addition.
Social media was buzzing on Tuesday in celebration of the Little Dominican Republic name appearing in large font on Google Maps next to neighborhoods like Inwood, Fort George, Hudson Heights, and Washington Heights.
Patch, a local news platform, reports it isn’t sure when the Little Dominican Republic name was uploaded to the Google map on Manhattan, but that there are references and pictures of the new name appearing on the online map dating back to November 2020.
“There is so much that we as Dominicans have to offer and be proud of,” Rosita Romero, Executive Director of the Dominican Women’s Development Center in 2018, told the Manhattan Times at the time of the official name addition. “The name ‘Little DR’ is attractive to people of all ages and nationalities who want to immerse themselves in a unique cultural experience without having to leave the United States.”
Dominican-born Congressman Adriano Espaillat had suggested Google incorporate the name of the district that identifies the neighborhoods of Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights and Inwood in Upper Manhattan as “Little Dominican Republic.”
“In my resolution before Congress, H.R. 77, I requested that the official name change of Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood and recognize the significant contributions that Dominican-Americans make to our society and to celebrate our pride and culture”, Espaillat said.
“I am proud to see my resolution come true to recognize the presence of the Dominican community and our contributions to Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood with the official name change and designation of our community as “Little Dominican Republic”, which is now added to Google Maps,” he remarked.
The resolution for the name change was presented to the city government of New York during the Great Dominican Parade in the Bronx, on 29 July 2017, and included from the 135th to 218th St.
In September of 2018, Little Dominican Republic was proclaimed an official designation in Washington Heights’ Inwood neighborhood, home to one of the largest Dominican communities in the world. Little DR is a commercial and cultural designation for Inwood that provides a platform for recognizing the socio-cultural contributions the largest Dominican community outside of the Dominican Republic through immersive tours and events that showcase products that reflect the Dominican culture, heritage and neighborhood pride.
Hundreds of thousands of Dominicans and their businesses give the area a truly Dominican flavor. The congressman came to proclaim to the crowd, at that time, “just as there is Chinatown, Little Italy, there should be a neighborhood that honors the Dominican community, and what better way to be in Upper Manhattan, which is the cradle of the Quisqueyana community, a working community that makes great contributions in all areas to this nation, and exercises its voting power.”
Read more:
Patch
Little Dominican Republic
NY1
WNYC
El Dia
26 March 2021