A Guide to Latino and Hispanic Cultural and Historic Sites in Greater Philadelphia

Part retail music store, part music history center, iconic Centro Musical has been open for more than 60 years. Here, Latin music — mostly Puerto Rican and Cuban salsa and jazz — pulses from the North 5th Street storefront. Inside, visitors find a plethora of records, instruments, souvenirs and merchandise, and it’s common for guests to gather around musicians and vocalists playing bongos, congos, tambourines, guitars, keyboards and maracas. Come for the collectibles, stay for the impromptu performances.

Taller Puertoriqueño’s El Corazón Cultural Center is a 25,000-square-foot North 5th Street cultural center and arts institution where neighbors play and learn in classrooms, dance halls, theater rooms and art studios. Here, visitors frequent the rotating exhibits at the Hispanic Association Contractor Enterprises (HACE) art gallery; shop for local arts, crafts and bilingual books; and celebrate cultural milestones like Neighbors: Exploring 200 Years of Puerto Rican History in Philadelphia.

What began as a faith-based nonprofit organization has evolved into a space for Latin America and Caribbean arts and educational programming. Esperanza Art Center (EAC) works with local arts partners like The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia Latinx Film & Arts Festival (PHLAFF) and others to preserve and expand Latin musical and cultural traditions. The EAC features Artistas y Músicos Latinx Americanos music education, live performances, artist residencies and workshops, recording and broadcast facilities, and events for all ages.

Longtime musicians Los Bomberos de la Calle operate this cultural center and workshop space offering all-ages music education in West Kensington. Founder Anthony (Tony) Mendez started the group in the 2010s performing traditional Afro-Puerto Rican bomba y plena (energetic, soulful call and response drum-filed song and dance) in parks, at Taller Puertoriqueño and Las Parcelas, and at neighbors’ homes. Now they also host classes and event entertainment services, plus merch and baked goods.

Most known for its annual Noche de Bohemia and Feria del Barrio events, Raíces has hosted all-ages exhibitions, music and dance performances, tertulias (lecture presentations) and workshops since the 1980s. Enthusiastic crowds travel near and far (events take place in Philly, D.C., Jersey and elsewhere) to experience Latin American folkloric dancers and musicians like Latin bolero and Guatemalan marimba concerts. Check out a two-story wall-to-wall mural called “Celebrando Nuestra Cultura” by Jason Slowik honoring Raíces at its previous headquarters at 2757 North 5th Street.

Fleisher Art Memorial has been an arts incubator for up-and-coming artists in Philadelphia since 1898, with many Hispanic teachers at the helm. Fleisher offers culturally inclusive programs that bring community visions to life. El Mercado Cultural, 360 Culture Lab and Bring Your Own Project invite marginalized communities to a series of place-making arts and crafts that “tell and preserve their story, identity, and tradition.” Fleisher also hosts a mobile art studio, ceramics studio and El Día de los Muertos events.

This Germantown space hosts artists, artisans, DJs, cooks and neighbors for monthly exhibitions and performances. Founded in 2012 by executive director Rocio Cabello and artistic director Renny Molenaar, the gallery has been a pillar for artistic freedom, inviting diverse perspectives and experimental presentations in artists’ work. Beyond exhibits, visitors flock here for artist talks and Friday Night Rumbas celebrating Afro-Cuban drumming traditions.

This Fishtown gallery showcases antiques and unique artifacts from Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America. Think: one-of-a-kind Mexican prints and paintings, Nicaraguan “primitivista” paintings, Brazilian folk pottery, dance masks from Bolivia, Venezuelan wood sculptures, Amazonian textiles and more. While gallery hours fluctuate, you can book an appointment to visit or browse the online marketplace for gifts like home decor items, notecards, postcards, ornaments, toys and dolls.

For over 50 years, The Bride has pushed the boundaries of how people “create and experience art.” Its art exhibits and installations tend to be long-term projects featuring Hispanic and Latinx artists like Noél Puéllo, Mayte Olmedilla and Zara Martina López, among others. Artists in residence range from visual artists and theatre artists to poets, dancers and musicians. In addition to art shows, The Bride hosts intimate social and cultural events.

Open since 1887, the Penn Museum houses global archaeological and anthropological artifacts. The Mexico & Central America Gallery showcases 250 artifacts, including four larger-than-life Mayan monuments, Aztec sculptures, Guatemalan limestone monuments, yarn paintings by indigenous people of Northwest Mexico and more. Also on view is a multimedia space with gold pieces from areas that are now Panama and Costa Rica.

This must-visit museum boasts an impressive collection of exhibits and galleries representative of Hispanic and Latino culture and artists, including Catholic subjects and scenes, Mexican ceramics, and a special long-term display of Diego Rivera’s frescos in the attraction’s Black and Gallos Gallery 273. Other highlights from Mexican Modernist holdings are The Mad Dog by Rufino Tamayo, The Giants by David Alfaro Siqueiros, Still Life by Juan Soriano, A Cloud’s Roots by María Berrío and All about the Benjamins Century Vase by Roberto Lugo.

Since 1988, Vox Populi has been a contemporary art space providing critical exposure for under-represented artists. Members include visual and performing artists, writers/poets, filmmakers and curators/community organizers. Here, monthly exhibitions, gallery talks, performances, film/video screenings and lectures showcase experimental work by artists like Emmanuela Soria Ruiz, Eugenio Salas, Raúl Romero and Victor Vieira-Branco.

Notsolatin has been referred to as Philadelphia’s version of NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” with its intimate-style performances by Hispanic and Latino musicians. It was founded in 2018 by musicians from Chile and Cuba as a performance venue, recording studio and cultural center. Notsolatin hosts public ensemble concerts — with music styles including jazz, Spanish tango, South American folk, big band, Afro-Caribbean and Latin American percussionon — on Ritner Street in South Philly. Previous performers include Julius Rodriguez, El Sesenta tango dúo, Eco del Sur and Los Bomberos de la Calle. All events are donation-based and seating is first come, first served.

Power Street Theatre (PST) is a Latino-led production company that connects multicultural and intergenerational communities through the performing arts. PST hosts theater productions, open mics, community story circles, and quarterly free adult theatre classes in the North and West Philadelphia neighborhoods. Previous shows and events include the musical Siluetas by award-winning resident playwright Erlina Ortiz, the Souletri Fest arts festival during Hispanic Heritage Month, and a Land and Body student showcase highlighting from their Collaborative Theatre Making class.

One of Philadelphia’s best-known landmarks has a sister statue just a short walk north from LOVE Park. In 2015, artist Robert Indiana designed AMOR, a six-foot-tall sculpture as the Spanish version of the artist’s iconic LOVE sculpture. It remains on view — and a popular selfie spot — at Sister Cities Park along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. AMOR was recently added to the Association of Public Art’s ”Museum Without Walls” audio program, including an archival recording of the late artist.

Miguel Antonio Horn is a contemporary Latin American sculptor and artist whose work has been displayed at Monument Lab, Brandywine Workshop & Archives, Paradigm Gallery + Studio and elsewhere. Suspended 20 feet above Cuthbert Street, Horn’s ContraFuerte consists of two groups of bodies (made of thousands of aluminum plates), intertwined and linked by a small bridge that crosses the street. Its title, ContraFuerte, or counterforce, plays on the idea of pushing and pulling and is an exercise in integrating art into the existing built environment.

Guggenheim Fellow and Puerto Rican artist Pepón Osorio’s first permanent public art installation, I have a story to tell you…,  is an outdoor casita depicting personal stories, events and community moments of Philadelphia-area Puerto Ricans. Installed in 2003 and commissioned by the Association for Public Art, it remains Congreso’s signature courtyard feature; a representation of the community history and functional centerpiece with glass panels of enlarged, illuminated black-and-white photographs. The outdoor courtyard installation is accessible to visitors during business hours, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Since the 1980s, Mural Arts Philadelphia has supported public art projects by Hispanic and Latino street artists, including muralists and graffiti writers. Today, the city boasts almost 60 expansive outdoor murals that adorn exterior walls, bridges, overpasses, commercial structures and community centers. Among the renowned artworks are We Here at Digital Atelier Kensington,  History of Puerto Ricans in America in Norris Square and Eric Okdeh’s How We Fish on North 8th Street.

Bucks County’s significant Puerto Rican population has led to the founding of several organizations, including the Puerto Rican Cultural Association of Bucks County, The Hispanic Heritage Foundation and Communidad Hispaña Unida de Bristol. As a result, a monument was commissioned in Basin Park in 1998. Mixed cultures of Puerto Rico are represented by historical markers, hieroglyphics and faces on a small model of El Morro Castle in Viejo San Juan; these include Taino, European and West African influences.

Walls for Justice by artists Sam Rodriguez and Becky McIntyre began in response to the nationwide protests during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. These colorful patterned mural paintings contain hopeful messages and positive imagery of social justice. At Cherry Street Pier Studio 8, the mural was painted by dozens of community members and reads “Liberty in Action” and “Change the World.” In 2022, Rodriguez and the team created another mural painting entitled We the People of Tomorrow at the Philadelphia International Airport (see Terminal A-East Baggage Claim) that celebrates diversity. The Cherry Street Pier space is open to the public and invites guests to participate in various art activities.

Local visual artist, Michelle Angela Ortiz, invites people to experience and connect with the history of the Italian Market (aka the 9th Street Market) through tours of public art (light installations and murals) and layered storytelling about its (im)migrant communities (think historical facts, in-person vendor stories and open source digital archives). Tour stops include murals like An Ode to 9th Street by Martha Rich and Andromeda Cook and Be a Friend to Me by Calo Rosa, Valentín Sánchez-Stoddard and Henry Morales. Other Our Market Project artwork and community stories are also available through the tour app’s geolocator.

Vámonos began as a tour operated by language teachers and offers custom itineraries for groups of 10 or more people on music, arts, language and food. Previous tours had guests volunteering in Norris Square urban gardens, learning salsa dance moves, cooking and tasting traditional dishes and other fun activities. Tours are multi-day experiences and open to all ages. Request a tour online.

Puerto Rican residents Iris Brown and Tomasita Romero of Grupo Motivos share Puerto Rico’s agricultural history on North Palethorp Street. In partnership with the community, they’ve beautified the area for decades with colorful casitas, numerous gardens (The Butterfly Garden, La Paz, El Batey, Raíces) and a youth-led seasonal farm stand. Las Parcelas and Villa Africana Colobo are two stand-out sites — living museums curated with Afro-Taino agricultural and culinary artifacts, books, tools and crafts that invite all ages to connect with Puerto Rican history. Group tours are available upon request.

A nobleman born in Montpellier, France, who later spent his life throughout Italy, Saint Rocco is believed to have been a protector against plagues and contagious diseases. His namesake church in Avondale stands as one of the few remaining historical churches in Greater Philadelphia’s Hispanic community. The Philadelphia Archdiocese established this 32nd national parish as the first designated for Spanish-speaking Catholics, celebrating their Hispanic heritage through faith. The church also opens its doors to the public (outside of mass or services) every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The 200-year-old Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) boasts a vast collection of historic materials related to Hispanic and Latino communities in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, including manuscripts, photographic prints, records and archives. Visitors can learn about their ancestry through year-round genealogy services or request personalized research via appointment. Digital resources can also be accessed for free via their website. Check the events page for ongoing HSP onsite and virtual programs. Behind-the-Scenes Vault Tours are also available.