'El Barrio Tours' Tells of Gentrification in Working Class Neighborhoods

Documentary filmmaker Alex Padilla tackled gentrification in East Harlem with the film, El Barrio Tours. Now Padilla is touring cities to tell the story of gentrification's impact on working class immigrant neighborhoods.

July 28, 2014, 6am PDT | James Brasuell | @CasualBrasuell

Cassie Owens describes the premise of El Barrio Tours, which "[traces] the migration flows that brought people in and out of East Harlem, leading up to the Latino community living there and the newcomers who are changing the look of the neighborhood."

Padilla is quoted in the story describing how tEast Harlem's shifting demographics differ from past changes in the neighborhood: "so many different ethnic groups came through our hood because it’s been an affordable place for working-class immigrants. That it no longer is affordable to the working and middle class is the biggest change it has undergone over the past 100 years."

Following the critical success of the film, Padilla is touring the country, "looking at how gentrification is affecting communities in at least 15 other cities, including New Orleans, Austin, San Francisco and Vieques." Moreover, "[he’s] about a third of the way through and a follow-up film, El Barrio Tours: Gentrification USA, will be a compilation of what he’s learning along the way."

Full Story:

Filmmaker Tours U.S. to See How Cities Grapple With Gentrification

Published on Sunday, July 27, 2014 in Next City