La Perla: Vibrant San Juan neighborhood emerges from checkered reputation
By Nikita Mandhani La Perla is an old neighborhood just outside the northern historic city wall of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Stretching about 600 meters along the Caribbean Sea, the neighborhood is tucked between Calle Norzagaray and Fort San Cristobal. La Perla has been an infamous neighborhood since its early days. In the 19th […]
What price statehood? For some Puerto Ricans, a loss of independence
By Rebekah Frumkin and Hannah Rank LA PERLA, Puerto Rico — It’s a sunny February morning in La Perla, a low-income neighborhood beside Old San Juan’s northern city wall. Lifelong resident Lourdes López-Rivera stands on a beachside cliff, considering the Caribbean’s cyan expanse. “They keep talking about development here,” she says, shaking her head. “Then […]
