Six to Celebrate, Revisited: Honoring Hispanic Heritage
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
6:00 – 7:30 PM ET
via Zoom
Join the Historic Districts Council for a special online panel honoring Hispanic Heritage Month. Community representatives from Jackson Heights, Mott Haven, East Harlem, and the Lower East Side—neighborhoods previously featured in HDC’s Six to Celebrate program—will revisit their communities to highlight places and people tied to Hispanic heritage.
This conversation will uncover overlooked landmarks, cultural spaces, and community figures whose stories are essential to each neighborhood’s identity and cultural heritage.
A panel of featured guests includes:
Angel Hernandez is the official Borough Historian of The Bronx, appointed in 2023 by the honorable Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson. He was not only the youngest borough historian ever to be appointed in New York City history, but he is also the city’s first of color to serve in that capacity. Angel also serves as president of the historic landmark Huntington Free Library and Reading Room, an architectural gem of nearly 140 years that served as the borough’s first organized public library. A double alumnus of Herbert H. Lehman College here in The Bronx, he currently serves as director of government relations for the New York Botanical Garden. Angel embraces the historic heritage of The Bronx, but also demonstrates his passion for it through community programming, public and private school partnerships, and historic preservation, especially for local Bronx landmarks and cultural history.
Marina Ortiz has been an avid documentarian of El Barrio for over 20 years. As the founder and president of East Harlem Preservation, she works to promote and preserve the neighborhood’s history and diversity. She also collaborates with–and lends resources to–local, national and international activists, educators, and artists working to challenge policies and practices that negatively impact their neighborhoods and who advocate for the development of sound, community-based alternatives.
Richard Moses has over 40 years experience in historic preservation in New York City. A graduate of Columbia University’s Historic Preservation program, he went on to work as Architect at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission as well as in the private sector, where he focused on preservation and restoration. In 2007 he co-founded the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, a not-for-profit advocacy organization. He traces his family’s roots on his father’s side to the 19th century Lower East Side, which, among other things, helped spur his great passion for this very historic place.
Melissa Zavala has been serving on the board of directors for the Jackson Heights Beautification Group for 12 years. She is currently the organization’s Vice President and the editor for its free quarterly publication, now in its 30th year. As a researcher studying waste management, she is invested in waste reduction and therefore also helps operate the organization’s year-round community composting site. She is a NYC-based anthropologist specializing in urban ecology and biodiversity in postindustrial sites, and more recently she has been studying the effects of a GenAI-infused curriculum in community college classrooms as a gateway to more robust STEM education. She has been teaching in higher education for the City University of New York for the last 20 years.
Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate and expand the narrative of Hispanic heritage in New York City’s historic neighborhoods.
Suggested Donation $5. Registration required. A Zoom link will be provided upon registration.
Six to Celebrate is generously supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by New York City Council Members Gale Brewer, Virginia Maloney, Christopher Marte, and Lincoln Restler.
Image Credit: Six to Celebrate East Harlem Tour 2016.