Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Santurce is a district or "barrio" in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The name Santurce comes from St. George. The original Santurtzi is a town near Bilbao, in Spain.With a 2000 population of 94,067 living in a land area of 5.24 square miles (13.57 km²), it is the most populated "barrio" in Puerto Rico and one of the most densely populated areas of San Juan at 17,951.7 residents per square mile (6,931.2/km²).

Geography

Santurce is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean in the north, with more than five km of beaches from the Condado peninsula in the west, to a point 600 m east of “Punta Las Marías”, where it borders on Isla Verde district of Carolina, and “Laguna San José” and its northern embayment, “Laguna Los Corozos” to the east.

To the south by “Caño de Martín Peña”, and the northern barrios of former municipio Río Piedras (Hato Rey Norte, Hato Rey Central, Oriente), and to the west with the “Bahia of San Juan”, where three bridges; “Puente Dos Hermanos” (Ave. Ashford), “Puente G. Esteves” (Ave. Ponce de León) and “Puente San Antonio” (Ave. Fernandes Juncos) connect Santurce with “La Isleta” (small island) where Old San Juan is located.It has a total area of 8.70 square miles (22.53 km²)composed of 5.24 square miles (13.57 km²) of land and 3.46 square miles (8.96 km²) of water area.

The topography is mainly flat with low hills toward the central areas and swampy areas to the south along Caño Martín Peña and to the east near the Laguna San Jose (San Jose Lagoon). To the west side, most of the land that nowadays is called Isla Grande was part of land reclamation, made possible by filling in marshes.

History

Transportation

Santurce is served by a metro system called “Tren Urbano” (Urban Train), with the Sagrado Corazón station located on the central-south-east section of the district, an area known as “Parada 27” (Stop 27), which evokes the names of the old trolley stops. Various bus lines (guaguas) operated by the Metropolitan Bus Authority (Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses or AMA in Spanish) provide service in the area as well.

Culture

Places of interest

* Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferre - Award wining fine arts center is a modern architectural masterpiece.
* Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico - The Puerto Rican Art Museum
* Museo de Arte Contemporaneo - Museum of Contemporary Art
* Plaza del Mercado de Santurce - Historic Marketplace
* Plaza del Condado - Charming neighborhood square

Notable natives or residents of Santurce

* Tite Curet Alonso, songwriter
* Miguel Arteta, filmmaker
* Pura Belpré, author
* Rubén Berríos, lawyer/former governor candidate/leader of the Puerto Rican Independence Party
* Tego Calderón, reggaeton singer
* Carly Colón, WWE Friday Night SmackDown, professional wrestler
* Lito MC Cassidy, one half of hip-hop/reggaeton duo Lito & Polaco
* Jessica Cristina, Merengue artist
* José Ferrer, actor/director/producer
* Francisco Figueroa, championship boxer
* Cano Estremera, salsa singer
* Wilfredo Gomez, boxing champion
* Raul Julia, actor
* Sunshine Logroño, TV writer/comedian
* Andy Montanez, salsa singer
* Antonin Nechodoma, architect
* Luis López Nieves, writer
* Ossie Ocasio, champion boxer
* Joaquin Phoenix, actor
* Benicio del Toro, actor
* Carlos Ponce, actor/singer
* Daniel Santos, singer
* Jorge Posada, professional baseball player (New York Yankees)
* Ismael Rivera, acclaimed salsa singer/performer
* Luis Rafael Sánchez, writer/playwright
* Arturo Alfonso Schomburg , historian
* Juan Ramon Pizarro CordovaProfessional Baseball Player in the 60's and 70's [Pirates,Brewers, Cubs, White and Red sox etc..]

ports

Santurce currently has a basketball team and in the past had a baseball team for over 70 years. Both teams are known as the Santurce Crabbers (Los Cangrejeros De Santurce) , because of the original name of the district.

Santurce was one of the original teams in Puerto Rico's Professional Baseball League. They were the first Puerto Rican team to win the Caribbean World Series (in 1951) and the first to win a second Series (in 1953). In total, Santurce won 12 domestic titles from 1951 until 2000, and five Caribbean World Series. However, after several years of declining attendance, the team moved to Manatí in 2004.

In basketball, the Crabbers currently play in the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum (Coliseo de Puerto Rico) for important games and the Coliseo Mario Morales for games against teams from small towns. The attendance for games at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico is usually between 7,000 and 12,000 and for games in the Coliseo Mario Morales is between 500 and 1,000. They have won 8 tittles (1962, 1966, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2007) and have been runners-up 4 times (1942, 1951, 1952, 1964 and 2006).

References