Ladino
Judeo-Spanish
Lower East SideJudeo-Spanish (widely known as Ladino), based on Old Spanish but later accruing influences from Greek, Turkish, Arabic, French, and other languages, was the principal language of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 who settled principally in the Ottoman Empire and part of northern Morocco and then spread around the globe. By the early 20th century, tens of thousands of speakers from Ottoman cities such as Salonica, Istanbul, and Izmir were arriving in New York City. Read more and see ELA's "Ladino New York" series here.
T
he earliest documented Ladino-speaking community in NYC formed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a cluster in and around Broome and Allen streets within the larger Yiddish-speaking matrix of the mostly Yiddish-speaking Lower East Side, though there were tensions with Yiddish speakers (who often questioned the Jewishness of non-Yiddish speakers). It was in this area that an active Ladino press first formed (La Vara the longest-standing publication) and that the first synagogues and social clubs for Ladino speakers took root. Many Sephardim initially left for Harlem, where a Ladino-speaking cluster formed in the 1910s and 1920s, with larger numbers moving to Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx after.
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.