New York City is more than the backdrop to Maribel and Aimee’s friendship—it helped shape who they became.

In Season 1, Episode 3 of Dude, Tengo Chisme, “Our NuevaYol,” the longtime best friends revisit the New York of their childhoods and the summer of 1996, when their new friendship grew over Thursday-night dinners, free events, street fairs, movies in the park and whatever fun they could find without much money.

Maribel remembers growing up in public housing in Chelsea, surrounded by the striking contrast between working-class families and the wealth right across the street. She shares memories of neighborhood bodegas, five-and-dimes, local shopkeepers who knew her family and the generations of people connected to her parents’ immigrant story.

Aimee reflects on a childhood split between Kingsbridge in the Bronx and Washington Heights, where Puerto Rican, Dominican, Irish, Jewish and Cuban neighbors shared apartment buildings, celebrations and responsibility for one another’s children. Spanish, Spanglish, salsa, merengue, food and time spent on the stoop all became part of her understanding of home.

Together, Maribel and Aimee explore what neighborhood community looked like in 1970s, ’80s and ’90s New York; how the city’s boroughs and blocks shaped identity; and what has been lost as families have moved away and familiar neighborhoods have changed.

They also ask a classic New York question: Can someone become a New Yorker if they weren’t born there? Their conversation considers the difference between living in a city and being from it, while making room for people who embrace New York’s boroughs, cultures and communities with genuine love and respect.

The episode includes reflections on Hispanic Heritage Month, the Puerto Rican Day Parade, cultural showcases and why intentional celebration matters—especially when people are living or studying far from the communities that make them feel at home.

In this episode:

• How Maribel and Aimee’s friendship grew in New York during the summer of 1996
• Growing up Latina in Chelsea, the Bronx and Washington Heights
• Bodegas, stoops, neighborhood shops and the adults who helped raise everyone
• Finding free and affordable things to do in New York City
• The difference between a native New Yorker and a transplant
• Respecting a place without trying to remake it
• Hispanic Heritage Month and the joy of cultural celebration
• The multicultural New York that shaped them both

Listen to “Our NuevaYol” and join two best friends in remembering the neighborhoods, people and cultures that made their New York feel like home.

Follow Dude, Tengo Chisme on Instagram: @dudetengochisme

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