Consequently, it should be no surprise that the new West Side Story (with Rachel Zegler as Maria, Ansel Elgort as Tony) was not filmed in the area. It is specific in its references, its opening moments showing cranes and wrecking balls looming over San Juan Hill as the Lincoln Centre starts to rise. But cameras were deployed in Harlem (on West 113th and West 131st Streets) and Brooklyn – and over the Hudson in New Jersey’s Newark.

However, Spielberg is adamant that the movie retains its poignancy in a 21st century shaken by political polarisation and ongoing racial prejudice. “Divisions between un-like-minded people are as old as time,” he said last month. “The divisions between the Sharks and the Jets were profound. But [they were] not as divided as we find ourselves today. [The film is] more relevant to today’s audience than perhaps it even was in 1957.”

How to do it 

A week at the Upper West Side’s Hotel Beacon, leaving Heathrow on April 23, starts at £1,543 a head with Virgin Holidays (0344 472 9646; virginholidays.co.uk); for more information on New York City, see nycgo.com

Where Puerto Rico fits in

Puerto Rico occupies an awkward position in West Side Story. While the Sharks are proud of their heritage and the identity it gives them, the island never appears as a setting, and when mentioned, is often talked down as a place from which the group has escaped. This dichotomy is audible in the lyrics to America. “Puerto Rico, my heart’s devotion,” Anita sings, in honied tone. Then her voice turns to stone. “Let it sink back in the ocean.”

You might argue that it occupies a similarly awkward position in reality. Fenced in by its half-world status as a “US Territory”, it is neither a state like Hawaii, nor an independent entity able to take its own path. This, maybe, is one of the reasons why it is rarely seen as a mainstream Caribbean destination – certainly not by a British market with easy access to Barbados. It is an enigma in the water; a mystery package which few bother to unwrap.