In this interview, Edmundo Quinones discusses his life as a first-generation working-class Puerto Rican American. He reflects on the challenges he has faced as a Latino growing up in a White neighborhood; particularly discrimination, and strengthening his Latino identity while avoiding mainstream assimilation. He provides an overarching view on the American dream: class mobility (both upward and downward), ethnic relations, and neighborhood change. He describes the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge transformation from a predominantly poor Scandinavian enclave, to a Latino area called Sunset Park, to a bustling, predominantly Chinese American community. Interview conducted by Gregory Ruf and Fabiana Chiu.