Jose Alvarado, the New York Knicks guard who grew up in Los Sures, brought the team’s NBA championship trophy home to Williamsburg on June 18, carrying it up Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick’s Puerto Rican Day Parade and then to Toñita’s, the Puerto Rican social club on Grand Street. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Representative Nydia Velazquez met him there.
Alvarado is the third Puerto Rican to win an NBA title, after Butch Lee in 1980 and J.J. Barea in 2011. The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs to win the 2026 Finals, ending a 53-year championship drought. Traded to New York in February, Alvarado hit fourth-quarter threes in Game 4 as the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit, the largest comeback in Finals history, and closed out the title in Game 5. He is known as “Grand Theft Alvarado” for his knack for stealing the ball.
Toñita’s Caribbean Social Club was founded in 1973 by María Antonia Cay, the Puerto Rican matriarch known as Toñita, not long after she settled in Los Sures, the enclave built around factory work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Domino Sugar refinery. It is one of the last Puerto Rican social clubs of its kind still standing in Williamsburg after years of rising rents. Cay, now in her eighties, still holds court there.
Reynoso, who is running to succeed Velazquez in Congress, marked the visit at the club. “Toñitas is the heart of Brooklyn’s Puerto Rican community. It’s where we celebrate our victories, find support, and keep the culture alive,” he said. “To celebrate the iconic Knicks championship with Jose Alvarado, who also grew up in Los Sures, is incredibly special. His journey is a testament to what is possible when your community surrounds you with belief.”
Toñita’s is open to the public at 244 Grand Street in Williamsburg.
