Cubans live all over Greater Miami, but the 3.5 sq miles (9 sq km) of Little Havana has been a surrogate homeland to thousands of immigrants since the 1960s. Time here is best spent out in the streets, where the bustling workday atmosphere is vibrant. A salsa beat emanates from every other shop; bodegas (canteens) sell Cuban specialties, while elderly men knock back thimblefuls of cafe cubano.
t Little Havana’s Memorial Boulevard, the district’s nationalistic focal point
Experience Downtown and Coral Gables
t The mural on Calle Ocho welcoming visitors to Little Havana
Calle Ocho
Little Havana’s principal commercial thoroughfare and sentimental heart is Southwest 8th Street, better known as Calle Ocho. Its liveliest stretch, between 11th and 17th Avenues, is best enjoyed on foot, but other points of interest are more easily explored by car.
Recalling the spirit of Havana cigar factories, El Titan de Bronze, on Calle Ocho, is family-owned, and all the cigars are made by “Level 9” masters. Visitors are welcome to watch the handful of cigar rollers at work. The leaves are grown in Nicaragua – reputedly from Cuban tobacco seeds, the world’s best. Local smokers, mainly non-Cuban, come to buy boxes of the wide range of cigars on sale. Also found on 8th Street are several spiritual stores dedicated to the practice of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería.
North of Calle Ocho at West Flagler Street and Southwest 17th Avenue, Plaza de la Cubanidad has a map of Cuba sculpted in bronze. José Martí’s enigmatic words alongside translate as “the palm trees are sweethearts that wait.” Behind, flags and banners advertize the headquarters of Alpha 66, Miami’s most hard-line grouping of anti-Castro Cubans, whose supporters trained in the Everglades.
El Titan de Bronze
⌂ 1071 W 8th St § (305) 860-1412 # 9am–5pm Mon–Fri; 8am–4pm Sat
Cuban Memorial Boulevard
Southwest 13th Avenue is the eternal flame of the Brigade 2506 Memorial, which remembers the Cubans who died in the Bay of Pigs inva-sion of Cuba in 1961. Every year people gather here on April 17 to remember the disastrous attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro’s regime.
Picture Perfect
The Latin Walk of Fame
Have your camera at the ready at intervals along Calle Ocho between 12th and 17th Avenues, where Latin celebrities such as Julio Iglesias and Gloria Estefan are honored with stars on the pave-ment in Little Havana’s version of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
EXPERIENCE Downtown and Coral Gables
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Eat Versailles This is a cultural bastion of Miami’s Cuban community and is possibly the best place for classic Cuban cuisine outside Cuba. The Cuban sandwich is a specialty. H3 ⌂ 3555 Southwest 8th St ∑ versaillesrestaurant.com \ El Rey De Las Fritas A popular busy diner justly famous for its fritas (Cuban hamburger) and caballos (a frita with cheese and fried egg on top). H3 ⌂ 1821 SW 8th St \ |