La Rampa (Calle 23)

Calle 23 rises from the Malecón [1] to Calle L and climbs steadily past the major airline offices, nightclubs, cinemas, travel agencies, TV studios, and art deco apartment buildings mingling with high-rise office buildings.

La Rampa (The Ramp) was the setting of Three Trapped Tigers, Guillermo Cabrera Infante’s famous novel about swinging 1950s Havana [2], for it was here that the ritziest hotels, casinos, and nightclubs were concentrated in the days before the Revolution. Multicolored granite tiles created by Wilfredo Lam, René Portocarrero, and other leading artists are laid at intervals in the sidewalks.