Explore the real-world places that appear in 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Julian's Family Home, José Martí International Airport, The Florida Straits, Miami International Airport, Camp Matecumbe and 8 more.
Miramar neighborhood, Havana — Where the story begins
This is the warm, comfortable home Julian shares with his brothers Gordo and Alquilino and their parents before the revolution upends everything. The family's daily life — playing on the street, listening to their parents debate Cuba's future — anchors the novel's opening chapters. When the parents make the devastating decision to send the boys away through Operation Peter Pan, the farewell at this home is one of the most emotionally wrenching scenes in the book, as Julian does not understand why he must leave.
Miramar was one of Havana's most prosperous residential neighborhoods in the 1950s, home to wealthy Cuban families and foreign diplomats. After the 1959 revolution, many such families fled or had their property nationalized by the new government.
Miramar remains a well-preserved residential and diplomatic district in Havana, featuring large colonial and Art Deco homes. Many buildings now serve as embassies or government offices, though the neighborhood retains much of its mid-century character.
Boyeros, Havana — Point of departure for the Pedro Pan children
It is from Havana's main airport that Julian, Gordo, and Alquilino board a plane without their parents, joining thousands of other Cuban children being sent abroad under Operation Peter Pan. The airport farewell is saturated with grief and confusion — Julian clutches his belongings not fully grasping that he may not see his parents for years. The departure represents the traumatic threshold between the boys' Cuban childhood and their uncertain American future.
The airport, named for Cuban national hero José Martí, opened in its modern form in 1930 and served as the primary gateway for Cubans fleeing after the 1959 revolution. Between 1960 and 1962, over 14,000 Cuban children passed through this airport as part of Operation Peter Pan, unaccompanied by their parents.
José Martí International Airport remains Cuba's busiest airport and main international hub. Terminal 3, built in 1998, handles most international flights. The airport has been expanded several times and serves millions of passengers annually.
Visit: Aeropuerto Internacional José Martí (landmark)
Between Cuba and Florida — 90 miles of open water
The title of the novel refers to this narrow but immense stretch of water separating Cuba from the United States. Though Julian and his brothers make the crossing by plane, the straits loom as a powerful symbol throughout the narrative — the distance that separates the boys from their parents, their homeland, and their former selves. The 90 miles becomes a measure not just of geography but of longing, loss, and the impossibility of return.
The Florida Straits have been one of the world's most historically significant and perilous bodies of water, serving as the route for Spanish treasure fleets, Caribbean trade, and countless refugees. During the Cold War era, thousands of Cubans attempted the crossing on rafts and boats, many perishing in the attempt.
The Florida Straits remain a potent symbol of the Cuban-American experience. The crossing is still attempted by Cuban migrants on rafts and small boats. The U.S. Coast Guard intercepts thousands of migrants each year in these waters.
NW 42nd Ave, Miami — First footsteps in America
Julian and his brothers land here, entering the United States for the first time without their parents. The airport represents the bewildering arrival into an unfamiliar world — English spoken all around them, strangers in uniforms, an America that is nothing like what they imagined. They are processed and then transported to one of the Cuban refugee camps that would be their new, temporary home, a transition that begins Julian's journey of adaptation and survival.
Miami International Airport became a critical hub during the Cuban exodus of the early 1960s. Thousands of Operation Peter Pan children arrived here between 1960 and 1962, where Catholic Welfare Bureau workers and volunteers met them and arranged placement in camps and foster homes across the United States.
Miami International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States, handling over 50 million passengers annually. It remains a major hub for travel between the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Visit: Miami International Airport (landmark)
Homestead area, South Florida — Cuban refugee children's camp
Camp Matecumbe is the refugee camp where Julian and his brothers are sent after arriving in Miami, and it becomes the novel's central arena of conflict. Here, a cruel older boy named Caballo runs the camp like a petty tyrant, bullying younger children, controlling resources, and terrorizing anyone who challenges him. Julian must decide whether to submit, flee, or fight back — a coming-of-age struggle that drives much of the book's tension. The camp is a world unto itself, where Cuban children navigate homesickness, power, and identity far from their families.
Camp Matecumbe was a real Operation Peter Pan transit camp established in 1961 near Florida City in Miami-Dade County, run by the Catholic Welfare Bureau. At its peak it housed hundreds of unaccompanied Cuban children, many of whom waited months to be reunited with family or placed in foster homes across America.
The Camp Matecumbe site no longer operates as a refugee camp. The area near Homestead and Florida City in southern Miami-Dade County has been largely developed. The history of the camp is preserved in Cuban-American community memory and in the archives of what is now Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.
SW 8th Street (Calle Ocho), Miami — Heart of the Cuban exile community
As Julian navigates life in Miami, the Cuban exile community centered in Little Havana forms a cultural backdrop to his new existence. The neighborhood represents the fragmented, transplanted Cuba that exiles have reconstructed in America — Spanish spoken in the streets, Cuban food, political conversation about Castro and the revolution. For Julian and his brothers, this community is both a comfort and a reminder of everything they have lost, a Cuba preserved in amber just 90 miles from the real one.
Little Havana developed rapidly after 1959 as waves of Cuban exiles settled along SW 8th Street, known as Calle Ocho. By the early 1960s it had become a self-sustaining Cuban enclave with its own restaurants, pharmacies, barbershops, and political organizations. It remains one of the most iconic immigrant neighborhoods in American history.
Little Havana is a thriving cultural landmark in Miami, drawing tourists and remaining home to a large Latin American community. Calle Ocho is lined with Cuban restaurants, cigar shops, domino parks, and murals. The neighborhood hosts the annual Calle Ocho Festival, one of the largest street festivals in the United States.
Visit: Little Havana Cultural Center (historic site)
301 N Biscayne Blvd, Miami — Waterfront and open city space
The open waterfront of Miami becomes a place of reflection for Julian, where the blue expanse of Biscayne Bay stretches toward the horizon — and beyond it, Cuba. Standing near the water, Julian feels the painful nearness of his homeland and his parents. The sea, like the Florida Straits themselves, becomes a recurring symbol in the novel of separation and longing, the 90 miles that might as well be infinite for an unaccompanied child with no power to cross it.
Bayfront Park has been Miami's central public waterfront since the early 20th century. It was redesigned by sculptor Isamu Noguchi in the 1980s and has been a gathering place for Miami's diverse population for generations. The park witnessed major historical events, including a 1933 assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin Roosevelt.
Bayfront Park is a 32-acre public park in downtown Miami featuring an amphitheater, fountains, memorials, and direct views of Biscayne Bay. It remains one of the city's most visited outdoor spaces and hosts concerts, festivals, and public events throughout the year.
Visit: Bayfront Park (park)
Havana's seafront boulevard — Symbol of Cuba and longing
The Malecón — Havana's iconic waterfront seawall — appears in Julian's memories of Cuba as a place of family walks, sea spray, and the vast blue horizon. It is the edge of the island, the place from which one can look north toward America. In the emotional architecture of the novel, the Malecón represents everything Julian misses: his parents, the warmth of Havana, and a life before the revolution tore his family apart. The sea visible from both the Malecón and Miami's shores links the two worlds across the 90 miles of title.
The Malecón was constructed between 1901 and 1952, stretching nearly 8 kilometers along Havana's northern coast. It has been the social heart of Havana for over a century — a gathering place for lovers, fishermen, musicians, and ordinary Cubans. During Cold War tensions, it also served as a front-row seat to naval standoffs.
The Malecón remains one of the most iconic landmarks in Cuba and the Caribbean. Though weathered and in need of repair due to decades of economic hardship, it is still a beloved gathering spot for Habaneros and a top destination for visitors. Restoration efforts have been ongoing in recent years.
Visit: El Malecón (landmark)
Historic city center, Havana — Colonial plazas and streets of childhood
Old Havana's colonial streets and plazas appear in Julian's memories of his Cuban life before the revolution — the sounds of the city, vendors calling out, the smell of salt air and coffee, the texture of cobblestones underfoot. These sensory memories surface throughout the novel as Julian struggles to hold onto his Cuban identity while adapting to American life. The grandeur and beauty of Havana's old city become symbols of a vanishing world that Julian fears he will forget.
Habana Vieja was founded by Spanish colonizers in 1519 and served as a major hub of Atlantic trade for centuries. Its colonial fortifications, baroque churches, and Moorish-influenced architecture are among the best preserved in the Americas. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.
Old Havana is one of Cuba's premier tourist destinations, with ongoing restoration of its historic plazas, churches, and colonial buildings. The area is home to museums, restaurants, boutique hotels, and craft markets. Plaza de la Catedral, Plaza Vieja, and the Castillo de la Real Fuerza are among its most visited sites.
Visit: Habana Vieja Historic District (historic site)
500 SW 127th Ave, Miami — Cuban Catholic education in exile
Education and the Catholic Church's role in resettling Pedro Pan children is a thematic undercurrent throughout the novel. Schools like Belen — the prestigious Jesuit institution that relocated from Havana to Miami in 1961 — represent the Cuban exile community's determination to preserve its culture and institutions. For Julian and his brothers, schooling in America means navigating a foreign language and culture while trying to maintain their Cuban identity, a tension at the heart of the immigrant experience the novel explores.
Colegio de Belén was founded in Havana in 1854 and was the most prestigious Jesuit school in Cuba, counting Fidel Castro among its alumni. After the revolution nationalized private schools in 1961, the school's Jesuit faculty relocated to Miami and re-established the institution, which became a symbol of Cuba's exiled professional class.
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School operates as one of Miami's most academically distinguished private schools. It consistently ranks among the top high schools in Florida and the nation. The school maintains deep connections to the Cuban-American community and its history of exile.
600 Biscayne Blvd, Miami — Processing center for Cuban refugees
The Freedom Tower is the symbolic heart of the Cuban exile experience in Miami, and its spirit permeates the world Julian enters when he arrives in America. Thousands of Cuban refugees like Julian and his brothers were processed through this building, receiving medical examinations, documents, and assistance from the Cuban Refugee Center. The tower represents the official threshold of the Cuban-American story — the place where exiles first became refugees in the eyes of America, and where the long wait for return began.
The Freedom Tower was built in 1925 as the home of the Miami News, modeled after the Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain. From 1962 to 1974, it served as the Cuban Refugee Center, processing over 650,000 Cuban refugees. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2008 and is often called the 'Ellis Island of the South.'
The Freedom Tower is now owned by Miami Dade College and serves as a museum and cultural center dedicated to Cuban immigration and exile. It houses the MDC Museum of Art + Design and hosts exhibitions on Cuban-American history. It is a major landmark on Biscayne Boulevard and one of Miami's most recognized buildings.
Visit: Freedom Tower — MDC Museum of Art + Design (museum)
Miami suburb — Middle-class Cuban exile resettlement
As Julian and his brothers seek stability in their new American life, the well-ordered, tree-lined streets of communities like Coral Gables represent the hope of normalcy — a place where Cuban exile families attempted to reconstruct the middle-class lives they had lost in Havana. The contrast between the relative order of such neighborhoods and the chaos of the refugee camp underscores the novel's exploration of class, belonging, and what it means to make a home in a foreign land.
Coral Gables was developed in the 1920s by George Merrick as a planned city with Mediterranean Revival architecture. By the 1960s it had become a preferred destination for upper-middle-class Cuban exiles who could afford to move out of Little Havana. The University of Miami, located here, also played a role in the exile intellectual and political community.
Coral Gables is one of Miami's most affluent and architecturally distinguished municipalities, known for its canopy of banyan trees, European-influenced architecture, and strict zoning regulations. It is home to the University of Miami, Miracle Mile shopping district, and the historic Biltmore Hotel.
Visit: City of Coral Gables Historic District (historic site)
Havana Bay, Cuba — Gateway and farewell
Havana's harbor and bay appear in Julian's memories as the great threshold of the island — the place where ships arrived and departed, where the world began and ended. The harbor carries the weight of Cuban history and the particular grief of departure: so many families watched loved ones sail or fly away from this gateway during the revolution. For Julian, the harbor is part of the sensory geography of Havana he carries inside him throughout his exile in Florida.
Havana Harbor has been one of the most strategically important ports in the Western Hemisphere since the 16th century, serving as the main departure point for Spanish treasure fleets. The harbor was the site of the mysterious sinking of the USS Maine in 1898, which helped spark the Spanish-American War. The fortresses of El Morro and La Cabaña guard its entrance.
Havana Harbor remains an active commercial and cruise ship port. The Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro and the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, which guard the harbor entrance, are major tourist attractions accessible by ferry from Old Havana. The harbor offers dramatic views of Havana's skyline.
Visit: Castillo del Morro — Havana Harbor (historic site)
More by Enrique Flores-Galbis: All Enrique Flores-Galbis books