Calle 23 rises from the Malecón 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, 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.

While exploring, be sure to stop at Parque Coppelia (Calles 23 y L), a park that takes up an entire block and is exclusively devoted to the consumption of ice cream, of which Cubans are consummate lovers.