Would you recommend Calle Ocho to tourists? (Miami, Havana: sales tax, live in)

[jbravo]

Originally Posted by Brutal Force

What the hell?

It was colombians who brought the drugs to miami in the first place, cubans came during the mariel boatlift and started DISTRIBUTING the drugs for the colombians.

During the 60s CIA trained Cuban needed to finance their operations. They already had the contacts in South America (CIA) and unlike the Italians were more accepted in South America.
Later there were ingenious US citizens that took it to a whole new level with very wide distribution. I would say there were probably not more 5 people that were the geniuses (not being sarcastic) that expanded, what up to that time, had been the activity of a few entrepreneurs.
By the 80s cocaine was so prevalent that you found it at parties of school teachers.
The days of the Columbians that followed marked a period of violence and it is true that they took over a lot of the distribution themselves. But notice that they came in as distributors much later and after two previous groups had marked the way.

[Loggerhead Shrike]

I am sure you mean ColOmbians, not ColUmbians. They are not from Washington DC. And who cares who contributed more. Anyone involved was scum. Cubans, Colombians, Anglos whatever.

[somebodymiami]

Originally Posted by thumbelina

I've come across lost tourists in downtown Miami several times recently who want to know how to get to Little Havana. My response? "Are you SURE you want to go there????" And I managed to talk them out of it each time. Maybe if they had a car they could see for themselves. But it would always be by bus and my opinion is that it totally is not worth it.

What the heck are guidebooks saying about Calle Ocho that makes people want to go there? I could see maybe on Viernes Culturales, but we're talking 5 pm on a weekday.

I travel a lot and I'm always grateful when locals give me advice, even when it goes against the Chamber of Commerce party line. But I'm wondering, am I just a jaded local who doesn't appreciate the wonderment of SW 8th Street? Opinions welcome! And if you can convince me, next time I'll just keep quiet and point them to the bus stop

I live on 8th street myself... Im a white male..... Its not that bad but good luck finding someone who knows english... ( Mainly the younger people know more english than the older people ).... Some parts of 8th are pretty bad others are nice.

[big mean bear]

Originally Posted by somebodymiami

I live on 8th street myself... Im a white male..... Its not that bad but good luck finding someone who knows english... ( Mainly the younger people know more english than the older people ).... Some parts of 8th are pretty bad others are nice.

Thanks for telling the truth. I understand why 8th street might lack 'English fluency'... But there are so many people on 8th street who know no English whatsoever. Not even a basic sentence...or a couple of English words put together...

[gymbuff]

Actually this may shed some light on things. I have afriends whose family was visiting from Pennsylvania. One Sunday morning, he took them to The Biltmore for brunch and sightseeing around Coral Gables, which is quite understandable. On the way home, he drove east on 8th street to show them what La Calle Ocho and Little Havanah was all about. He told me that not only did his family enjoy the ride on 8th street, they wanted to stop to savor some local treats. He treated them to guarapo, which was a surprisingly delicious new treat for them. Therefore, while we jaded locals see Calle 8 as a grimy trashy street, tourists MAY have a different opinion.

[hurricaneMan1992]

Originally Posted by thumbelina

I've come across lost tourists in downtown Miami several times recently who want to know how to get to Little Havana. My response? "Are you SURE you want to go there????" And I managed to talk them out of it each time. Maybe if they had a car they could see for themselves. But it would always be by bus and my opinion is that it totally is not worth it.

What the heck are guidebooks saying about Calle Ocho that makes people want to go there? I could see maybe on Viernes Culturales, but we're talking 5 pm on a weekday.

I travel a lot and I'm always grateful when locals give me advice, even when it goes against the Chamber of Commerce party line. But I'm wondering, am I just a jaded local who doesn't appreciate the wonderment of SW 8th Street? Opinions welcome! And if you can convince me, next time I'll just keep quiet and point them to the bus stop

(A huge 6-year bump, yes, but lots of tourists have been asking me about Little Havana recently.)

Why not? I mean, it's not South Beach or anything, but it's not overtown either. It can be a cultural experience that we locals may take for granted. For 99% of visitors, it will be something different. And you don't need a car to go there, besides tourists are generally not trying to get there at a specific time like for a job or interview. Taking the bus to the main east part of Little Havana from downtown is actually pretty easy--you take the 207/208 from Govt. Center or the #8 from Miami Ave, both of which have frequent service throughout the day. Cab fare from Bayside is not that much either, though it's more difficult to get a cab coming back (Uber works too).

A pet peeve of mine...it's funny though to see younger tourists using smart phones but they apparently haven't figured out that Google Maps has good public transportation directions, and that GPS can tell them when they have reached their stop (it works even with data off), so they don't need to constantly pester the driver.

[SDPMiami]

Originally Posted by hurricaneMan1992

A pet peeve of mine...it's funny though to see younger tourists using smart phones but they apparently haven't figured out that Google Maps has good public transportation directions, and that GPS can tell them when they have reached their stop (it works even with data off), so they don't need to constantly pester the driver.

If they're foreign tourists, they might not have all features enabled in the USA (gps, data, etc) so I cut some slack.

Anyways, I have directed a couple of people to little havana despite never exploring it myself. Lol.

[valicky]

My son's Australian friend came to visit for a couple of weeks and one of her must do things was visiting Calle Ocho. She made the request, which was fulfilled. She's a hobby photographer and she get some great shots at Domino Park.

[Molocai]

Originally Posted by jbravo

During the 60s CIA trained Cuban needed to finance their operations. They already had the contacts in South America (CIA) and unlike the Italians were more accepted in South America.
Later there were ingenious US citizens that took it to a whole new level with very wide distribution. I would say there were probably not more 5 people that were the geniuses (not being sarcastic) that expanded, what up to that time, had been the activity of a few entrepreneurs.
By the 80s cocaine was so prevalent that you found it at parties of school teachers.
The days of the Columbians that followed marked a period of violence and it is true that they took over a lot of the distribution themselves. But notice that they came in as distributors much later and after two previous groups had marked the way.

Not true. I lived in Miami during the 80's and cocaine was only prevalent among people in the stuff. Deaths related to crugs, for example, almost 1000 in 1980, were all people involved into drugs. Colombian lords were Colombians, not Columbians. Non-Colombians tried in many occasions to get into traffic, but most ended badly.

Cubans and Americans were involved in laundering money, but not in heavy traffic. The movie, Scarface, is the most idiotic American film I have seen in decades. There was also a lot of weed traffic with "cigarretas", that was almost exclusively American from FL.

[Molocai]

Originally Posted by valicky

My son's Australian friend came to visit for a couple of weeks and one of her must do things was visiting Calle Ocho. She made the request, which was fulfilled. She's a hobby photographer and she get some great shots at Domino Park.

The place that goes from 12th to 18th is nice, lots of Cigar stores, memorabilia, restaurants and It's all fixed, sort of Cuban style boulevard. The area is walkable. Many European tourists visit the area, but they need a bus, no way they are going to walk from that place to Versailles. But as many ethnic enclaves in the US, Cubans that created the ambiance are mostly gone and were replaced by Central Americans, there are also old Cubans. I guess it's more of a theme park. Cubans should create a similar place perhaps in Miracle or Coral Way.