Back Into the Frying Pan

Domino Park," Maximo Gomez Park is a Little Havana landmark, and meeting spot for older Cubans, at any time of day you will find residents sipping coffee, playing Dominoes and chatting with their friends. Named after Generalissimo Máximo Gómez commander in the Cuban War of Independence, this park was built in 1976 in an area that was predominantly Cuban and which has since seen an influx of Central American exiles. In pre-park days, local men set up makeshift tables for chess, but beginning in 1983, periodic improvements added a pavilion with fiberglass awning, a bathroom building, and information booth to the two original terracotta-roofed pavilions covering all-weather gaming tables and chairs.

We were told by our tour guide that you had to be a Cuban male over the age of 55 to be able to play dominoes in the park and that much of the conversations originally revolved around their hatred for Castro. She said that each of these men would have a story to tell about life under Castro. Our tour guides grandfather,before Castro, owned a distillery. When Castro came to power, they showed up at her grandfathers house forcing them to turn over the distillery at gun point. He was imprisoned at some point during Castro’s rule, but escaped to the United States.Läs mer