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On Celia Cruz's 101 birthday in Little Havana, a voice that has been silent since 2003 said hello to Miami again.
For about 90 seconds, an AI recreation of Celia Cruz's voice, built by ElevenLabs, played for a crowd marking what would have been her 101st birthday. The occasion: the unveiling of Plaza Azúcar, a park the City of Miami is building in her honor off Calle Ocho.
What is Plaza Azúcar?
The park will sit on a vacant lot at SW 7th Street and SW 27th Avenue, according to Infobae. Commissioner Ralph Rosado came up with the idea in January.
"Celia Cruz is part of who we are in Miami, especially here in Little Havana," Rosado said at the October 21 event, as reported by Infobae. He called the park "a little piece of Celia in the heart of our city."
At its center will be Azúcar Eterna, an eight-foot mosaic sculpture by artist Alex Kaufman showing Cruz with her arms open, dressed in a Cuban bata. There's no playground and no dog run. This is a place for music and memory.
Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2027, with an opening planned before summer.
The timing has an edge. A week earlier, a Calle Ocho mural of Cruz and other salsa legends was removed after a dispute between the building owner and the city, according to CiberCuba.
Where else in the U.S. is Celia Cruz honored?
Miami is late to the park, but not to the party. Her name is already on:
- Calle Ocho, Miami. A stretch was co-named Celia Cruz Way in 1990, followed by a star on the Calle Ocho Walk of Fame in 1991, according to the Celia Cruz Foundation.
- Celia Cruz Way, Miami Beach, dedicated in October 2023.
- Celia Cruz Park, Union City, New Jersey, dedicated in June 2004 during the state's Cuban Day Parade.
- Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, named for her in August 2003.
- Celia Cruz Way in the Bronx, at 195th Street and Reservoir Avenue, unveiled in June 2021.
- The Celia Cruz Service Area on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway in Forked River, renamed in January 2022.
A Musical Career that Never Asked Permission
Cruz was born in Havana on October 21, 1925, and left Cuba in 1960 with La Sonora Matancera. She was never allowed back, not even when her mother died in 1962. She built everything else from exile, as a Black Cuban woman in the music industry ran by men.
What she built:
- About 15 years as the voice of La Sonora Matancera, Cuba's leading orchestra
- Three Grammy Awards and four Latin Grammy Awards
- A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1987)
- An honorary doctorate in music from Yale (1989)
- The National Medal of Arts, presented by President Bill Clinton (1994)
- The first Afro-Latina on a U.S. quarter (2024), part of the American Women Quarters Program
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2026 (Early Influence Award), with the ceremony set for November 14
Why Does This Matter Now?
Short answer: It always matters! Cruz died on July 16, 2003. That's 23 years, and the honors keep coming. Each one catches the culture up to what our abuelas already knew. Salsa and Celia Cruz will never go away.
Omer Pardillo, the executor of her estate, said Cruz would have been deeply moved to see a place called Azúcar in the city she loved, Miami.
So here's the real question: when Plaza Azúcar opens next year, who's going with you?
