Desi Arnaz Is Getting a Much-Deserved Historical Marker in Miami Beach

Generation after generation, Americans continue to remember Desi Arnaz as Lucille Ball’s lovable Latin bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo in arguably the greatest television show in history, “I Love Lucy.” But he was so much more.

In recent years, popular films, including Being the Ricardos (2021) and Lucy and Desi (2022), as well as a Google Doodle nod, have taken a closer look into the man who loved Lucy. Although the sitcom was merely a fictional portrayal based on their actual lives as a married couple, their geographical origins were truthful: Ball was originally from Jamestown, New York, now home to the National Comedy Center and Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, and Arnaz was a refugee from Cuba. Though both Ball and Arnaz have stars on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, where they lived and worked for most of their adult lives, there is no other dedication to Arnaz in the United States that celebrates his origins, and little is known about his early years spent in Miami after he arrived in 1934.

That’s finally about to change.

On October 15—the final day of National Hispanic Heritage Month and the anniversary of the first airing of “I Love Lucy”—the City of Miami Beach will erect a marker in Collins Park in honor of Arnaz’s historic performance at the Park Avenue Restaurant that launched his career in 1937 as well as a nationwide conga craze.

The idea for the marker began when Florida writer, lecturer and “I Love Lucy” fan Gary McKechnie became fascinated by Arnaz’s life while researching naturalization ceremonies for his 2009 book USA 101: A Guide to America’s Iconic Places, Events and Festivals. After learning about the entertainer’s complicated plight as a refugee, McKechnie began giving lectures on Arnaz and became engrossed in the Cuban American’s life. “In [my lecture], I show a television clip of Desi, who breaks into tears as he recalls how this nation provided him with opportunities no other country could offer,” he says. “I’d…