“When I was a kid, my bond was really strong with my grandparents,” said songwriter, actor, director and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda. “I used to travel to Puerto Rico with my family for a month every year. As my sister and I got older, I would say we were sent there for a month a year.”
Those months got to know Mr. Miranda’s tastes in food, art and culture. “I didn’t stay in a hotel, I stayed in town, I ate Puerto Rican food. It’s different from being a tourist.”
Over the years, Miranda has become one of Puerto Rico’s most prominent advocates. Next month, he’ll be bringing the musical ‘Hamilton’ back to San Juan. Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferre For two weeks, I hosted a fundraiser to support the Hispanic Federation and the Flamboyant Foundation, a charity dedicated to educational equity in Puerto Rico.
Mr. Miranda’s San Juan is a place with a lot of history and authenticity, and of course a place heavily leaning towards the arts, including two places of particular importance to composers. Galleria Lin-Manuel Miranda features exhibits dedicated to Mr. Miranda’s art and family history. Miranda has donated most of her awards to the Galleria, including Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, and Pulitzer Prizes. With one notable exception.
“For Christmas my dad gave me the Emmy he won for ‘Hamilton.’ It was sent to my dad’s house nine months ago. That’s what it felt like. “I thought, ‘Is your gift an award I won?'” Miranda laughed so hard it was hard to say. “So I still have the ‘Hamilton’ Emmy…because I bought it for Christmas.”
Miranda shares five of her favorite places to visit in and around San Juan.
1. Hotel El Convento
When she was “still very young,” Miranda said, “I used to rent a car and drive myself through Old San Juan, enjoying all the colonial buildings and cobbled streets.” rice field.
One of those buildings was also one of his favorite luxury hotels. Hotel El Convento, a former monastery dating back to the 17th century. He said the hotel was “a charming hotel overlooking the bay”, adding that “the hotel’s Spanish Colonial architecture serves as a reminder of the island’s past”. It’s also “a stone’s throw from the city’s nightlife and historic sites.”
2. Luis A. Ferre Center for the Arts
A few years ago, Mr. Miranda put on “Hamilton” in theaters. Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferre And recently returned for the unveiling of a new mural by Héctor Rivera dedicated to Rita Moreno. “It’s great,” he said of the center. “I saw a performance of ‘West Side Story’ there, and there was always something going on.”
“When we were doing ‘Hamilton,’ a children’s Christmas production shared a backstage space with us. I can,” he said.
“This is where all my childhood summer pictures are,” Miranda said of the vast sandy beach on Vega Alta, about 30 minutes from central San Juan. He spent most of his time at home while his grandparents were at work, but sometimes in the summer, “I went to the beach. It was so beautiful.” That’s the beach of my childhood. . ”
The sea that laps this coast is particularly calm. “The waves are so cold you can run your kids and dogs around and getting in and out of the water is so easy in Puerto Rico. Just look at that coastline and it’s home.”
“Cafe Manolin is the best example of great Puerto Rican cuisine,” says Miranda. Fine dining in Old San Juan He counts it as a recent discovery. “It’s already my new old hang,” he said. “Whether you want it sweetened like maduro or salted and fried, you’re going to get plantains in some form. You’re going to get rice — it could be white rice, it could be brown rice. And you’ll get beans—you might get red beans, you might get black beans, you might get lentils.”
“The food groups I’ve experienced in Puerto Rico are rice, beans, plantains, and meat,” he says. “For me, it’s white rice with adzuki beans and maduros. I like plantains sweet, and chicken or steak chicharron.”
5. Puerto Rico Museum of Art
Miranda has been active in raising funds for Puerto Rican art and arts groups for many years. “It’s a safe,” he says. “Hardly visible.”
Puerto Rico Museum of Art, located in the Santurce district, opened in 2000, but the new permanent collection did not open until 2019. “There’s a real coherence here, with exhibits from the 17th century to the current masters,” Miranda said. “It’s amazing to see how a technique celebrated around the world has been rendered in Puerto Rico with a local Puerto Rican flavor, even in a 17th-century portrait of a governor.”
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