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Tag: Cuba

Visit Cuba! 1920s-1950s Vintage Travel Posters

In 3 weeks I’m heading out on my first real vacation since January 2020 and as person who LOVES to travel, this is a big deal for me and the hubby. I have missed travel oh so very much.

So where am I going? Well as you can see from the name of this blog post, I’m going to Cuba! I love this country and have been many times over the years (even got engaged in Cuba at the resort we are staying at this trip). It will be a much needed break after everything we have been thru recently. Can’t wait!

So in honour of this trip, I thought it would be fun to look at vintage travel posters for Cuba. Let’s see what I found!

Just a Hop and you are in Cuba Havana Caribbean Vintage Travel Poster 1950s vintage travel poster

Source: eBay


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1920s-1950s Vintage Travel Posters For Cuba

1935 “Visit Cuba!” Travel Poster.

1935 vintage travel poster for cuba. Visit Cuba!

Source: eBay

Welcome to Cuba! “The Pearl of the Antilles”. Possibly a 1930s vintage poster (looks very 30’s to me).

Vintage Travel Poster for Cuba featuring a Cuban women in a beautiful dress kissing a tourist-Illustration.

Source: eBay

1950s Pan Am (Pan American Airways) travel ad to visit beautiful Havana, Cuba.

Havana Cuba 1950 Fly Pan American Vintage Poster Print Retro Airline Wall Decor

Source: eBay

The Air-Way to Havana is Pan Am. A 1928 air travel advertisement.

Pan Am 1928 Havana Cuba Vintage Poster Print Retro Art Airline Travel Tropical

Source: eBay

1940s poster. Cuba – The Holiday Isles of the Tropics.

1940s Cuba Holiday Isles of the Tropics Vintage Style Travel Poster

Source: eBay

1948 Havana Cuba, Carnival festival poster.

1948 Havana Cuba Cuban Caribbean Carnival Vintage Travel Advertisement Poster

Source: eBay

Another beautiful 1940s poster for Cuba as the “Holiday Isle of the Tropics”.

1940s Cuba Holiday Isle Classic Cuban Vintage Style Travel Poster

Source: eBay

When I visit Cuba, the hubby and I sure do enjoy a cigar or two and Cuban cigars are really the best (if you enjoy that kind of thing. Like our flight attendant in this poster).

Vintage cuba travel poster featuring a flight attendent smoking a cigar

Source: eBay

This by far must be the coolest illustration of a rooster I have ever seen! Love this Braniff International Airways travel ad.

Havana Cuba Chicken Caribbean Island Vintage Travel Art Poster Advertisement

Source: eBay

Hope you enjoyed all these fun travel posters! I know it has put me in the mood to listen to some Buena Vista Social Club while enjoying a nice glass of Havana Club 7.

FURTHER READING: A few years ago I wrote a series of blog posts on my visits to Havana. You can check them out below:

Question Time: Have you been to Cuba? Share your favourite memories below!

Liz

Vintage Inn Travels to Havana, Cuba-New Sites

I’m off to a German function in Las Vegas on Thursday and since that is technically a trip I thought I would finally share with you the new sites I saw on my last visit back to Havana, Cuba, to keep with a “travel” theme for today’s post.

Vintage Havana Cuba Postcard

The Barcadi Building-Art Deco Gem

I have missed this building every-time I visit Havana, but this time I made sure I saw it. Unfortunately we could only get into the lobby but what a lobby it was.

Bacardi Building (Havana) in Art Deco Style

History:

The building was designed by architects Rafael Fernández Ruenes, Esteban Rodríguez Castell and José Menéndez, for the Bacardi rum company. The art deco landmark was completed in 1930 and was at the time the largest building in the city.

After the Cuban revolution and the departure of Bacardi from Cuba, the building continued to be used for offices. At the end of the 1990s it was renovated by the city historian’s office (source).

Art Deco Architecture: Bacardi Building (Havana, Cuba)

Art Deco Architecture: Bacardi Building (Havana)

Art Deco Architecture: Bacardi Building (Havana) Door design.

Bacardi Building (Havana)

Look at those Art Deco Elevators! Oh Wow!

Art Deco Architecture: Bacardi Building (Havana) Elevators
Art Deco Architecture: Bacardi Building (Havana) The lobby.

The Famous Floridita with it’s iconic Mid Century Sign.

Havana, Cuba 1950s Floridita Sign-Mid Century Sign.

La Moderna Poesia: Owned by the López Serrano family–who evidently had a preference for Art Deco–this bookstore has been the “insignia” bookstore of the city (Source).

Art Deco Architecture: Havana, Cuba. La Moderna Poesia: Owned by the López Serrano family–who evidently had a preference for Art Deco–this bookstore has been the “insignia” bookstore of the city

We took time to check out the Havana Club Museum. It was a fun little tour and perfect for when the weather is crummy (which it was that day).

Havana Club Museum-Havana, Cuba

I managed to capture this beautiful sunset over Havana after the rain went away.

Sunset in Havana Cuba

On one of the days we decided to take a walk along the Malecon towards Vedado an area of Havana we have never seen and holds such famous structures like the Hotel Nacional De Cuba.

The walk ended up taking us 40 minutes in 30 degree heat and was really dumb to do because we were dying of thirst and realized later on our way home that a cab was 8 minutes for like $4 Cdn (oops!), BUT worth it once we arrived!

The Malecón Havana, Cuba
The Malecón, Havana’s evocative 8km-long sea drive

Then the Hotel Nacional De Cuba appeared before us….on a hill (Just fantastic).

Hotel Nacional de Cuba

But we made it up the hill and boy were we in for a real treat.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Brief History of the Hotel:

  • Opened December 30th, 1930.
  • Famous Guests:  Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Mickey Mantle, Buster Keaton, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando and Ernest Hemingway. Plus: Winston Churchill and the Duke & Duchess of Windsor.
  • December 1946 the hotel hosted the Havana Conference, an infamous mob summit run by Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Francis Ford Coppola memorably dramatized the conference in his film The Godfather Part II.
  • In 1956, singer Nat King Cole was contracted to perform in Cuba and wanted to stay at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba but was not allowed to because he was black. Cole honored his contract, and the concert at the Tropicana was a huge success. The following year, he returned to Cuba for another concert, singing many songs in Spanish. There is now a tribute to him in the form of a bust and a jukebox in the Hotel Nacional.
  • In the 1950s a casino and club were added onto the Hotel and were a huge success.
  • After the Revolution, the hotel manly housed visiting diplomats and foreign government officials. In the 90s when Cuba opened it’s doors to tourism the hotel was restored and even though has not returned to its former glory is still is a fantastic piece of history (Source).
Lobby of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba
Lobby of the Hotel

More cool elevators. I love that in many old hotels the elevators have some of the best details.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba Elevators

We then ventured outside for a drink, cigar and some people watching.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba enjoying a cigar outside by the water.

Back of the hotel facing the sea.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba back view of the hotel

Did you know that the hotel style of the Famous Breakers in Palm Beach was influenced by the Hotel Nacional?

The Nacional and then below is the Breakers. See the resemblance?

Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Breakers Hotel, Palm Beach.

Breakers Hotel Palm Beach

Look a Canada Car!

Havana, Cuba vintage cars

After we had our drink and our break we started to wander the area called Vedado.

Vedado is very different from Old Havana, as it’s a central business district and an urban neighborhood and a great way to see Havana outside of the traditional tourist area. There are tons of things to do including great restaurants, bars and sites. We really liked this area and will go back to finish exploring in the near future.

Vedado, Havana, Cuba

One of the buildings I wanted to see was FOCSA Building– The Tallest Building in Cuba.

It is considered one of the seven wonders of Cuban civil engineering. Its construction took about 2 years and 4 months. At completion in 1956 it was considered a national sensation due to its modern technology and it signalled the start of a wave of construction of tall buildings in Havana.

In an era when concrete construction of buildings more than 18 storeys tall was considered unaffordable, the FOCSA was only the second project of its kind in the world (Source).

FOCSA Building in Havana Cuba

Next up the famous Coppelia in Havana. The Coppelia is an ice cream chain with the one in Havana being the largest Ice Cream Parlor in the world, holding 1000 guests.

Coppelia Ice Cream Parlor in Havana Cuba

The lineups are long for the ice cream here and when we got there, they were lined up for miles. Then I remembered a tip for from a travel book I read that there was a “tourist section” where you pay more than the Cubans but the lineups are short. We chose to go that route.

Coppelia Ice Cream Parlor in Havana Cuba with it's spaceship like Mid Century design.

And here is the ice cream…yummy.

Coppelia Ice Cream Parlor in Havana Cuba

After we got our chill on we decided to walk the neighbourhood because I read there was some large mansions and wonderful architecture in the area, and we were not disappointed.

Vedado, Havana, Cuba Mansion
Vedado, Havana, Cuba Mansion

This movie theatre sign at the Riviera is fantastic! Incredible Mid Century Font!

Vedado, Havana, Cuba Mansion
Vedado, Havana, Cuba Mansion

Hotel Presidente

 Hotel Roc Presidente Havana

Jose Marti Parque Stadium

Jose Marti Parque Stadium-Havana
Havana, Cuba Building

After that long day, we just headed back to the hotel in Old Havana and had a chill night checking out a new restaurant and listening to some music.

On the last day we wandered the streets and took our time taking in what a beautiful city Havana truly is and discussed when we would come back (hopefully sooner then later)

Havana, Cuba street shot.
Havana, Cuba vintage cars

I hope you enjoyed my new round of never seen photos of Havana and maybe this go around I convinced you to now visit or check out never seen before sites in the city.

Happy Travels! And if you want to see some of my other Cuba posts check them out at the link below:

Liz 🙂