Cuba - Lonely Planet [79]
* * *
Today, Vedado boasts a population of approximately 175,000 and its leafy residential pockets are interspersed with myriad theaters, nightspots, paladares and restaurants. Bisected by two wide Parisian-style boulevards, Calle G and Paseo, its geometric grid is embellished by a liberal sprinkling of pleasant parks and the gargantuan Plaza de la Revolución laid out during the Batista era in the 1950s.
HOTEL NACIONAL
Built in 1930 as a copy of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, the eclectic art-deco/neoclassical Hotel Nacional ( 873-3564; cnr Calles O & 21) is a national monument and one of Havana’s ‘postcard’ sights.
The hotel’s notoriety was cemented in October 1933 when, following a sergeant’s coup by Fulgencio Batista which toppled the regime of Gerardo Machado, 300 aggrieved army officers took refuge in the building hoping to curry favor with resident US ambassador Sumner Wells who was staying there. Much to the officers’ chagrin, Wells promptly left, allowing Batista’s troops to open fire on the hotel killing 14 of them and injuring seven. More were executed later, after they had surrendered.
In December 1946 the hotel gained notoriety of a different kind when US mobsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano used it to host the largest ever get-together of the North American Mafia, who gathered here under the guise of a Frank Sinatra concert.
These days the hotel maintains a more reputable face and the once famous casino is long gone, though the kitschy Parisién cabaret is still a popular draw. Nonguests are welcome to admire the Moorish lobby, stroll the breezy grounds overlooking the Malecón and examine the famous photos of past guests on the walls inside.
HOTEL HABANA LIBRE
This classic modernist hotel ( 834-6100; Calle L btwn Calles 23 & 25) – the former Havana Hilton – was commandeered by Castro’s revolutionaries in 1959 just nine months after it had opened, and promptly renamed the Habana Libre. During the first few months of the Revolution, Fidel ruled the country from a luxurious suite on the 24th floor.
A 670-sq-m Venetian tile mural by Amelia Peláez is splashed across the front of the building, while upstairs Alfredo Sosa Bravo’s Carro de la Revolución utilizes 525 ceramic pieces. There are some good shops here and an interesting photo gallery inside displaying snaps of the all-conquering barbudas (literally ‘bearded ones’) lolling around with their guns in the hotel’s lobby in January 1959.
EDIFICIO FOCSA
Unmissable on the Havana skyline, the modernist Edificio Focsa (Focsa building; cnr Calles 17 & M) was built in 1954–56 in a record 28 months using pioneering computer technology. In 1999 it was listed as one of the seven modern engineering wonders of Cuba. With 39 floors housing 373 apartments it was, on its completion in June 1956, the second-largest concrete structure of its type in the world, constructed in its entirety without the use of cranes. Falling on hard times in the early ’90s, the upper floors of the Focsa became nests for vultures and in 2000 an elevator cable snapped killing one person. Sparkling once more after a recent restoration project, this skyline-dominating Havana giant nowadays contains refurbished apartments and – in the shape of top-floor restaurant La Torre – one of the city’s most celebrated eating establishments.
UNIVERSIDAD DE LA HABANA
Founded by Dominican monks in 1728 and secularized in 1842, Havana University began life in Habana Vieja before moving to its present site in 1902. The existing neoclassical complex dates from the second quarter of the 20th century, and today some 30,000 students follow courses in the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, mathematics and economics here.
Perched on a Vedado hill at the top of the famous escalinata (stairway) and Alma Mater statue, the university’s central quadrangle, the Plaza Ignacio Agramonte, displays a tank captured by Castro