A little detail that invites you to think about… mysterious things

I didn’t remember that this place had been used as a filming location until @muhammadhalim reminded me two days ago. Lista de Espera is the title of this film — literally referring to a queue of people waiting to board a bus at a terminal — and I’ve watched it two or three times, as I tend to do with certain Cuban movies. And the truth is that in Cuba we’ve had —and still have— such talented actors and film directors… they’re capable of doing so much with so little, and that’s truly admirable. Besides, in this case it’s a comedy that, through laughter, touches some very sensitive fibres of our society. It honestly feels as if it never expires. Perhaps it’s because we’re still stuck in time.

If you understand my native language and feel like watching it, it’s available on YouTube. So here’s the link.

When we stepped onto the open esplanade in front of the Santa Fe Casino, a coastal spot to the west of Havana, our friend lowered his voice and, without meaning to, carried us into an era we never lived but have seen recreated in films.

‘Can you imagine this place at night, all lit up, people over here and over there laughing and having a good time, and this car park full of 1950s cars?’ he exclaimed.

And yes, in a second my mind filled with images. Scenes ranging from joy to sadness, from pleasure to vice, from opulence to poverty… in short, a casino by the sea in Havana in those days suddenly felt small to me. I don’t know if it once had more areas that still linger there in a ghostly state 😁 and I gazed around for a long while.

Time had somehow stopped, as if we were part of the film each of us carried in our own minds, and in mine all sorts of thoughts began to pile up. I have to say I took a deep breath and let the good ones settle, because in the end the images that came rushing in had been planted there. Things others had put in my head, not experiences I had lived myself.

My friend was referring to the 1950s, but this Casino actually dates back to the late 1920s.

When you look through the available bibliography, you find phrases like this: ‘The Santa Fe Casino stands as one of the most striking symbols of Havana’s nightlife before 1959.’

With the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, the place was shut down, and over time… well, you can see what it has become.

But there’s a detail we all overlooked in that moment, while we were imagining that front esplanade full of cars… 🤣 To reach the Casino there are no asphalted roads — not even any proper access routes — that cars could use to get there. Only sandy paths, stones, and a whole lot of sea. We had actually talked about this ourselves as we approached the place. How was it possible that there was no asphalt infrastructure for the local residents to reach it? That house I showed earlier is in the direction we were walking from. And I had to carry my bike on my shoulder several times just to make my way across those uneven grounds.

So the Santa Fe Casino also holds mysterious and very private stories. Not everyone had access… people arrived, let’s say, almost exclusively by yacht, and perhaps only by invitation. Right, here I go making assumptions. Here’s the small pier that was used for that purpose.

Although at the back I saw channels, and Marina Hemingway is very close by, so this may have been another spot where boats docked.

And wait… let me keep imagining. In the 1950s there might even have been helicopters bringing in luxury guests. There was certainly enough space. 🤣

Did you plan on getting here by swimming?

Not the best idea. 😱

Now let’s enjoy a small photographic stroll through the lush, restless energy of our city’s graffiti artists, wandering among these places in decay.

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