Post #412461 by bigbrotiki on Thu, Oct 9, 2008 9:15 AM

Please join author, urban archaeologist and architectural historian Peter Moruzzi for an afternoon book signing of the recently published "Havana Before Castro". Mr. Moruzzi will also host an exciting slide talk featuring:

Prohibition-era Parties --- Mob Run Hotel-Casinos --- Fabulous Nightclubs --- Outrageous Cabarets --- Famous Bars and Restaurants --- Amazing Havana Modern Architecture

On Sunday, October 12th, 4:00 p.m., at 8 Ball, 3806 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank CA 91505 -- http://www.8ballwebstore.com

Havana was America's Sin City before there was Sin City--home to nightclubs, casinos, brothels, and bars (this is where the daiquiri and mojito were invented). Americans flocked to this tropical Vegas during the 1920s to 1950s, turning it from a Prohibition-era playground into a glittering mob hangout--until it all came tumbling down in Castro's revolution.

Mixing period ephemera with amazing "then" and "now" photographs, author and architectural historian Peter Moruzzi recreates the Havana of the past, taking the reader on a journey from backstreet bordellos to soaring mid-century modern resorts, and everywhere in between. Escape the current climate to a better time and place, it's an armchair vacation you won't soon forget --and it's free (the slide show, that is)

While this post-Castro postcard of the POLINESIO (Trader Vic's) below might prove that communists make bad restaurant photographers :wink: :

...I would like to share some of the impressions that I had the opportunity to capture in Havana while photographing for the book, some of which ended up in the book, some of which can only be seen in Pete's slide show:

Dig?

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-10-09 10:06 ]