| Have you thought about sleeping in a room where Al | | | | style that can be seen in the street Trocadero, and a |
| Capone slept or where, just some time later, another | | | | more modern one that looks to the Paseo del Prado. |
| mafia character like Santo Trafficante did? Or stay at | | | | The hotel enjoyed the tourism boom of the time, |
| the same rooms once used by Josephine Baker, | | | | which, as we said in an earlier article, was supported |
| Imperio Argentina and Libertad Lamarque? | | | | by national and international situations that benefited |
| ¿Lola Flores, Tongolele, Tin Tan, Perez Prado? | | | | Hotel Plaza like no other hotel in Havana at that time |
| Hugo del Carril ¿or Jorge Negrete? The painter | | | | since their owners also managed the Hippodrome and |
| David Alfaro Siqueiros and chess icon José | | | | the National Casino. |
| Raúl Capablanca...? | | | | Cuba was a paradise for the visitor interested in fun |
| All these possibilities exist at Sevilla Hotel, one of the | | | | and entertainment, in exposing his luck at gambling |
| oldest hotels in Cuba. This is where part of the story | | | | and betting, but also according to the chronicles of |
| of "Our man in Havana" takes place, which is one of | | | | travelers of the time, some peculiarities of Cuban |
| the well-known novels of Graham Greene; who was | | | | idiosyncrasy made possible the tourism boom. In a |
| also a guest of this hotel. So was Georges Simenon, | | | | book concerning our "tourist" attractions: "When it's |
| creator of the famous literary character Inspector | | | | cocktail time in Cuba" (A la hora del coctel en Cuba), |
| Maigret, and Ernest Hemingway, Novel Prize for | | | | published in 1928, its author, Basil Woon, made these |
| Literature. Enrico Caruso and Rubén | | | | libertines suggestions to potential travelers: "You can |
| Darío also stayed in this hotel on their way | | | | drink all you want, try your luck at the lottery and |
| through Havana, like did Mary Pickford, to whom the | | | | lose what you think it is reasonable at the casino. In |
| hotel dedicated a cocktail that is still the an emblem | | | | Havana there is no need to carry a marriage |
| of the institution. | | | | certificate if traveling as a couple and the visitor can |
| Thanks to the famous personalities who used its | | | | look provocativey at beautiful Cuban ladies since that |
| facilities, the Sevilla is a hotel with history. That and | | | | look in Cuba is a compliment and not a crime. " |
| its already completed 100 years'of service. It was the | | | | In 1939, the Sevilla Hotel was held by Amleto Battisti, |
| first large luxury hotel in the Island, and today, a | | | | a Uruguayan man of Italian origin who was the head |
| four-star category hotel, due to its comfort and the | | | | of one of the four families of the Havana Mafia |
| excellence of its services, it is still ranked among the | | | | Empire. He turned the hotel into one of the paradises |
| favorite hotel choices for a pleasurable vacation in | | | | of Havana's gambling until 1959. |
| Cuba. It's beautiful architecture contributes as well to | | | | With the triumph of the revolutionary movement in |
| its preference, which replicates the entrance to the | | | | January of the same year, Don Amleto, who also |
| Patio de los Leones in the Alhambra, in Granada, | | | | controlled the traffic of heroin into the U.S., left his |
| Andalucía, with arches, columns and mosaics | | | | hotel on the day of triumph for refuge in the |
| profusion. And also its excellent location, right next to | | | | Uruguayan embassy. He carried as his baggage |
| the famous Paseo del Prado and a few hundred | | | | several large suitcases full of money. The Sevilla Hotel |
| meters from the Malecón in Havana, at the | | | | then was used exclusively for local tourism until 1989, |
| entrance to the Historic Center of town, and a few | | | | when it closed its doors for a big refurbishment, |
| steps from famous museums and great bars and | | | | reopening in 1993 with the glory that always |
| restaurants in the Cuban capital. | | | | characterized it, but with the amenities of modernity. |
| Hotel Sevilla in Old Havana.This hotel passed through | | | | I could tell stories of the many famous people who |
| several stages since its founding. The Sevilla hotel | | | | stayed at the Hotel Sevilla, but I will only refer to |
| was inaugurated in 1908. If you get a glimpse of the | | | | one of them in this article: |
| image of its main facade, you can notice that its | | | | The great Josephine Baker stayed at the Hotel |
| original owner was a Spanish man with the | | | | Sevilla when she first arrived in Havana in 1950, to |
| González surname. This person, a little bit | | | | perform for several nights at the América |
| later, sold the hotel to an American company that | | | | Theater. The Baker was initially seduced by the Hotel |
| then sold it to the Biltmore Company, also of | | | | Nacional de Cuba as an ideal venue to stay. But |
| American capital. Americans have always known how | | | | unbelievably, as it was considered the flagship hotel |
| to obtain the highest profitability of a business, and | | | | of all Cuban hotels, she was not accepted because |
| having knowledge of the growth of tourism on the | | | | of the black color of her skin. In this situation, Amleto |
| island in the second decade of the last century, they | | | | Battisti, who recognized the fame that accompanied |
| strived to develop their facilities. | | | | the worldwide star, and knowing that her presence |
| They bought a building of 10 plants that had been | | | | at the facility would be excellent advertising for the |
| built next to the hotel Plaza, with its facade to the | | | | hotel, offered to host and serve her as a queen. The |
| Paseo del Prado. At first this building was conceived | | | | day after arriving at the Sevilla Hotel she began her |
| to accommodate a hospital but it never opened | | | | performances at the América Theater. |
| because the owners had difficulties to get, from the | | | | Despite her 54 years of age, she appeared agile and |
| City Hall of Havana, the declaration of the area as an | | | | beautiful. Only... that she danced with her clothes on. |
| area of silence, a prerequisite for establishing a | | | | Still, it is said that the lines of people that crowded |
| medical institution. The American company then | | | | outside the theater to see her, exceeded earlier lines |
| joined the new building with the existing hotel and | | | | for other shows in Havana. The Sevilla was the hotel |
| reopened in 1924 as the Sevilla Biltmore Hotel. For | | | | that saved Havana from not appreciating, in situ, the |
| that reason, even today, there are two styles in the | | | | immense value of a living legend of world art, |
| constructive aspect of the hotel, an attractive older | | | | Josephine Baker. |