English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Juan Juan Almeida, 7 July 2016 — Yanetsi Azhares is a young Cuban woman who leaves nothing to chance. Only twenty-eight-years old, she knows what she wants. Her mother was a pastry chef who lived close to the Alondra ice cream parlor and whole life was spent saving up enough money to buy a little sweets shop. … Continue reading “Ice Cream Parlors in Cuba or How Gelato Killed Coppelia / Juan Juan Almeida”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 12 May 2016 – Havanans enjoyed a certain freshness twice this weekend. Not only did the thermometers drop a few degrees, but the emblematic Coppelia ice cream parlor, located in the heart of the capital, reopened its doors after being closed for repairs for several weeks. The work is part of … Continue reading “Coppelia Puts Makeup on the Shortages / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar”
When it first opened, it offered twenty-six flavors. Now Cuba’s most famous ice cream parlor leaves only a bad taste in customers’ mouths. Cubanet, Manuel Diaz Mons, Havana, 17 December 2015 — Nestled into the corner of 23rd and L streets — the busiest corner in Cuba — and known to many Cubans for its reasonable … Continue reading “Coppelia, the Cathedral of Ice Cream, Is Melting / Somos+, Manuel Diaz Mons”
Coppelia is the biggest ice cream place in Havana. The usual clients of the emblematic center — many are kids — believe that the bad service, the limited variety and the quality of the ice cream are the evils that afflict the so-called Cathedral of Ice Cream. However, a more inquisitive look reveals other threats. … Continue reading “Coppelia Missing Its Steps / Dora Leonor Mesa”
Coppelia, the most famous ice-cream parlor in Havana and in Cuba, turned 45 on June 4. Located on the corner of Calle 23 at L on the central avenue La Rampa, its architecture is one of the most beautiful and best-designed since the olive-green revolution led by Fidel Castro. The design, by Mario Girona (1924-2008), … Continue reading “Coppelia Ice Cream Turns 45… Without Strawberry or Chocolate / Iván García”
14ymedio, Madrid, 19 February 2024 — “In our country, every new resolution is condemned to being violated before it is implemented, usually due to the ineffectiveness of those responsible for enforcing it.” This is one of the more than 100 comments made by readers who responded to the Cubadebate survey about the implementation of the … Continue reading “The Failure of Electronic Transactions in Cuba: Only 5 Percent of State Ration Stores Make Them”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 27 September 2023 — The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) will celebrate its 75th anniversary with an intense program of 15 works in one month, including dance classics and the company’s own classics such as Don Quixote, Swan Lake, and Coppelia. The program will run throughout October, coinciding with the month … Continue reading “The National Ballet of Cuba Celebrates its 75th Year with an Intense Program of Classics”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 17 October 17, 2023 — La Casa de Perros Calientes (The Hot Dog House) — located on 23rd and K streets, right in front of the giant Coppelia ice cream parlor in Vedado — has reopened its doors after being closed for months. The colors of its signs, red and … Continue reading “With Prices From 20 to 180 Pesos, the Hot Dog Place at 23rd and K Streets in Havana Reopens under Private Management”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 17 September 2023 — The cartwheel in front of La Carreta is back where it used to be. The restaurant had been closed for years until last June, when it reopened as a privately owned restaurant. The cartwheel itself sat under a tree at the corner of 21st and K … Continue reading “Iconic 1960s Havana Restaurant, Now in Private Hands, Is Reborn”
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 9 August 2023 — No one hated private business in Cuba more than Fidel Castro. In his 1968 speech announcing the Revolutionary Offensive, which nationalized all remaining small private businesses in the country, he called business owners lazy, hangers-on, exploiters, privileged and lazy. Spooked by his own shadow, he vented … Continue reading “To Have or Not to Have Private Businesses”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 26, 2023 — Showing sadness in the children and anger in the parents, the faces of the Havanans who approached Jalisco Park this Wednesday, at the corner of 23 and 18 in El Vedado, spoke for themselves when they saw it closed. The authorities had been announcing days with … Continue reading “Reopening of Havana’s Jalisco Park Postponed Without Explanation”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 April 2023 – ’Up La Rampa and down La Rampa!’ was the slogan used by all the people who flocked to Calle 23 in El Vedado, Havana at the weekends in order to get to or from the Malecón sea wall, or a cinema or the queue for the … Continue reading “The Fuel Shortage Leaves Havana’s La Rampa Deserted — No Cars, No People”
14ymedio, JuanDiego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 January 2023 — Coppelia, one of the many symbols of the utopian dreams of the Cuban Revolution –- in this case producing more and better flavors than the United States — is closed to the public this Tuesday. It is not due to remodeling, as happened in 2019, nor due … Continue reading “Cuba’s Famous Ice Cream Parlor Closed for Lack of Ice Cream”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 17 September 2022 — The glory days of La Roca, a restaurant at the corner of 21st and M streets in Havana, only lasted for a few years. Inspired by Art Deco architecture and designed by Modesto Campos and Hugo D’Acosta Calheiros — two then-young architects, one of them still … Continue reading “Is There a State-Owned Restaurant in Cuba that Has Good Food and Treats Customers Well?”
14ymedio, Madrid, July 20, 2022 — A building under construction at K and 23rd streets, which promises to be the tallest in Havana, has become the target of criticism by design professionals. The latest to take aim at “Tower K,” popularly known as “Lopez-Calleja Tower,” is Edelberto Diaz Aguilera, a Panama-based Cuban architect. The project … Continue reading “Cuban Architect Criticizes ‘Pretentiously Gigantic’ Tower K Hotel”
