Havana In Winter – The Riviera Hotel – Frozen In Time

A friend called it a Time Capsule. He could not be more precise in the description. Frozen in time, a time capsule, a monument to a past era.

The Riviera Hotel at the Havana Malecon certainly is all that.

And very quiet too, so you really have the impression you are intruding ( or awakening places, spaces and venues long shut down and fully asleep ). I was afraid Meyer Lansky would come around and kick me out …

Thanks to a good friend I had the chance to enter these frozen, sleepy rooms, stopped in time back in 1959, only two years after its grand opening in 1957.
The Casino or as it is now called Salon Internacional, a colourful bowl that can be seen from outside when driving past, the Grand Ballroom called the Copa, the L’Aiglon restaurant, the L’Elegance Bar and the public places like the Lobby, the Lobby Bar and the pool areas.

Extremely quiet and deserted nowadays. There are very few tourists at the Riviera, funny enough. Located next to the Melia Cohiba but always having a kind of deserted aura.

My friend told me this might change as a Spanish hotel company has taken a share in the hotel and the owner has sentimental ties to it as he used to stay there as a kid. He wants to renovate the place, which it is badly in need of.

Cuba being Cuba let’s wait and see if there is a thaw in this frozen place.

And smoke a good cigar with a glass of rum while waiting ….

Nino