CubanaAmericana

Check out our American Classics photo album on our Facebook...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 14:52:00 -0500

Check out our American Classics photo album on our Facebook page.
Photos taken at the 2013 Mecum Auction in Kissimmee, FL.

Copyright ©2013 CubanaAmericana, Inc.

Miami Cubans in Exile, Paintings by The Fight Doctor Ferdie...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:37:00 -0500

Miami Cubans in Exile, Paintings by The Fight Doctor Ferdie Pacheco

http://www.ferdiepacheco.com/Cubans%20In%20Exile%20Series.html

Richard Blanco, 2013 Inaugural Poet Looking for The Gulf...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:16:00 -0500

Richard Blanco, 2013 Inaugural Poet

Looking for The Gulf Motel

Marco Island, Florida

There should be nothing here I don’t remember …

The Gulf Motel with mermaid lampposts
and ship’s wheel in the lobby should still be
rising out of the sand like a cake decoration.
My brother and I should still be pretending
we don’t know our parents, embarrassing us
as they roll the luggage cart past the front desk
loaded with our scruffy suitcases, two-dozen
loaves of Cuban bread, brown bags bulging
with enough mangos to last the entire week,
our espresso pot, the pressure cooker—and
a pork roast reeking garlic through the lobby.
All because we can’t afford to eat out, not even
on vacation, only two hours from our home
in Miami, but far enough away to be thrilled
by whiter sands on the west coast of Florida,
where I should still be for the first time watching
the sun set instead of rise over the ocean.

There should be nothing here I don’t remember …

My mother should still be in the kitchenette
of The Gulf Motel, her daisy sandals from Kmart
squeaking across the linoleum, …

read the entire poem at
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=15410

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/gymnastics/bela-karolyi-talks-u-...

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 16:18:40 -0400

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/gymnastics/bela-karolyi-talks-u-s-womens-golden-chances-on-today.html

yvettesworld: “…y antes de morir yo quiero cantar mis versos...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:14:53 -0400

yvettesworld:

“…y antes de morir yo quiero cantar mis versos del alma. Guantanamera …. ” -Celia Cruz on the Corner E 103rd st & Lexington ave #CeliaCruz #NewYork #Nyc #streetart #music #musica (Taken with instagram)

Cafecito 4-1

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:18:04 -0400

Cafecito 4-1

bobertsbobgomery: Ginger Rogers in Hollywood on Parade (x),...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:57:31 -0400

bobertsbobgomery:

Ginger Rogers in Hollywood on Parade (x), 1932

54 Chevy, an offering to San LazaroTaken at a mechanic’s...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:10:51 -0400

54 Chevy, an offering to San Lazaro
Taken at a mechanic’s shop on Calle Ocho in Little Havana

Jessie Smith Coco Plum Beach, 1934 Photo by Gleason Waite...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:32:00 -0400

Jessie Smith
Coco Plum Beach, 1934

Photo by Gleason Waite Romer (1887-1971), Miami-Dade Public Library System Collection
The Main Library houses the collection of 17.500 photographic negatives and prints, recording Miami’s history from pioneer days through the 1950s.

Before there was Ricky Ricardo, there was Señor Babalú,...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:09:18 -0400

Before there was Ricky Ricardo, there was Señor Babalú, Miguelito Valdes.

Babalú was written by Margarita Lecuona and was originally recorded by Xavier Cugat & his orchestra on March 14, 1941.

“UNCLE SAM” DEBUTED ON THIS DATE IN 1852

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:22:00 -0400

“UNCLE SAM” DEBUTED ON THIS DATE IN 1852

13 de marzo, remembering The Tugboat Massacre

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:09:00 -0400

On July 13,1994, 72 Cubans attempted to flee communism aboard a tugboat named 13 de marzo (13th of March). Within a few miles of Havana’s coast, they were surrounded by Cuban government officials aboard ships armed with tanks and other weapons. The government officials proceeded to ram their vessels against the tugboat, splitting its stern, while assaulting its passengers with high pressure water hoses. The boat sank within minutes, claiming the lives of 41 people, 10 of them children.

Here are several images of makeshift boats and rafts used by Cuban balseros fleeing the island in search of freedom:

A replica of the 1951 Chevrolet truck/raft can be seen at the corner of SW 8th street and 42nd Avenue, in Miami, Florida.

Calle Ocho 1985 Poster

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:26:00 -0400

Today is the 35th Annual Calle Ocho street festival in Miami, Florida. Each year, this event draws over one million people to the streets of Little Havana to enjoy Latin food and entertainment.

Here’s a vintage poster illustrated by Rubén Travieso, 1985.

Bohemia Lagoon by Yoani Sanchez

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 15:19:00 -0500

Repost from the Generation Y blog of Cuban dissident Yoani Sanchez Bohemia Lagoon

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I started reading from the last page, where the graphic humor and the occasional caricature of a famous person appeared. I then turned to the crossword puzzle and when I reached the articles, I started to fear that my reading would soon end. I would have to wait another seven days for the seller to shout its name under our windows, a name with distant connotations in pages smelling of ink. My grandparents sought to curb my enthusiasm, saying that the weekly magazine, which they used to buy at the kiosks, was a shadow of its former self.

Bohemia, the oldest magazine in Cuba and in Latin America, was born in 1908 and now it’s the living dead. Though it continues to pile on the years, the fact is that for more than a decade it has ceased to be a reference point. The 1959 Bohemia of Freedom issue, where they showed the bodies massacred by the previous dictator, has been replaced by a boring, triumphalist, insignificant publication. It shrank and lost pages. Its articles repeated the same old sugary stories as the rest of the official press. Even its cover could be confused with those of other magazines, like Sea and Fisheries or the prudish, We’re Young. Its whole personality slipped down the drain of censorship as it was re-educated by a system that doesn’t like uncomfortable magazines nor incisive journalists.

Every day I walk near the building that houses Bohemia, home to the most beautiful of all the busts of José Martí I’ve seen in Havana. I try to explain to my son that dozing there is one of the most important journals once enjoyed in this country and the entire region. For those of his age, that area near the Council of State is simply a place where water collects when it rains, a natural pond that blocks the passage of cars after a shower. “Bohemia Lagoon,” they call it, but I explain that before being known for its floods, in that site beat the heart of the press; there they prepared the pages for eyes like mine to enjoy. Yoani Sanchez (Cuba, March 4, 2011)

About Yoani Sanchez:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoani_Sánchez