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Hotel Nacional de Cuba

 
Hotel Nacional De Cuba

 
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Hotel Nacional de Cuba
 
 
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The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a historic luxury hotel
Hotel

----A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including Bathroom#Types of bathroomss and air conditioning or clima...
 located on the Malecón
Malecón, Havana

The Malec?n is a broad promenade, roadway and seawall which stretches for 8 km along the coast in Havana, Cuba, from the mouth of Havana Harbor in Old Havana to Vedado....
 in Havana
Havana

Havana is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Provinces of Cuba. The city/province has 2.1 million inhabitants, and the urban area over 3.5 million, making Havana the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean....
, Cuba
Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
. It was designed by the famous New York firm McKim, Mead and White and features an eclectic mix of architectural styles. It opened in 1930, when Cuba was a prime travel destination for Americans
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, long before the embargo
United States embargo against Cuba

The United States Embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed on the Fidel Castro on February 7, 1962. The embargo was enacted after the Castro government Expropriation the properties of United States citizens and corporations ....
.

Among its first illustrious guests were artists, actors and writers such as Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller was an United States swimming and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic Games gold medals and one bronze medal....
, Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an Academy Award-winning United States comic actor and filmmaker. Best known for his silent films, his trademark was physical comedy with a stoicism, deadpan expression on his face, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face" ....
, Jorge Negrete
Jorge Negrete

Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno is considered one of the most popular Mexico singers and actors of all time.Negrete was born in Guanajuato where he was raised together with his brother and three sisters: David, Consuelo, Emilia and Teresa, and also lived in San Luis Potos?....
, Agustin Lara
Agustín Lara

?ngel Agust?n Mar?a Carlos Fausto Mariano Alfonso del Sagrado Coraz?n de Jes?s Lara y Aguirre del Pino was a Mexican composer who is also considered a musical poet....
, Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power

'Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr.' , usually credited simply as 'Tyrone Power' and known sometimes as "'Ty Power'", was an United States film and Theatre actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as The Mark of Zorro , The Black Swan , Prince of Foxes , T...
, Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos

R?mulo Gallegos Freire was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of some nine months during 1948, he served as his country's List of presidents of Venezuela....
, Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn

Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born film actor, known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and his flamboyant lifestyle....
, Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, Jr. was an Academy Award-winning American actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. He is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time, and was named the fourth AFI's 100 Years......
 and Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short story author, and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, France, and one of the veterans of World War I later known as "the Lost Generation"....
.






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The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a historic luxury hotel
Hotel

----A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including Bathroom#Types of bathroomss and air conditioning or clima...
 located on the Malecón
Malecón, Havana

The Malec?n is a broad promenade, roadway and seawall which stretches for 8 km along the coast in Havana, Cuba, from the mouth of Havana Harbor in Old Havana to Vedado....
 in Havana
Havana

Havana is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Provinces of Cuba. The city/province has 2.1 million inhabitants, and the urban area over 3.5 million, making Havana the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean....
, Cuba
Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
. It was designed by the famous New York firm McKim, Mead and White and features an eclectic mix of architectural styles. It opened in 1930, when Cuba was a prime travel destination for Americans
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, long before the embargo
United States embargo against Cuba

The United States Embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed on the Fidel Castro on February 7, 1962. The embargo was enacted after the Castro government Expropriation the properties of United States citizens and corporations ....
.

Among its first illustrious guests were artists, actors and writers such as Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller was an United States swimming and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic Games gold medals and one bronze medal....
, Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an Academy Award-winning United States comic actor and filmmaker. Best known for his silent films, his trademark was physical comedy with a stoicism, deadpan expression on his face, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face" ....
, Jorge Negrete
Jorge Negrete

Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno is considered one of the most popular Mexico singers and actors of all time.Negrete was born in Guanajuato where he was raised together with his brother and three sisters: David, Consuelo, Emilia and Teresa, and also lived in San Luis Potos?....
, Agustin Lara
Agustín Lara

?ngel Agust?n Mar?a Carlos Fausto Mariano Alfonso del Sagrado Coraz?n de Jes?s Lara y Aguirre del Pino was a Mexican composer who is also considered a musical poet....
, Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power

'Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr.' , usually credited simply as 'Tyrone Power' and known sometimes as "'Ty Power'", was an United States film and Theatre actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as The Mark of Zorro , The Black Swan , Prince of Foxes , T...
, Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos

R?mulo Gallegos Freire was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of some nine months during 1948, he served as his country's List of presidents of Venezuela....
, Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn

Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born film actor, known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and his flamboyant lifestyle....
, Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, Jr. was an Academy Award-winning American actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. He is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time, and was named the fourth AFI's 100 Years......
 and Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short story author, and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, France, and one of the veterans of World War I later known as "the Lost Generation"....
. The hotel’s reputation as a deluxe host is backed by patrons such as Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, Order of the Garter, Order of Merit, Order of the Companions of Honour, Territorial Decoration, Fellow of the Royal Society, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Queen's Privy Council for Canada was a Politics of the United Kingdom known chiefly for his leadership of the United King...
, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, scientist Alexander Flemming, and innumerable Ibero American Heads of State and European monarchs. Minnesota (United States) Governor Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura , also known as "The Body", "The Star", and "The Governing Body", is an American politician of Slovakia descent, retired professional wrestling, Underwater Demolition Team veteran, actor, and former radio and television talk show host....
 stayed at the hotel while visiting Cuba on a trade mission in 2002.

In 1933, after Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista

Fulgencio Batista y Zald?var was a Cuban military officer, dictator and politician.Batista was the military leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1940 and President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944....
's September 4, 1933 coup against the transitional government, it was the residence of Sumner Welles
Sumner Welles

Benjamin Sumner Welles was an United States Federal government of the United States and diplomacy in the United States Foreign Service.He was a major foreign policy advisor to President of the United States Franklin D....
 and was the site of a bloody siege, which pitted the Cuban Army officers who had been instrumental in the overthrow of Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado

Gerardo Machado y Morales was the 5th President of Cuba and a general of the Cuban War of Independence. He was born in the central Province of Las Villas and was from a poor background....
 (August 12. 1933), against the non-commissioned officers and ranks of the Cuban army who supported Batista. Despite heavy losses due to the presence of the extremely accurate Cuban Olympic Rifle team, the Batista forces prevailed. A number of officers were shot on surrender.

In December 1946 it hosted an infamous mob summit, run by Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano

Charles "Lucky" Luciano was a Sicilian mobster. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime and the mastermind of the massive postwar expansion of the international heroin trade....
 and Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky was a organized crime who, with Charles Luciano, was instrumental in the development of The Commission in the United States.Lansky developed a gambling empire which ranged from Saratoga, Miami, Las Vegas and was officially in charge of gambling concessions in Cuba....
 and attended by Santo Trafficante
Santo Trafficante

Santo Trafficante was the name of two powerful Tampa, Florida, Florida Mafia bosses, father and son:*Santo Trafficante, Sr. *Santo Trafficante, Jr. ...
, Frank Costello
Frank Costello

Frank Costello, born Francesco Castiglia was a New York City gangster who rose to the top of America's underworld, controlled a vast gambling empire across the United States and enjoyed political influence like no other La Cosa Nostra boss....
, Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia

Albert Anastasia , also known as the "Mad Hatter" and "Lord High Executioner", was a New York City Cosa Nostra boss remembered for his brutality and his role in running the contract killing gang known as Murder, Inc....
, Vito Genovese
Vito Genovese

Vito "Don Vito" Genovese was a mafioso who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family....
 and many others. It was memorably dramatized by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola is a five-time Academy Award-winning United States film director, Film producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, publisher and Hotel manager....
 in his film The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II

The Godfather Part II is an Cinema of the United States 1974 in film crime drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo....
.

Pan Am's Intercontinental Hotels Corporation took over management of the hotel in 1955 and built a luxurious casino that was operated by Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky was a organized crime who, with Charles Luciano, was instrumental in the development of The Commission in the United States.Lansky developed a gambling empire which ranged from Saratoga, Miami, Las Vegas and was officially in charge of gambling concessions in Cuba....
 and his brother Jake, with Wilbur Clark of Las Vegas's Desert Inn as the front man. The casino was closed by Castro in October 1960, nearly two years after the revolution.

After years of neglect due to the disappearance of Cuba's tourism following the Cuban revolution, the hotel was mainly used to accommodate diplomats and foreign government officials. After the collapse of the USSR the Cuban communist party soon reopened Cuba to tourists in search of monetary support. Despite its restoration during the 1990s the hotel no longer carries the status and impact it once did. But its remaining splendor and history serves as tangible remainder to Cuba's past times.

The hotel has been depicted in several films and is a popular photographed and painted landmark. The last scene of the 2001's movie Nada + (Nothing more) takes place in top of the Cascade Fountain in the Hotel grounds.

Image:HotelNacionalMusicians.jpg|Musicians at the Hotel Nacional, Havana. October 2002 Image:HotelNacionaldeCuba.jpg|Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana. October 2002 Image:Cuba011.jpg|Hotel Nacional and The Cascade fountain from Malecon Avenue. Image:Hotelnacionale.jpg|Hotel Nacional, January 2008

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