The Lafayette Hotel
Acrylic on canvas – 24" x 34"

My father in the 1930s, and my wife's father, in later years, both frequently went to Cuba. It was an open city, run by the mafia and corrupt political powers, and it attracted everyone from school teachers to movie stars.

The Lafayette Restaurant sign, strung across a small street near the Havana Cathedral, is reminiscent of those times when any naughty pleasure could be bought in Havana from sex, to drugs, to gambling.

Gambling is prohibited in Havana today, and illegal drug trafficking is a major offense, but cigars still provide an overriding scent wherever you go, and rum is enjoyed in daiquiris and majito cocktails throughout the country.