Beautiful pictures... such odd, stark contrasts.

They seem to be enjoying the post-revolution.

Nice pics. Interesting to see the normal modern city life, and the photographers that do these spreads in the Boston Globe always have great color and sharpness.

What's up with "government run food store called 'Bodega'" though? I thought "bodega" just means regular old corner market or grocery, a regular word?

I can just imagine blue line "SUPERMARKET" stores in LA or some such...

There are actually people there! Not monsters, not fanged zombies, but moms and dads and kids and a grandma smoking a cigar. Gorgeous pics.

Ah, here's the new Packard we've been hearing so much about!

LandStander: Ah, here's the new Packard we've been hearing so much about!

Freshly simonized and everything!

Sure there are a couple of pics that are interesting, but most of these suck ass.

My first car was a 4 door 1957 Ford Custom 300, same as the one in picture 3. Except mine was two tone pink (Doe skin tan was the "official" color name, although it was mostly pink) and white with an avocado green interior. Mine also had more rust than the one pictured. It had the 312ci "Thunderbird Special" package, and was a lot of fun to drive. I loved that car.

Great pictures, as always.

I wish the U.S. Government would lift the embargo against Cuba. I have wanted to go there for years. Thanks for the pics.

Someday Cuba may turn out to be a nice place for the (wealthy) people to live. (Never for the poor, they're always farked.)

Great gallery. Zombie Castro's looking pretty good, too, for the walking undead.

And I'm pretty sure I saw the dude in #33 over at awkwardboners.com.

Looks like Starvin Marvin works at the ballpark.

Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith

/Read it.

Havana Illinois?

Pretty impressive alright.

Maybe after Fidel and Raul die the govt there will reform enough for the U.S. to lift embargos and stuff.

20 million people in the market for new cars 90 miles away from the U.S., that could be nice for the auto industry.

Not to mention cuban cigars.

Gorgeous pictures. Too bad those people have to live under a communist dictatorship with pictures of other commie butchers on the wall.

i swear this one was a photoshoper before :O
http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/cuba_11_11 / c19_20118605.jpg

you know who else liked cubans...

Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna was a murdering thug who enjoyed interrogating people with a baseball bat. He also liked killing people which violate the oath he took when he became a medical doctor. Truly a perversion of a man.

Peaceboy: I'm pretty sure I saw the dude in #33 over at awkwardboners.com.

Nah, he's just stuffing his banana hammock.

In all seriousness though, that was a great series of pics. It makes it harder to understand why we have such a hate-boner for Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a long time ago, maybe it wouldn't kill us to normalize our relations with them?

What a dump. I will never understand why people would want to travel there. It's like Haiti, but not as clean, beautiful, and natural as Haiti.....

lordmoose: Havana Illinois?

In to say this^

The girl in number 12 has never been seen again as Fidel ate her brain

BABALU! BABALU!



I do not know what that means -- do you?

The only cool street scenes of Havana would include a photo Fidel hanging by the neck & shot in the head.

Contrast these scenes in a few years when Castro dies and Cuba becomes an American Tourist Destination.

/bring on the Starbucks!

That guy makes great shoes

I was born and raised in Miami. I have a lot of friends (and their parents) that escaped Cuba either just before or just after Castro took power. Some of them who escaped got out of there with the clothes on their backs and (barely) their lives.

I love this quote from the comments: "Sure, Fidel was not perfect, but he actually cared about his people. There ARE problems with the government in Cuba post-revolution. But the US has a sh*t-ton of problems too! The entire world is very aware of that. Why don't we just let the Cubans obtain freedom, if that is indeed what they want."

The US has no control over the Cuban secret police.

I was in Havana a couple of years ago. It's a dump. People are poor and apathetic. Also, I'll bet 50 of their new convertible pesos Fidel had something to do with Cienfuegos' disappearance.

Wow, just wow. Nothing quite like making a destitute hellhole look like paradise with some VERY selective photography.

I got your "Communist Paradise" right here.

Hopefully one day we'll be trading with them again.

Those were awesome, great link subby.

wearetheworld: What a dump. I will never understand why people would want to travel there. It's like Haiti, but not as clean, beautiful, and natural as Haiti.....

Because downtown Havana isn't representative of where the resorts are or the natural parts of the island.

I'm guessing you're trolling since Haiti is an awful, awful place but speaking as someone who's been to Cuba quite a few times, it's a very beautiful place and the locals were nothing but nice and polite when we were there.

portscanner: I love this quote from the comments: "Sure, Fidel was not perfect, but he actually cared about his people. There ARE problems with the government in Cuba post-revolution. But the US has a sh*t-ton of problems too! The entire world is very aware of that. Why don't we just let the Cubans obtain freedom, if that is indeed what they want."

Well, hey, maybe he was referencing J.S. Mill, who knows?

The only nice thing I will say for Che Guevara was that at least he was a true international communist and not a closet nationalist like most of his ilk.

When Cuba is open to American tourists, Havana will probably make Vegas and Atlantic City look like Indian bingo casinos.

While I wouldn't want to live under their political system, I'd love to live such in a big city and have my kids be able to walk to school unmolested.

Say what you want about Cuba, at least it's an ethos. Poor? Sure, but I bet there are worse places to live...if I ever decide to bail on the US, I may offer my visage and magnificence to Cuba.

dead_dangler: Contrast these scenes in a few years when Castro dies and Cuba becomes an American Tourist Destination.

/bring on the Starbucks!

OOH burn, they've got it so great, it's so quaint, look they even drive great looking classic cars! Beleive me, Starbucks would improve their economy by leaps and bounds. You try living in a third world country, I have. It's sad and depressing and you can't wait to get to a Starbucks just to get somewhere clean.

Hey cigar smokers, enjoy your hand rolled Cuban cigars!

Too bad Cuba's been under embargo so long that most of those great old cars have likely been retrofitted with Russian Diesel engines and tons of homemade or improvised parts...

Looks like a beautiful country, though. Easy to understand why pre-Castro Cuba was a common vacation spot.

Earl of Chives: Say what you want about Cuba, at least it's an ethos. Poor? Sure, but I bet there are worse places to live..

In a word: Detroit.

Earl of Chives: Say what you want about Cuba, at least it's an ethos. Poor? Sure, but I bet there are worse places to live...if I ever decide to bail on the US, I may offer my visage and magnificence to Cuba.

Why wait? We'd be happy to ship your ass on over, one less commie vote for Democrats.

just_dis_guy: Looks like a beautiful country, though. Easy to understand why pre-Castro Cuba was a common vacation spot.

Post-Castro Cuba is still a common vacation spot. Just not for you guys. :)

Mr. Slippyfist: Hey cigar smokers, enjoy your hand rolled Cuban cigars!

My grandfather had a Cuban friend who rolled cigars for him, and I watched the process once when I was maybe ten years old.

I've never been able to smoke a cigar without at least a little cringe.

Hey the embargo hasn't been working so far but if we just keep it up another 50 years I've got a great feeling about it...

Or we could just give up, admit we were wrong and reap the benefits of 20 million people that would love to buy our stuff and sell us delicious cigars, or I could get another Cuban cigar next time I'm in Holland and we can keep not selling stuff to people that want it.

Dr.Gonzo7719: Earl of Chives: Say what you want about Cuba, at least it's an ethos. Poor? Sure, but I bet there are worse places to live...if I ever decide to bail on the US, I may offer my visage and magnificence to Cuba.

Why wait? We'd be happy to ship your ass on over, one less commie vote for Democrats.

I see your impotent GOP tears of anger and snicker. So is that the big plan? Ship all the Democrat votes overseas?

Vodka Zombie: Earl of Chives: Say what you want about Cuba, at least it's an ethos. Poor? Sure, but I bet there are worse places to live..

In a word: Detroit.

This

2wolves: Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna was a murdering thug who enjoyed interrogating people with a baseball bat. He also liked killing people which violate the oath he took when he became a medical doctor. Truly a perversion of a man.

Sounds like a commie version of Dick "Che"ney.

Of course, Che had the balls to mete out the torture himself rather than hide behind his office and have others do his dirty work.

/Don't like either of them.

Needs more prostitutes.