Echos of Old Vegas

Tropicana Lobby - Havana, Cuba

Tropicana Lobby – Havana, Cuba

I would characterize the lobby interior as over-the-top, even gaudy, from my perspective. What do you think?

Though I’ve never been to the 1950s-style Las Vegas casinos, this interior reminded me of them. There was a slight mob influence in Havana before the revolution, so I thought maybe the mobsters liked this kind of interior. ChatGPT had a more reasonable answer.

The Tropicana underwent a major expansion in the 1950s, coinciding with the rise of Vegas hotels patterned after big stage shows, dancers, and live orchestras. Plus, both Havana and Las Vegas catered to the same American tourist market. So these venues evolved in parallel.

We got to the Tropicana early, so we waited outside until the doors opened. I shot this through the glass doors.

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