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This photo essay was created spring quarter, 2001, for Howard Besser's course, Information Studies 208, Developing Cultural Information Sources Using Digital Multimedia, in the Department of Information Studies, UCLA. This is part one of two parts. |
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Decades of a trade embargo have made American-made products
rare in Cuba. American automobiles from the fifties, however, cover the
streets of Havana -- working or not. There are sixteen passenger cars
per 1000 people in the country (1).
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Click on a car to see larger image.
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Havana is home to 2,241,000 Cubans, according to a 1995 estimate. Click on an image to see a larger version. |
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| Howard Besser, professor of information studies at UCLA, traveled to Havana in March of 2001 and detailed his trip in his Cuba diary. Most of the images in this photo essay were taken by Besser during his visit. |  |
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Besser remarked on not only the frequent sighting of vintage American cars but also the way in which music filled the streets. "...music is so integrated into everyday life there. Everywhere I went I saw live bands playing -- in cafes and restaurants, in living rooms of homes, and on the street" (2) |
Besser even found a statue of rock music icon John Lennon.
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With the increase in cultural exchange between Cuba and the United States during the Clinton presidency, Cuban music began to flow more easily into the United States. The 1997 release of the Ry Cooder-produced CD, Buena Vista Social Club introduced many to a generation of Cuban musicians who were in their heyday years before Castro came to power.
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Click here to read more about Buena Vista Social Club in part two of this photo essay.
Footnotes
1. World Development Indicators, 2000. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2000, 158.
2. Besser, Howard. Howard
Besser's Cuba Trip Diary.
< http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/%7Ehoward/Personal/Trips/Cuba01/diary.html >
Accessed 8 May 2001.
