Club Tropicana
You might be thinking that the famous 1983 Wham! single that made it to number four in the UK charts put tropical cool on the map, but George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley certainly weren’t pioneers.
The Tropicana Club in Cuba first opened its doors in 1939 and evolved out of a depression era bohemian nightclub called Edén Concert, run by Cuban impresario Victor de Correa. He had been approached by two casino owners who presented the idea of a club which fused both cabaret and a casino. Having found a venue on the outskirts of Havana, they felt that the tropical gardens would provide the perfect lush backdrop for what was to become one of the most decadent party venues in
Cuban history.
Dancers, singers and musicians were all moved into a converted mansion on the estate and a chandeliered dining room inside the mansion became the casino. It quickly became a tourist hotspot and, despite a slump when the USA entered World War II limiting tourism to Cuba, it rose like a phoenix from the ashes, most notably after Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959 when the club was nationalised.
Little did the operators know that this club would have a huge impact on spreading Cuban culture internationally and many famous darlings of the show business world graced its stage, such as Edith Piaf and Ofelia Fox. Many other stars were seen frequenting the venue, including Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr. and Greta Garbo. As with many venues at the time, the club attracted the attentions of the Mob and their involvement started very early on, with Havana providing the perfect location for organized crime in the 1950s. Their illegitimate businesses flourished until the revolution, when Castro’s leftist rebels overthrew the president, seized the Mob’s properties and closed its casinos. Luckily, while other hotels and casinos struggled to go on, the Tropicana thrived and continued to become a notorious venue still open today, minus the gambling.
Described by Cuba’s tourism Vice-Minister Maria Elena Lopez as “one of Cuba’s most important tourist destinations” the club continues to grow today and has recently seen record numbers of visitors pass through its doors.
Creating a tropical vibe in your home is one way to inject decadence without bling. There is something divinely decadent about a hint of the exotic and it shouldn’t just be reserved for the summer months. What better way to beat the January blues than to look to the tropics for inspiration? The wonderful thing about this style of design is that you can do as much or as little of it as you like and the effects are instant.
Stick with white walls and see how much a room changes with a few tropical leafprint cushions, or even just one feature wall of wallpaper featuring flamingoes. It’s classy, contemporary and, most of all, cool.
The danger with strong patterns or colours is that you can tire of them quickly so it’s worth considering how much pattern or colour you can handle. If you are a fan of big patterns and bold colours then there is more fun to be had; consider painting many different feature walls in bright tropical colours and picking up these colours in your accessories and soft furnishings. Inspired by a golden era of vibrancy, creativity and colour a few tasteful touches can bring Tropicana Club a little closer to home.
As leading interior designers in Marbella, FOC Design stay at the forefront of interior design trends. If you’d like to add a touch of Club Tropicana to your home or find out what other current interior design trends could turn your house into a stylish home then contact us today.
