Since its splendid inauguration on December 10, 1957, the Havana Riviera Hotel becomes the hotel complex that symbolizes Havana.
For many, it was the hotel of Mafia in Cuba. More than eight million US dollars which required its construction came from the Sicilian Mafia, which turned it into one of the most expensive hotels, and the most luxurious of the ten existing games casinos in Havana.
Since its opening, Meyer Lansky moved to the 20th floor presidential suite as his command post, and made of this hotel the headquarters in Havana. He wanted the best artists of the time, the biggest shows, the luxury of the sets, and the acquisition of works of art for its interiors.
There is a symbol that recurs insistently, and which is engraved on the second floor lobby. It is the emblem of the Genovesse family: Three jars of different colors united by their base. Blue represents the power of heaven; green, the power of money; red, the power of the blood.
An aerial view of the pool allows appreciating the shape of a coffin with which it is designed. There is a certain time of day that a cross in shadows can be seen by the incidence of sunlight.
The dome of the former casino is lined with green and blue ceramics. Its acoustics were designed so the sound of chips and slot machines was expanded into the hotel, in order to seduce other guests, because in its first four months the casino collected three million dollars.
The Copa Room cabaret opened with a musical revue presented by Ginger Rogers, directed by Jack Cole. Just days after arrived Jean Fenn, the Metropolitan Opera House soprano; also Beau William Holden, Jean Stewart, the diva Jean Fenn, Nat King Cole and Ava Gardner and comedians Abbot and Maurice Costello. World boxing champions Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and US black movie gangster George Raft also stayed.
In the Riviera Santo Trafficante, one of the leaders of the Mafia in Cuba and owner of the legendary cabaret Sans Souci Hotel Deauville took refuge when, in 1959, his exile of Cuba was imminent.
On January 1959, Lansky flew to the Bahamas, after the flight of Dictator Fulgencio Batista, and with him the dream of the greatest center of mafia operations in the Caribbean departed.
The Riviera Hotel has all the rooms overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and is located in Paseo street, El Vedado, in front of the Malecon. With a four-star service, 20 floors and 352 rooms available.
