An ad for Sloppy Joe’s from the 50s. Courtesy of Florida Keys Public Libraries
50′s Havana provided a glamorous level of escapism and tranquillity for wealthy travelling Americans and their acquaintances post-prohibition years.
With the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper among the list of famous visitors and patrons even decades before this, iconic locations such as Sloppy Joe’s and El Floridita provided an appropriate setting for the masculine romanticism behind smoking cigars and drinking whisky and cocktails.
Our Bright Leaf cologne – a bold, sweet and sultry fragrance similarly represents and captures the air of this romanticism. When you apply a spray of the cologne, you are opening a box of antique cigars and revelling in the distinct smell of masculinity. You are sat, alongside Hemingway at the bar with a whisky airing and the glorious Cuban heat drifting through the room. You have left the stress and hurriedness of working life behind you and earned this moment of sincere enjoyment. You may have entered the bar alone, but you are soon to attract new acquaintances and like-minded individuals.
Sloppy Joe’s in the 50s
Ernest & Mary Hemingway with Spencer Tracy at El Floridita
Hemingway fell in love with this environment and actually lived there for over two decades. He frequented Sloppy Joe’s to the point of essentially becoming a silent partner, bringing friends and colleagues along to experience some of the unprecedented vintage glamour. This level of passion can only be drawn from such a unique and quintessential environment.
Despite his recorded strong attitude towards keeping off the drink when working, Hemingway did enjoy a regular tipple wherever his travels took him. With his drink of choice acknowledged as being a dry Martini, that was by no means where his range of taste stopped. In 1921 El Floridita created a variation of a Daquiri cocktail in his name – notably sugar-free, just as he preferred.
Hemingway actually lived outside of Havana’s exotic and glamourous appeal in the modest town of San Francisco de Paula. His house was called ‘Finca Vigía’ which translates to ‘Lookout Farm’. The quiter location provided the environment that he required to complete several of his most famous novels; For Whom The Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.
Havana was such the place to be seen that it even hosted a Grand Prix in 1957 and 1958.
The Cuban Grand Prix was a briefly run event, with a street circuit on the beachfront of Havana that intended to attract wealthy tourists to the area. Initially everything went to plan, with the ’57 race proving a popular success. The following years however saw revolutionary intervention and the deaths of several spectators.
Gary Cooper spectating and Hary Schell racing at the Havana Grand Prix
