Photos: Nike
Photo Feature by Nike
HAVANA TIMES – I wish I could tell you about the beautiful things in my country, and there are many—especially its natural beauty and the Cuban people, who are kind-hearted.
But today I want to show you some photos of a place that, before 1959, was a seaside retreat where the people of Cojimar (located to the east of Havana) gathered to enjoy time with their families. It was a club built facing the sea on 21st Street between H and G, its 1950s architecture stood out for its spaciousness and brightness. It had a café, a restaurant, locker rooms, and bathrooms with showers where people could rinse off the salt after swimming in the ocean. There were game and recreation rooms, and its small sandy beach was a favorite among children.
Over the years it went through several stages, always maintaining its membership system, which was exclusively for Cojímar residents. Members paid a monthly fee of one Cuban peso. This was during the 1980s.
The club remained open throughout the 1990s for Cojímar residents with membership cards, but with the hardships that decade brought, it began admitting anyone willing to pay an entrance fee. There was nothing wrong with that as long as people came to have a good time and behave peacefully.
However, its growing popularity and good live music attracted people from other municipalities, some of whom seemed interested only in picking fights with local residents after the Saturday night dances. La Costa Club became so notorious for the brawls that broke out inside and outside the building that it was eventually closed for good.
That was the drastic solution adopted by the local government. They never stopped to consider that they were taking away one of the town’s few places for recreation. If they had simply hired security guards to keep order inside and outside the club and enforced an admission policy, it might still be open today.
But that was the Solomon-like solution: eliminate yet another recreational space for the people, without thinking about the people themselves—as so often happens in this country.
“Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.”
Today the building has become a refuge where people with nowhere else to live spend the night. Many are from other parts of the country, collecting discarded mattresses from the trash so they have somewhere to sleep. Only one person is officially authorized to live there, in a small room on the rooftop. He was the club’s last manager and is a very kind man. In his own way, he looks after the place, at least preventing people from knocking down the walls to steal the bricks. Thanks to him, the building’s structure and its granite floors remain intact.
To reopen the club would require a complete renovation.
I invite you to enjoy some of the murals painted on its walls by a group of young local artists. They are talented painters, all born and raised in Cojímar. Enjoy.
See more photo features here at Havana Times.
