
Restoring Havana's neon - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190505-is-havana-getting-a-makeover
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jnty
It's an interesting project from a heritage point of view, but it feels like a
throwback from when Havana was simply the playground of rich Americans. I
wonder if this is a history residents really want to go back to? Having said
that, I suppose a lot of retro fashions call back to a past that was darker in
some respect, but people rarely care.

~~~
yardie
It's not like the revolutionaries made a policy to tear down the neon after
the revolution. The America gov't instituted an embargo. Being in the tropics,
the electric signs broke down, and it was hard to get replacement parts.

Almost every negative event in Cuban history can be traced back to some
misguided American policy.

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osmay88
Actually they destroy then directly and indirectly. The goverment closed all
the casinos and nationalized all hotels and small business main users of neon
lights. Once every little business was taken over by the government, no one
really cared anymore since they belonged to no one so they slowy broke and no
one cared to fix them. This a reallity for Cubans living in Cuba right now(I'm
a Cuban myself but I do not live in Cuba anymore) with many other things like
buildings, roads, artworks, no just neon lights. And of courses suporters of
the regime will blame the US for it like with everything else.

~~~
jnty
It seems an odd thing to get hung up on, really. I'd rather have universal
healthcare than lots of neon lights.

~~~
osmay88
Dude, the reality of Cuban healthcare it's very different of what you see in
the news. Foreign people are banned to enter the hospitals used by the regular
people. There are special hospitals for foreigners, and Cubans cannot go there
unless you have very good connections or you pay an insane amount of cash
under the table(keep in mind that the average wage in Cuba is about 25$ a
month and with food prices quite similar than the US). On regular people's
hospitals there are shortages of meds quite often, with people having to go to
the back market to get the meds they need.

Take for example here: (You can use google translate)

[https://www.periodicocubano.com/pedazo-de-techo-del-
hospital...](https://www.periodicocubano.com/pedazo-de-techo-del-hospital-de-
diez-de-octubre-cae-sobre-la-cama-de-un-paciente/)

~~~
gattilorenz
is the shortage of meds due to the embargo, or to a general disastrous state
of the economy?

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olivermarks
I love neon.

The golden era of neon was the 1950's and Las Vegas was the epicenter. Vegas
was built and controlled by the mob, as was Cuba in that era. Therefore it
might be good to make people aware of that part of the restoration's history -
you are looking at one of the reasons why there was a revolution and why the
mob and their cronies were kicked out.

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itronitron
Interesting article although light on the technical details of how they are
restoring the neon glass signage. If the glass was well made then they can
simply replace the electrodes and burn it in again (bombardment). However neon
glass has changed a lot over the decade to make it easier to bend, hopefully
the glass mixes old and new are compatible long term.

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warpech
If you ever come to Warsaw, check out this Neon Museum, full of neons from the
Cold War-era Poland:

[https://www.therockysafari.com/2019/02/04/the-neon-museum-
in...](https://www.therockysafari.com/2019/02/04/the-neon-museum-in-warsaw-
poland/)

~~~
tobylane
Similarily London's God Own Junkyard
[http://www.godsownjunkyard.co.uk/](http://www.godsownjunkyard.co.uk/)

