Q: In a recent article, the AJC mentioned the “famed Saratoga Hotel” in Havana. As a long-time resident of Miami who had a four-year hitch in the Navy, I averaged going to Havana seven or eight times a year on weekends. I have no recollection of this hotel. My family recalls the Nacional. Can you get the proximity of one to the other and any information about those hotels?
—Bernard J. Ross, Woodstock
A: The Hotel Saratoga opened in its current location in 1933 and became a "favorite haunt of artists and socialites from all over the world," its website states.
Many top bands and musical acts played at the Hotel Saratoga, which is near the National Capitol Building.
It remained open into the 1960s, when it became a “low-class rooming house.”
The hotel was refurbished and reopened in 2005, and Jay Z and Beyoncé stayed there in April 2013.
The Hotel Saratoga, which has 96 rooms – including seven suites – and a rooftop pool and bar, is about 2.5 miles from the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, which opened in 1930.
Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Ernest Hemingway and Mickey Mantle were among the many politicians, entertainers and celebrities who stayed at the Nacional from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which owns several hotel brands, including Sheraton and Westin, has applied for a license that will allow it to operate in Cuba, the Associated Press reported.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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