Restoring Havana's neon | Hacker News Reader

Restoring Havana's neon

bbc.com

47 pointsMiriamWeiner16 comments

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.

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.

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.

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

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...

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

You didn't care to read the comment till the end?

>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.

>with many other things like buildings, roads, artworks, no just neon lights.

I can't wait for the HN comments telling you you're wrong even though it's lived experience because they want a place where they can spend their tech windfall before it's "ruined" by Americans.

"playground of rich Americans": certainly a fallacious reduction of Cuban history. "The America gov't instituted an embargo. Being in the tropics, the electric signs broke down": you're seriously underestimating the destructive force of communism. osmay88: thanks!.

Look around you and you’ll find at least 40 things that are made in CCP controlled China.

Substitute "communism" by "centrally planed economy". China abandoned it decades ago. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_market_economy

Yeah, simply the playground of rich Americans instead of a piggy-bank for a corrupt government that executed political opponents and routinely jails dissidents.

But yeah, it was a darker time in the 50s.

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.

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.

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...

Similarily London's God Own Junkyard http://www.godsownjunkyard.co.uk/

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