Mike's also written and-- excuse me, he's illustrated books written by others, including "Worm Loves Worm" by JJ Austrian, "All the Way to Havana " by Margarita Engle, "What If--" one of my personal favorites-- by Samantha Berger, and "The Power of One" by Trudy Ludwig. In September, his debut young adult graphic novel, "Flamer," was released to much critical success, drawing on his own experiences and telling a difficult story
Now, with the growth of tourism, paladares have become more like actual restaurants. And Havana in particular is getting some restaurants that are as high end as things you would see in San Francisco, which is really tremendous to see that change over the last five years.
The Mississippi River was as legendary as was the Amazon or the Magdalena River. When Havana was taken by the British in 1762-- --after a siege that took about two months--
I have traveled to Havana twice over the last 15 years. And Havana as a city is an amazing place, great columns and arches and verandas. It was once the most beautiful city on the planet.
They want to invite you into their homes to have food, because they uniquely identified with the United States from the birth of the nation. So Havana is a great place to find the unexpected. You know, I'm opening a gallery in Soho, New York-- any rate, this is a wall in Havana .
I found total rejection in New York. But beside the Havana Biennial, I visited the Basel art fair.
I found total rejection in New York. Visiting the Havana Biennial scene, and being an exhibitor at the recent biennial in China,
You've just been in Spain, in France, in Japan. You're from Central Havana . Did you ever think you would be doing this?
So your background-- probably be the most significant historian in the country, officially has the title of the historian of Havana . But if you've been to Havana , you know that it is the cultural center of the country.
So, of course, now at this point, I'm trying to see what I can do to bring that same type of appeal that is found in this work of art to the city of Havana that saw Marti be born in Cuba. It's interesting that in Cuba, there are no statues of Fidel Castro.
First of all, I'd like to thank Google for the creation of the goggles, where children are able to sort of witness the history that's been played out in Havana for a very long time. It's almost as if their feet have been held to the fire, so to speak, so that they can actually witness everything
Of course, at that point, Fidel came to me with a delegation from Chile. He came to old Havana , and apparently, someone had mentioned what I was trying to do. And of course, he then asked me, what is it that you need?
and that Cuba was a very important part of the Spanish empire, and much of their Caribbean work was done from Havana , which is why Havana is such a rich place. Tell us a little bit about all of that part of the history.
Yoani is a Cuban blogger and activist who has become a symbol of global free expression. She was born in Havana , Cuba, and studied in Cuba during the years when the Soviet Union was supporting the island and its communist revolution with tangible aid. And this also coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of subsidies that then comprised 80% of Cuba's international trade.
So in those abandoned buildings, those old ruins, are amazing photos to be yet discovered. I have traveled to Havana twice over the last 15 years. And Havana as a city is an amazing place, great columns and arches and verandas.
even more grainy. So, I'm talking to my father, I'm going out to shoot something, I say, "You know, what should I do? I really don't wanna push it because I'm gonna get twice the amount Hotel in Old Havana ; the zero exposure compensation setting is on the left. I only had to go two stops over to see into the shadows, but because I didn't want the highlights blown out, I
I stop the school and I ride to Havana and start to find a way to improve myself in music. And I will see you in Havana in July? Yes. Definitely, definitely, definitely.
a little bit about you. Harold was born in Central Havana , Cuba to a family of esteemed musicians. He started playing piano when he was only eight years old, and after that he was a part of many very famous and prestigious Cuban musical conservatories.
Well, it's really important for me. Have the chance to born in Havana . My mother, she was a piano teacher.
There's probably some kind of checkpoint, and something will happen. So a lot of the people in Havana are not getting the amount of vegetables they need. Not only that, but if you imagine a country that has the most chemical-free fertile soil in the world and the most pristine living reef on the world,
of the historian of Havana . But if you've been to Havana , you know that it is the cultural center of the country. And I thought we should start by asking you about Jose Marti and why he's so important and why you're here in New York.
And so I'd like to understand a little bit more about the history of Havana and its preservation. You were heavily involved in making Havana become a UNESCO World site and preventing its development. Was that your idea?
First of all, I'd like to answer your question with the same excitement and respect that you garnered or warranted me. The fact that Google came to Havana and showed its respect by offering to help us with this is something that is of true importance, because we have been denied bandwidth in Cuba for a very long time.
They turned me upside down, and there was a very strong man that placed his knee on my chest. And the car started to move through Havana . And at a certain point, the driver of the car picked up a phone call, spoke briefly, and turned to the man
It's very sad, but a majority of Cubans, or a significant proportion of Cubans, prefer to face a shark in the Florida straits than a policeman in the streets of Havana . Yet another reason is that the government cut all of the infrastructure that would have allowed economic independence to civil society.
It's a sensational cast. And what's so interesting is it transports you to Havana , Cuba. It takes place in two timelines, 1950's, before the Cuban Revolution, and then the '90s, during the recording session.
New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washington, DC, Maryland, South Carolina, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Havana , Cuba, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ohio, covering the eastern seaboard and beyond.
And I do, I finished. I stop the school and I ride to Havana and start to find a way to improve myself in music. And I will see you in Havana in July?
Wow. --so people could see it live on YouTube. And we actually had a live stream set up in Havana so people in Cuba could see the live stream, which brings me to this general concept of, how can the internet help promote Cuban arts and Cuban culture and Cuban music?
We was born-- my brother, he played drums with me. We was born in a very little apartment in Central Havana . So I remember that we have the dining room was the piano of my mother, and then in a kind of mezzanine
Last question, if I may. The day that I can do that in a street in Havana , I will feel that my country has entered the future.
And now as it's in decay, it's a great place to go and photograph from a street level. And by the way if you've ever gone to Havana , you will know this to be true. The people are the easiest people ever to photograph on the street.
It's the whole wall. I always say to people, Havana is the size of Union Square and the Tenderloin, and then that's it.
Yeah. Well, it is interesting. Classical music, he discovered on the radio in Havana , and he had a lifelong love of classical music.
So Google has also helped with Marti by building a virtual reality demonstration that we have showed off for using our VR goggles. And so I'd like to understand a little bit more about the history of Havana and its preservation. You were heavily involved in making Havana become a UNESCO World site and preventing its development.
Tell us a little bit about all of that part of the history. When the very first lamp was filled with whale oil on the streets of Havana , the Puritans hadn't actually reached the United States yet, or America, for that matter.
had airplanes, who had naval ships, all of the paraphernalia of modern warfare. And so the fact that Fidel and Che and their crew managed to march into Havana seems pretty impressive. And it was pretty impressive.
Then when you get on the plane, you can take them off again. And everybody would sort of sing these wonderful boleros off into the Cuban Havana moonlit night with bottles of rum and cigars being passed around.
to a series of uh other memoirs um across the block which details uh her time in Moscow, Beijing and Havana . and uh it's a thousand uh places that every woman should travel. Um two that I've read and and I think are definitely worth uh checking out. So um without
Radio, Moscow, Havana , whatever, right?
I found total rejection in New York. And I attended-- I was invited to be one of the central exhibitors at the third Havana Biennial, which is the historic biennial.
But actually and ironically, this is an art exhibit in Havana , Cuba.
Where we were shooting a chase scene through the streets of Tangier, doubling for Havana -- which, by the way, I just said that sentence,
Remember, this was about two months after the Battleship Maine had blown up in Havana Harbor.
It's the whole wall. There's Little Italy. How is that possible within the tiny Union Square footprint of Havana that they've got these other culinary influences
And when the first cry of independence took place in America, Spain heard it. And the very first platform of help for that event to take place was the port of Havana . There is still a stone that reads, "The port of liberty."
And we are at the threshold of a new generation. When the history of Cuba is written, and the history of Havana is written, it will be history of Dr. Leal. Foolishly with a wheelbarrow, he set out to preserve one of the great things of humanity.
Or if you launched south, you'd go over Havana , Bogota, Quito.
The story goes that Lord Lew would be sitting at his desk, smoking his fifth Havana of the day.
totally walked away and abandoned my own culture. So that's sort of where how I end my first book around the block, my life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana . This realization that maybe now it's time to turn within, to do some kind of