Jay Lloyd's Getaway: Havana
By Jay Lloyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Americans have been focused this week on a Cuban getaway. As leisure travel to the island is about to resume, a long time friend and colleague of KYW's Jay Lloyd has just returned from Havana. Here's a sketch of their conversation.
Hollywood stars and mobsters mingled at the Nacionale Hotel in 1950's Havana. Will things now return to a world of the Godfather or Guys and Dolls?
"There are people who want to relive those days," says Frank Cluster. "I don't know that that is possible in today's Havana."
However, Custer, with a background in tourism, does see incredible potential. It's in the Cuban people.
"That are the warmest people," he says, "the most outgoing and talented people I've ever met."
The natural beauty and tropical attitude of the city and its culture remains. But Custer found the infrastructure and hotels somewhat frayed around the edges.
"Some things don't work as well as they should," he says.
But he reminded me that Havana has continued to host global travelers. We're the newcomers.
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