dear cuba, i love you.

So, aside from working for two fantastic vintage lifestyle businesses in Chicago for quite some time now, this summer I've also started working for this extra yummy Cuban restaurant near my apartment called 90 Miles Cuban Cafe. Though it's only been open for just a smidge over one year now, it's popularity has increased and location has expanded at such a rapid rate that it's staff, myself most certainly included, never has a chance to really sit down and absorb it all... However, on the few occasions that I get to come in early enough so that it isn't total pandamonium throughout out the multiple dining floors/patios and what not, I love to sneak around and look at all of the old cuban memorabilia and amazing and beautiful imagery from the island dating from the early 1930s through the mid 1960s, which have been tastefully lacquered and decoupaged to the interior of the entire indoor area of the restaurant, all hand applied by a local artist. Of course, I took a natural liking to all of the details being an art enthusiast myself, and most specifically a lover of all things old and historically relevant, and over my time there I have fallen in love with these beautifully covered walls. The images that have most specifically stuck in my head are those gracing the covers of the old Cuban magazine, Carteles. There is an exceedingly wonderful art deco influence in a great deal of the older painted and/or illustrated covers, as well as quite a few exotic pin-ups on some of the mid-century painted and illustrated issues, and they are EVERYWHERE throughout the restaurant! I'd like to share a few of the ones I have come across since embarking on my new obssession with Carteles:













there will be more to come in the future, as I am definitely looking forward to doing more research on the artists who originally created these gorgeous works and such.

xoxo,
erin