La Concha, One of Havana’s Western Beaches
By Nike
HAVANA TIMES – On Saturday, I went to “La Concha” beach, in the Playa municipality to the west of Havana city, with my sisters and my 10-year-old nephew.
La Concha, was an old club that was very prosperous and popular before 1959. The unfortunate state of ruin it finds itself in today made me truly sad.
Efforts to keep it going have been limited to improvised kiosks that only sell roast pork sandwiches, croquettes and soft drinks on a Saturday, to relieve the summer heat, as lots of people continue to meet there and enjoy its beautiful beach.
A good size investment, as well as a lot of good will and a desire to save a beach with so much natural beauty that it continues to attract many families and children, is needed to stop it from being the ruin it is and continuing to deteriorate.
However, two things struck me and filled me with admiration and hope at this place that has been abused so much by time and neglect. The first: A young Sailing professor giving classes to teenagers. The second: a young teacher doing a warm-up for kayaking with children of all different ages, who listened to her with a great deal of concentration on that sunny Saturday.
And of course, I couldn’t not say something about our beloved sea. It was very clean and with a great diversity of marine life which surprised me because in spite of so many visitors, the fauna here has recovered, and this makes me happy because Nature is very resistant and is able to recover if we all protect and look after it.
I invite you to visit this beach on the west side of Havana and to take your children between 8-10 AM, there’s a surprise waiting for you!
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Even though I left Cuba in 1952 I still had membership in the Club being that we went back to Cuba on vacations every two years. he last time I was there was in 1959, it was still a beautiful place. The lifeguard back then was a sweet older man who we knew as “Tata” he was always in the shade while he watched the bathers who were mostly children. That was almost in front of the large concrete platform that had a tall concrete bottle from where the bravest would climb and dive off (I remember a few that didn’t make it) I would be in that beach every single day from 10 AM and until 5 PM.
One of those pictures shows the bar where “Machin”, along with his father-in-law, used to make countless “Mojitos” for the Americans. Also Alberto (same family) was at the sandwhich counter in the middle.
as you go in.
It WAS a beautiful place. What you did not include in your pictures were the 2 “canchas” where we would play racket ball, much like Jai-a-lai!
I remember taking the #32 bus from El Vedado… down la 5ta Avenida and get off at the entrance to Coney Island (?)… walk through the park and on to the entrance to La Concha. The bus would sometimes go through to the beach entrance but not always
I am 75 now and don’t believe I would see this wonderful place.
I stayed in a casa particular a few blocks from the en trance to this small swatch of beach. This place is a dump. Nearly anywhere else on the planet it would have been demolished a long time ago. It is dirty with used condoms, plastic bottles and other human refuse. Weeds have overtaken most of once was probably well-groomed green space. Building structures are crumbling and likely to collapse. There were no functioning bathrooms and the beach itself was probably a bio-hazard. These photos are terribly misleading. Yet, as with so many places in Havana, the locals still go there and appear to have a good time. Go figure.