14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 22 November 2023 — With few of its walls still standing and pieces of rubble strewn about, the old Lisboa pizzeria in Havana’s Playa district has gone from being a popular restaurant to a complete ruin in the span of a few years. Neighborhood residents, who watched as the state-run business became a den of drunkards and night owls, pray that private business interests take over what remains of the building before the few columns supporting it finally give way.
“It has been abandoned for a while,” says Reina, who lives on the same block. She remembers that, about four or five years ago, the pizzeria still had customers. As she recalls, Lisboa was closed during the pandemic though she does not know if the closure was due to health restrictions. “Now it’s just a reference point,” she says. If anyone who asks me for directions, I tell them to look for the block where everything is in disarray. No one gets lost.”
Under some almond and palm trees that provide shade during the day and shelter at night, the pizzeria has become what local residents describe as a public toilet. “In the last hour I have seen three people go over to that wall and urinate, including that guy there,” says Reina, pointing to a man who parks his motorbike, slowly approaches the wall and “draws his sword.”
Nor has Lisboa escaped the ravages of “scavengers,” as she describes those who have, out of sight, been chipping away at the walls of the restaurant until it becomes what she describes as a living brick. “They’ve taken the doors, windows, ro