See how Cuba looked before the Castros, when tourists, gamblers, and elites flocked to Havana

In the 1950s, Cuba was one of the most developed countries in Latin America.

Daily life in Havana was that of a Latin American metropolis.

Electric tramways had connected Havana neighborhoods since the early 1900s, giving the city a modern public transit system.

By the 1940s and 1950s, the city had been modernized with roads and high-rises.

Much of the national economy was built around sugar exports.

Havana's streets were bustling with commerce and activity.

Relations with the US were close, and the US maintained a strong presence at its naval base at Guantánamo Bay.

US influence was widely felt, and Havana even had English-language newspapers.

The city became a hot spot for American tourists in the 1920s and again in the 1950s.

For American and foreign tourists, Cuba was a tropical getaway right at their doorstep.

Regular air service connected Havana with Miami and other international destinations by the 1950s.

The island's tropical weather and luxurious hotels drew large numbers of tourists to Havana.

The Havana Grand Prix brought international racers to the island in the late 1950s.

Equestrian races were also popular social events among parts of the island's elites.

The 630-room Habana Hilton was billed as the tallest and largest hotel in Latin America when it opened.

Havana's nightclubs and cabarets defined the island's global image.

Club Tropicana was one of the country's major cabarets, and its performances were renowned.

Genres like son, mambo, rumba, bolero, and cha-cha-chá were the soundtrack to the island and shaped its identity.

Havana even had its own Coney Island.

Havana's hospitality culture popularized classic cocktails like the daiquiri, mojito, and Cuba libre.

The island also became known for gambling, vice, and organized crime.

Mob bosses often had interests in some of the city's most notable hotels, casinos, and cabarets.

The perception of Cuba's culture inspired Hollywood images of tropical glamour, romance, nightlife, and danger.

Despite Havana's sometimes scandalous reputation, Cuba remained a majority Catholic country.

Cigar rolling remained a major source of employment in Havana, alongside tourism, hospitality, and commerce.

However, Cuba's political and economic elite often saw a very different country from the one rural Cubans lived in.

Life in those rural areas often looked sharply different from the glamour of Havana.

Horses, ox carts, and wagons remained some of the main forms of transportation.

In the sugar and tobacco fields, labor conditions were difficult and seasonally insecure.

Poverty and child labor were visible problems in Cuba's countryside.

People in rural areas often lacked access to education, medical care, electricity, running water, and sanitation.

Education was one of Cuba's strengths by regional standards, but access was uneven.

Baseball was the country's signature sport.

In poorer and rural communities, cockfighting was a common pastime and form of gambling.

By the late 1950s, Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship had become increasingly violent.

Castro's rebel movement had gained support in parts of rural eastern Cuba by 1958.

The following year, Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, and their allies took control after Batista fled Cuba.

Although some hotels and casinos reopened after the revolution, the old tourism economy never recovered.

Today, parts of Havana still resemble the city seen in old photographs, though decades of age, neglect, and a changing political landscape have altered it.