Images of Güines

When the Post Office was located on Havana Street near its corner with Soparda, across the Spanish Society being its Administrator Mr. Marcos Betancourt Escalona, until it was transferred to Maceo Street, between Trujillo and Clemente Fernández Streets…

The fierce competition carried out for the purpose of collecting funds for our Lyceum, between the supporters of the young ladies María Raurell and María Josefa (aka.  Fefa) Fernández Tosco, who presided the white and blue sides…

That the building that the Municipal Government constructed in the corner of Trujillo and Maceo Streets, was assigned to house the Fire Department Headquarters, and its Board of Directors rejected the same because it found it inadequate and too small. Then it was used as a First Aid Station…

That now that we are in this subject, of the grammatical dispute established in public places and even in the local newspapers, due to the sign placed at the entrance of that door which said First Aids Station, the people knowledgeable in the matter alleging that the correct version should have been First Aid Station. Then they deleted from the sign, the last “s” of the word Aids

That before the Educational Center was built which occupied the land surrounded by Masó, Herrera, Trujillo and Álvarez Streets, there was the Villa’s Park, which had been the object of some remodeling and beautifying around 25 or 30 years back. After such remodeling, consisting of building a small cement plaza in its center, appropriate so the Municipal Band would give its concerts, and of different avenues paved with gravel. It was divided in order to build gardens that were never built and had in its corners from six to eight busts, in my opinion mythological figures, on top of squares bases, making the group, each of them of around two meters more or less. The idea was to attract Güineros to that place, and only the circuses and amusement parks located there afterwards, were the ones able to accomplish it…

When Güines Judicial District encompassed twelve counties and towns, to wit: Güines, Catalina, Madruga, Pipián, San Nicolás de Bari, Las Vegas, Nueva Paz, Los Palos, Melena del Sur, Guara, San José de las Lajas and Tapaste, all of whom were under the jurisdiction of Güines First Instance, Criminal Preliminary Investigation and Correctional Courts. The Presiding Judge was Dr. José María García de la Paz, who around 1917-1918 was appointed as President of the Recruiting Board of the Military Draft, being temporarily replaced by Dr. Alberto de Córdova Quesada. This later one, some time thereafter, became a Justice in Havana Court of Appeals and later on in the Supreme Court of Cuba, As Civil Clerk, Juan Bautista Díaz García, as Criminal Clerk, his brother Rafael Díaz García, Administrative and Correctional Clerk. Nicolás Fernández Martínez, father of my unforgettable friends, Ernesto, Nicolasito and Guillermo Fernández Arrondo; as Civil Clerk, José María Carrión Greck; as Criminal Clerk, Eduardo R. Díaz Galbín, the son of Rafaelito Díaz García and as Administrative Clerk, Narciso Clausells Roca. Two Bailiffs, Ambrosio Díaz Aguiar and Lisandro Sosa Duarte, but only the first one performed as such, because Mr. Sosa Duarte was appointed as Administrative Clerk in charge of the paperwork of work related accidents sustained by workers in their jobs…

When some evenings if you would walk by the house of the surgeon and doctor Alberto García Mendoza (Havana Street where later on the Notary and Law Office of Dr. Alberto Sánchez Ocejo was located) you could hear the very beautiful melodies coming out of a violin being played by the same Dr. García Mendoza, with the accomplished accompaniment at the piano of his daughter Siomara, while occasionally his minor son Armando (aka.  Puntillita) (Little Nail) would be wandering around…

How soon the always remembered manager and pitcher of Almendares Club, Adolfo Luque, relieved the pitcher he had designated to start against Club Atlético de Güines (Güines Athletic Club) when Quintín Borroto, the powerful Güinero slugger, on the first pitch, hit the ball to the deep part of center field, going for a triple. Quintín was left there unsuccessfully waiting for any of his teammates to decipher the throws of Luque, Papá Montero as he was known…

That this happened during the “Golden Era” of Güines baseball, in Cerveza Tropical Stadium (Tropical Beer Stadium) whose idea and realization came from that fighter in favor of Güines, Don Nicolás B. Lluy. The irreplaceable Emilito Ricci Sagarduy managed the Athletic” club

Click on the image to see what this “staging” of the World Series could have looked like to the patrons of the “Ayala” theater

When the World Series of the Major Leagues were “staged” at Ayala Cinema until the beginning of the radio. Mr. Daniel Ayala with his advanced electronic knowledge for that era designed and built an electrical board that showed the game’s development in a baseball field. The board showed the whole field with the location of all positions. He used small electrical bulbs placed one after the other in rows from home to first, to second, to third and to home. The bases were signaled with bigger white bulbs. The pitcher’s mound had another white bulb, from which there was a row of red little bulbs towards home plate. The short stop and fielders positions were marked also with white bulbs that would light up every time that a ball was hit toward those positions and if it was a hit it was marked in a corresponding panel by means of another bulb, if it was a single, double or triple and when it was a homerun, the biggest bulb in the panel would light up intermittently. You could see when the pitcher threw the ball and immediately the panel would indicate if it was a strike, a ball, a wild pitch or a foul. Also you could “see” how the player when he hit would run to first or to any other bases that would be pertinent and in case that he was thrown out, it was also marked in the panel as well as if it was a fly caught by any of the players. All of this was possible because Daniel Ayala contracted with Cuban Telephone Company for a direct line from the stands of the stadiums where the game was being held to the very cinema’s stage. Ismael Castellanos that knew the English language perfectly well, received the information by telephone play by play, and he would immediately transmit it to the trío operating the board, Daniel Ayala, Oscar Báez and Manolo Abalo, that would “stage” the game perfectly well. And when there was a very complicated play that could not be described on the board, Ismael would put it in writing and would give it to me and using a megaphone, I would describe the play. I could go on explaining everything in great detail but this would be a never-ending note. What I can be sure of, is that the fans left hoarse but satisfied…