The address and telephone number printed above were the keys to finding the location of The Cozy Corner Bar, Cafe Cantina. The proprietors are listed as Fred. M. Bernoth and Ramon Rodriguez, and they were offering a “select stock of liqueurs” “private sitting rooms where you will not be molested” and music in the evenings. They were located at 10 Paula, opposite the Munson Line docks, in Havana, Cuba. This address with the same phone number (M-5288) was at one time under the name of Maggie’s Bar and Jiggs Cafe, according to a Worthpoint article from an online seller (item was sold in 2009) describing a trade card from his or her grandfather’s memorabilia. Said trade card was estimated to be from about 1933, and the author explained, “Maggie’s Bar and Jiggs Cafe was a club and eatery operated by Pat Cody, an Irish transplant from New York City, who during the US Prohibition-era moved his popular NYC saloon, Jigg’s Uptown Bar, and relocated to Havana, Cuba.” Like the Cozy Corner card, Cody’s ad also had some misspellings, but more importantly showed “Select Stock of Liqueur’s” with that same punctuation error, and that they had music in the evenings. It seems likely then that The Cozy Corner became Maggie’s/Jiggs or vice versa.
Click the above for a fascinating article from Difford’s Guide for Discerning Drinkers, which highlights the effect that U.S. Prohibition had on club owners in the States: “Estimates suggest there were some 7,000 bars in 1920s Havana”, and informs that even before the Prohibition Amendment Havana was considered to be the “Paris of the Caribbean.”
Trade card from Havana, Cuba. Circa 1920s – 1930s.
Condition: slight creasing at the top left corner and right side, and a crease at the bottom left corner.
Price: $30.00 Size: About 3 and 7/8 x 3″
Sources: Jiggs Cafe/Maggie’s Bar Havana Cuba 1933 card Jigg’s. Worthpoint. Web accessed March 21, 2015. [http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/jiggs-cafe-maggies-bar-havana-cuba-53156670]
7,000 bars in Havana: When American bartenders invaded Cuba. Difford’s Guide. July 31, 2013. Web accessed March 21, 2015. [http://www.diffordsguide.com/magazine/2013-07-30/4/america-invades-cuba]