Vintage Photos Capture Life in Cuba in 1983

Fred W. McDarrah was the first staff photographer at The Village Voice, and an essential chronicler of the Beat Generation and counterculture movements from the 1960s. In 1983, he visited Cuba and captured everyday life, street scenes and people of the country (mostly in Havana).

Pedestrians walk past cars parked in front of the Cubatur travel office (on Calle 25 near Calle L), Havana.

A 1955 Buick Special parked in front of a single-story residence off Via Blanca, near Varadero.

A dilapidated 1952 Chevrolet Deluxe parked outside a residential mansion in the Miramar neighborhood, Havana.

View, across the Malecon, of the historic Hotel Nacional de Cuba (architects McKim, Mead and White, 1930), Havana.

Nighttime view of a neon sign marking the 130th anniversary of the birth of Jose Marti, Havana.

An unwashed public transport bus pulls away from a stop near the Plaza de la Revolucion, Havana.

Three boys, two on bicycles, on a street in the Miramar neighborhood, Havana.

A trio of women stand and talk in a doorway decorated with colorful tiles, Old Havana.

View, looking up, at the Faro Castillo del Morro lighthouse, Havana.

Portrait of a street photographer, beside his tripod and camera, near the Plaza de la Revolucion, Havana.

A colorful billboard on the exit road to Jose Marti International Airport , Havana. The text reads 'Cada dia mas fuertes para defender el Socialismo' (translated as 'Stronger everyday in defense of Socialism').

A colorful billboard, which features a portrait of Che Guevara, on the exit road to Jose Marti International Airport, Havana. The text reads 'Cuba es y seguira siendo, un pais internacionalista' (translated as 'Cuba is and will remain an Internationalist country').

View of the Ministry of the Interior building, decorated by a large mural of Che Guevara, in Plaza de la Revolucion, Havana.

The audience watch a woman in a colorful dress and headdress dances in Plaza Vieja to a live band, Havana, Cuba.

A trio of posters near a bus stop at the Plaza de la Revolucion, Havana.

A pair of posters near a bus stop at the Plaza de la Revolucion, Havana.

Low-angle view of a costumed dancer at the Cabaret Tropicana, Havana.

Low-angle view of costumed dancers at the Cabaret Tropicana, Havana.

A group of boys play baseball on the plaza near the Monument To Maximo Gomez, Havana.

A children's baseball game at Lenin Park in the Arroyo Naranjo district, Havana.

A display, which commemorates the 24th anniversary of the Revolution, in the window of a building (across from the US Interests Section of the Swiss embassy) in the Vedado district, Havana.