Brando in Cuba, Bardot in St.-Tropez: Where the Golden Age of Hollywood Vacationed
We’ve long embraced the exotic, far-flung sojourns of Hollywood royalty. And the golden era of Hollywood, those enchanting, dreamy years from the 1950s to 1970s, bears no exception. Remember those vintage airline brochures that showed stewardesses serving lobster thermidor and martinis to dolled-up passengers smoking cigarettes, who were soon to check into lavish, historic hotels? Like the fabled age and its iconic stars, nostalgia still reigns. From California’s high desert to the delicious tropical, sun-dappled shores of the Caribbean, below, a glimpse of where silver-screen greats like crooner Frank Sinatra and jet-setting duo Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor once escaped the glaring spotlight.
Photo: Ralph Morse / Getty Images1/7Havana, Cuba
Just 90 miles south of Florida in prerevolutionary Cuba, Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Marlon Brando, and Nat King Cole flocked to Havana’s venerable Hotel Nacional and gambled the night away with cigars, rum, and exotic showgirls at the famed Tropicana. No longer the forbidden neighbor it once was, today, the 1930s-flaired Hotel Saratoga retains its original colonial-style foyer with mod updates like a rooftop pool. Ernest Hemingway’s old-school watering hole, El Floridita, considered the birthplace of the daiquiri, still serves the author’s signature drink, a sweet, boozy Papa Doble.
Photo: Keystone Pictures USA / Alamy2/7Port Antonio, Jamaica
The dashing actor Errol Flynn took refuge in this quiet northern Jamaican-coast hideaway, a remote spread of sandy white beaches and brilliant turquoise waters. Such an idyllic spot also wooed legendary Hollywood couple Taylor and Burton (who docked their yacht there). Frenchman’s Cove Resort, the Caribbean’s first all-inclusive hotel stocked with personal chefs and caviar, played host to Brando, the Beatles, and Queen Elizabeth. And now, tucked in the tropical forest and outfitted with hardwood four-poster beds and plantation shutters, the eco-chic Kanopi House is superb for quiet meditation, and, come evening, there’s plenty of Caribbean alfresco dining, sweeping sea views, and golden sunsets at Mille Fleurs Restaurant.
Photo: Peter Stackpole / Getty Images3/7Palm Springs, California
In Palm Springs, high-society photographer Slim Aarons was onto something with his glossy Poolside Gossip, a desert snap taken just outside a Richard Neutra–designed house. And long before today’s boho babes of Coachella, Sinatra was throwing parties at his E. Stewart Williams–designed Twin Palms house. Part of Cary Grant’s estate is now a restaurant called Copleys. There’s still a striking amount of mid-century architectural treasures intermixed with tall palms and rocky cliffs. To recapture the scene, the chic Jonathan Adler–designed Parker Palm Springs offers a desert-inspired garden and legendary pool scene. Inside the Ingleside Inn (which hosted Greta Garbo and Clark Gable), the timeless Melvyn’s Casablanca Lounge still feels like a throwback with live jazz and stiff drinks.
Photo: Ivan Dmitri / Getty Images4/7Acapulco, Mexico
Back in the 1950s, the glitterati escaped to the crystal-blue waters of Acapulco Bay, a bustling Hollywood playground surrounded by views of rocky cliffs and golden sands. Known as the “Hideaway of the Hollywood stars” (and co-owned by a group of actors including John Wayne), the pink-hued 1930s Hotel Los Flamingos catered to by-invitation-only guests like Grant and Roy Rogers. In 1953, John and Jackie Kennedy took a short honeymoon atop the hills of the venerable Las Brisas, scattered with white-and-pink casitas and plunge pools. Back in the day, world-renowned cliff divers of La Quebrada gracefully leapt into the blue Pacific waters, and at night, the glitzy nightclubs of Tequila a Go-Go and La Perla touted rowdy cabaret-style shows.
Photo: John Dominis / Getty Images5/7Miami, Florida
Miles from Hollywood and way before Las Vegas was on the map, the beachy surf haven of Miami Beach long played host to famous icons like Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, and Marilyn Monroe. Here, the Rat Pack snagged prime oceanfront suites and performed at the grand hotel ballrooms of the Deauville and the Carillon, and the Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s legendary La Ronde nightclub. Today you can channel the Old Hollywood glam poolside at the theatrically bold red-and-gold–hued Faena Hotel, an homage to tropical whimsy. And in South Beach, the recently resurrected mid-century hotel Nautilus conjures those ’50s vibes of classic cocktails served in a sunken, golden-hued, and palm-fringed lobby bar.