Paradise Under the Stars: A Night in Old Havana
Benefiting Coral Gables Museum
The Biltmore Hotel provided a beautiful setting for the Coral Gables Museum’s “Paradise Under the Stars” party to celebrate the Museum’s first anniversary and the opening of “Building Bacardi: Architecture, Art and Identity.” Over 300 guests enjoyed an evening filled with great Cuban music, dancing, food and, of course, Bacardi rum in the Biltmore’s Country Club Ballroom. Honorary Chairman Emilio Estefan and Gala Chairman Marie Vacca greeted guests in the courtyard for a cocktail reception, and then dancers escorted guests into the re-created version of Havana’s famed Tropicana Nightclub. Gala guests attired in white dinner jackets and vintage cocktail dresses whirled around the black and white dance floor to the rumba beats of the Carlos Oliva Band.
Building Bacardi, housed in the Museum’s grand Fewell Gallery, chronologically depicts the stages of Bacardi’s development and marks the first time that this rich and diverse material – over 300 objects and images gathered from a number of international sources – has been assembled in a major exhibition. Building Bacardi is curated by guest curator Allan Shulman FAIA, LEED AP, an associate professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture and a practicing architect
