Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub

by Rosa Lowinger

When the performance was over, the audience was on its feet, demanding more, but Cole had to perform again that night and the crowd had to content itself with the second half of Fantasía Mexicana while he went backstage. “No one loved the Tropicana shows more than me,” Ofelia admitted, “but after hearing Nat ‘King’ Cole, I didn’t want to hear anything else!” Neither, apparently, did the rest of the audience. While Nat Cole was singing, the silence had been so palpable it seemed to throb. “No one moved, not even a fork was lifted,” said Ofelia, who had been worried earlier that Cole’s romantic style would demand too much from a raucous Cuban audience that had been drinking heavily. But once Cole was offstage, people could barely wait for the next set, which was slated for one forty-five A.M.