In Havana, a presidential party like it’s 1928

HAVANA — There hasn't been a party like this in Havana since 1928.

President and Mrs. Obama arrived back at Cuba's presidential palace Monday night for a once-in-three-lifetimes event: A state dinner hosted by the Cuban president — a Marxist revolutionary — in honor of the President of the United States.

The affair was decidedly less formal than the black-tie state dinners hosted by the White House. The presidents wore business suits with nearly identical blue ties; First Lady Michelle Obama wore a knee-length floral dress. (President Castro, 84, is a widower; his wife died in 2007.)

The Obamas were met with applause when they arrived at the Palace of the Revolution at about 7:30 p.m.

Spotted at the head table: The Obamas, Cuban President Raul Castro, Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Secretary of State John Kerry, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Cuban National Assembly President Esteban Lazo.

There were also no toasts or speeches — just an 18-piece brass band band, which struck up a lively "Cicuta Tibia" followed by a mambo or two.

The Obama's didn't stay out late, arriving back at the newly opened U.S. embassy shortly after 10 p.m.

The last time a U.S. president was feted in Havana, Cuban President Gerardo Machado hosted a state dinner for President Calvin Coolidge. Because the United States was in the midst of its experiment with prohibition, and because Havana was the rum capital of the world, it was reportedly quite a party. (Although, by most accounts, Coolidge himself abstained.)

The early 20th century humorist Will Rogers once told the story of President Coolidge getting lost in the same presidential palace late on the night of the last state dinner for a U.S. president there in 1928.

"If this palace is all located in Cuba, Cuba is a bigger place than you think," Coolidge quipped.

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