[1] The bar opened in 1817 with the name "La Piña de Plata" (English: The Silver Pineapple) in the place it still occupies, on the corner of Obispo and Monserrate streets.

The bar became a school of highly skilled cantineros (bartenders) specialised in cocktails prepared with fresh fruit juices and rum, whose traditions are still preserved by the disciples of Constante.

[3] The writer Ernest Hemingway frequented the bar, which is at the end of Calle Obispo, a short walk from the Hotel Ambos Mundos where he maintained a room from 1932–1939.

[4] The establishment today contains many noticeable memorabilia of the author, with photographs, a bust, and more recently (2003), a life-size bronze statue at the end of the bar near the wall, sculpted by the Cuban artist José Villa Soberón.

The place still preserves much of the atmosphere of the 1940s and 1950s, with the red coats of the bartenders matching the Regency style decoration that dates from the 1950s, although now most of its customers are occasional tourists.