Jorge Castillo: This guy's mother never told him about how dangerous it is to run around carrying a big pair of scissors!
Raúl Musibay: The Cuban guy we're talking about is Ramón Puig and he makes the best Guayabera shirts in Miami.
Glenn Lindgren: He makes the best guayabera shirts in the world.
Jorge Castillo: Anyway, the giant scissors he uses with such artistry have become his trademark.
Glenn Lindgren: Although it's true that Ramón came to the United States with nothing, not even his trademark scissors, more than 40 years ago...
Raúl Musibay: Most of us Cuban refugees came to the United States with nothing but the clothes on our backs!
Glenn Lindgren: Jorge didn't even make it off the island with a pair of shoes, but that's another story.
Jorge Castillo: Ramón left the scissors with his mother in Cuba and was eventually able to smuggle them out.
Glenn Lindgren: At 82, he's still going strong, hand cutting fabric for his famous shirts in the glass windowed "back room" of La Casa de Las Guayaberas.
Jorge Castillo: Ramón has gone through several pairs of scissors since arriving in the U.S. and he's been using them to make thousands of guayaberas, the classic Cuban shirt that is as popular now as it was in Havana in the '50s.
Raúl Musibay: Everyone in Miami knows Ramón. He can measure you and make you a custom shirt.
Glenn Lindgren: These customs jobs, many made with expensive Irish linen, can cost anywhere from $150 to $300 and more. They have been made for such famous people as Ronald Reagan, George Bush (the one without the "W"), and actor Robert Duvall.
Jorge Castillo: You can also buy one "off the rack" for between $40 and $90.
Raúl Musibay: The guayabera shirt is very old. They were wearing them more than 200 years ago in Cuba.
Glenn Lindgren: No one is exactly sure how it got its name. It may be because workers used to wear them as they had their lunch under the shade of one of many guava (guayaba) trees all over Cuba.
Jorge Castillo: Go to Domino Park some day, and you'll see older Cuban guys wearing guayaberas that are 30 and 40 years old.
Glenn Lindgren: The styling of these shirts, whether fancy or plain is timeless.
Raúl Musibay: Let me tell you that many young people are wearing the guayabera today.
Glenn Lindgren: It's a "cool" shirt that is really HOT right now.
Jorge Castillo: Do you know what's the nicest thing about the guayabera?
Raúl Musibay: The fact that it's very cool, even on a hot Miami Day?
Glenn Lindgren: The way it hides that annoying spare tire?
Raúl Musibay: You keep a guayabera shirt in your trunk?
Glenn Lindgren: That's not the spare tire I was thinking of.
Jorge Castillo: No, the best part about wearing a guayabera shirt, is that you never have to wear a necktie!
Glenn Lindgren: A Ramón Puig guayabera makes a wonderful souvenir of your Miami vacation. You might want to pick up several as gifts for family, friends, and coworkers. You will never find a better guayabera shirt anywhere in the world. Tell Ramón that the Three Guys from Miami sent you.
Raúl Musibay: We can't promise you a discount, but who knows?
Cuban Guayabera Shirts
Update:
Sadly Ramon Puig passed away April 29, 2011 at the ripe old age of 90. We'll miss this longtime legend of Little Havana!
