(13 Jul 2011)
1. Various of band playing Cuban music outside Versailles restaurant, at 40 year celebration
2. Close of 40th anniversary sign at restaurant
3. Mid of Versailles restaurant sign
4. Various of people waiting in line outside Versailles restaurant
5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) vox pop, Dames Victors, Cuban-American living in Miami:
"Politicians come, artists come, all the older Cubans come to remember how Cuba was before Fidel (Castro). And new people come to Versailles too because it's international now. They come from everywhere, South America, Central America, Europe, China and Japan, everywhere - it is truly international."
6. Close of people eating croquettes
7. Various of Cafe Versailles
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rick Scott, Governor of Florida:
"I heard dinner is a little bit less expensive tonight. It's back to 1971 prices. This is America, the American dream. And this is what everybody from Cuba and around Latin America has brought to our country. And so you really have to admire what everybody has done here."
9. Wide of man drinking coffee outside restaurant
10. Close of man drinking coffee
11. Wide of customer paying for food
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nicole Valls, Daughter of owner of Versailles Restaurant in Miami:
"When Fidel dies, hopefully soon, we have a plan here at the restaurant, because we were kind of caught off guard last time and it was a little bit chaotic, so now we have a plan where all the media knows where they are going. And it's just more crowd control and get everything under control for when that big moment happens because we know it's going to get packed here, because everyone in the community is going to come here and celebrate."
13. Wide of band playing Cuban music
14. Close of band member
STORYLINE:
The Versailles Restaurant, in Miami, Florida, was on Tuesday celebrating 40 years of serving up Cuban food, coffee, and plenty of political debate.
Hundreds gathered at the restaurant, in the Little Havana neighbourhood, including local people as well as officials and VIPs, who all tucked into traditional Cuban snacks of cheese croquette potatoes and fried yucca.
One Cuban-American customer of the restaurant said Versailles reminded Cuban emigres now living in Miami of how their country used to be.
But Dames Victors added that "new people come to Versailles too because it's international now. They come from everywhere, South America, Central America, Europe, China and Japan, everywhere."
The family-owned landmark has also become a regular stop in Miami for politicians seeking to reach out to the Cuban exile community.
When ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro transferred power to his brother in 2006, the media camped outside the restaurant as rumours circulated suggesting that Castro had died.
Nicole Valls, the daughter of the owner of Versailles, said it was very chaotic, but the restaurant was now better prepared to handle the crowds when Castro does die.
Among those attending Tuesday's fiesta was Florida Governor Rick Scott.

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