Colonia Tabacalera
Encyclopedia
Colonia Tabacalera is a colonia
or neighborhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough
of Mexico City, on the western border of the city's historic center
. It was created in the late 19th century along with other nearby colonias such as Colonia San Rafael
and Colonia Santa María la Ribera. From the early 20th century, it became a mixture of mansions and apartment buildings, with major constructions such as the now Monument to the Revolution and the El Moro skyscraper built in the first half of the century. By the 1950s, the area had a Bohemian
reputation with writers, artists and exiles living there. These included Fidel Castro
and Ernesto “Che” Guevara
who met each other and began planning the Cuban Revolution
here. Today, the colonia is in decline with problems such as prostitution, crime, street vending and traffic. However, the area is still home to some of the many traditional Mexican cantina
s that populated it in its heyday.
and bordered by Colonia Buenavista
and Colonia Guerrero
to the north, Colonia Juárez
to the south, the historic center to the east and Colonia San Rafael to the west. There is a mistaken belief that the block immediately north of Puente de Alvarado also belong to this colonia, but records show that this was never the case. Public transportation includes Metro stations Hidalgo
and Revolucion
and major streets include Basilio Badillo, Sombrereros and Humboldt.
Since the 1950s, the area has evolved from a residential neighborhood to one with office buildings, mostly belonging to government and union entities. The area is also home to a number of newspapers, especially along the colonia's border with the historic center. This is one reason why parking is a major issue during the work week. Because of the newspapers which operate early in the morning, cantinas and prostitution, which work very late, the colonia is considered to be one “which never sleeps.”(detrioro) The cantina tradition dates back to the colonias Bohemian heyday from the 1930s to the 1950s. There are still 36 in the neighborhood with the most popular located on Ignacio Mariscal Street: Bar Oxford, La Gruta de San Fernando and the Salon Palacio.
Schools in the neighborhood include Carita Alegre Preschool (prívate), Carlos Pellicer Camara Primary (private), Cendi ISSSTE 1 Celia Garibay de Ruiz Primary (public), Cendi Part Nani S.C. Primary (public), Cendi Sp Loteria Nacional Primary (public), Centro de Asesoria Preparatoria Abierta Jose Marti Vocational High School (public) and Pensiones Primary (public).
The colonia has seriously deteriorated since its founding. Much of this has been blamed on the arrival of office buildings in the mid 20th century. The area around Puente de Alvardo, Plaza de la Republica, Ramos Arizpe and Jose Maria Iglesias streets are considered to be a “hot spot” for crime. Each year in December, streets around the Monumento a la Revolución fill with street vendors selling items for Epiphany a major holiday for gift giving, especially toys to children. This annual street market has cause vehicular and pedestrian traffic problems and complaints from those who live in the area. Traffic can be slowed to needing one hour to travel five blocks. Other problems include vendors tapping illegally into electrical lines, trash and “franeleros,” people who control public parking spaces for a tip.
(former Palace of the Counts of Buenavista) and the headquarters of the National Lottery. The Monumento a la Revolución or Monument to the Revolution, is located on Plaza Revolución, which is the second largest plaza in Mexico City after the Zócalo
. The avenue that passes by the Monumento a la Revolucion had been called Avendida del Calvario, Avenida Del Ejido and Prolongacion de Avenida Juarez before receiving its current name of Avenida de la Republica. The monument is essentially a cupola
of what was supposed to be a building for the country's legislature. The building was commission by Porfirio Díaz
to be the “legislative palace” as part of the Centennial celebrations of 1910. The contractor was Emile Bernard, but only the cupola was finished when the Mexican Revolution
broke out. Eighteen years later, Mexican Carlos Obregon converted the forgotten fragment into the Monumento a la Revolucion. Today, the Monument acts as a mausoleum
and museum to that time period. It holds the remains of some of the principal protagonists of the Mexican Revolution including those of Francisco I. Madero
, Venustiano Carranza
, Francisco Villa, Plutarco Elías Calles
and Lázaro Cárdenas
.
The Museum of the Revolution was created here in 1986. It is located in the foundation of the building, and has received about 250,000 visitors each year. The collection includes photographs, flags, arms, documents, recreation of rooms and other spaces and utilitarian and decorative items from the time period. In 2010, the Monument and its museum were closed for renovations and expansion for the November 2010 celebration of the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution. The budget for the project was 240 million pesos
which included reparations to the building, expansion of the museum space to 3,650 m2 and the creation of an underground parking garage. An elevator to take visitors up to the cupola was also installed. Originally, the museum only covered the years of the Mexican Revolution but now it covers the period from the Constitution of 1857 to 1940, the end of the Lázaro Cárdenas administration. The remodeling is the first revision of the museum since it opened in 1986. Some of the new acquisitions include a flag from the Constitutionalist or Venustiano Carranza army of 1914. One change is that the museum now shows the carnage of the epoch as well as the glory. The Revolution was responsible for over a million deaths.
The Museo Nacional de San Carlos or National Museum of San Carlos was created to hold the very large art collection of the Academy of San Carlos in the historic center. This art collection began with plaster casts of original Greek, Roman and European works to be used as teaching aids at the school. Later, other works from the 16th to 19th centuries from Europe were added. When the collection outgrew the gallery space at the Academy, the collection was divided, with some going to the Museo Universitario de la Academia, some to the Museum of San Carlos and some remaining in the original location.
The museum is house in the former country home of the Counts of Buenavista, having been built by Josefa Rodriguez Pinillos y Gomez, Countess de la Carlos for her minor son who held the Buenavista title. This house was occupied by a number of notable people in the 19th century including the Count of Regla, General Rincón Gallardo, General Aquiles Bazaine and Antonio López de Santa Anna. The last two occupied it during the French Intervention in Mexico.
Later it was occupied by the Tabacalera Mexicana Company, a tobacco company, with workers living around it. This factory would give the colonia its name. In the 1940s, the National Lottery occupied it in part and held drawings here, before moving to its current location at Rosales Street and Avendia Del Ejido. The building was than a preparatory school. In 1986, it was converted into the current museum, which exhibits European art from the 14th to 20th centuries. It also holds temporary exhibits such as the collection of works by Francisco de Zurbarán, a contemporary of Diego Velázquez
.
One of the first skyscrapers in Mexico City, the El Moro Building, was built here to accommodate the National Lottery. It is 107 meters height. It is still considered one of the safest buildings in the city as it was built over reinforcement against earthquakes. The building was inaugurated in 1945. The origins of Mexico's national lottery back to the early colonial period when viceroy Marques de Croix
instituted one based on European lotteries of the era. It was instituted as the “Real Lotería General de Nueva España” in 1770 with the earnings going towards various charities such as the Hospicio de Pobres home for the poor.
The Frontón (jai alai
) Mexico building is Art Deco from 1929. It was home to the city's only jai alai courts. Due to economic pressures, the building tried to diversify to include artistic and cultural events in 1992 but by the end of the decade it had closed. For fourteen years, the building was abandoned until it was reopened for the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution in 2010. For the reopening, three million USD was invested to renovate the building and its jai alai courts. Spectator boxes, a restaurant-bar and a cafeteria were also added. Plans for further development of the property include a sky bar on the roof, a casino, small hotel and a pool to open in phases in 2011.
Near the Museum is a hotel zone with a plaza in the center. This zone catered to foreign and business travelers for over thirty years in the mid 20th century as it was near the train station and various busses. Today, the area has deteriorated and most of these same hotels now exist as “hoteles de paso” for short stays, often with prostitutes. The plaza in the center is called the Juan Antonio Mella Plaza and contains a bust of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, commemorating the time that the Cuban revolutionary stayed in the area. This plaza is also deteriorated and filled with homeless, drug addicts, garbage and weeds.
. Later, much of the area belonged to the Counts of Buenavista, whose country home still exists on Puente de Alvarado Street as the Museum of San Carlos. The modern colonia was founded with a mixture of mansions and apartment complexes to be similar to neighboring Santa Maria Ribera and San Rafael.
On 4a Calle de la Paz, today Ezequiel Montes, was one of the first raids against homosexuals in the city in 1901, which detained 41 men. One of these was the son-in-law of then President Porfirio Diaz, but his case was dismissed. This event has associated the number 41 with homosexuality in Mexico, which has caused it not to be used in police and military designations to this day.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, the colonia took on a Bohemian reputation as writers and artists such as Juan Rulfo
, Ricardo Bell, Nellie Campobello
and Pablo Neruda
lived here and the area was filled with traditional Mexican cantinas. It was also home to Cuban exiles such as Julio Antonio Mella
and Fidel Castro
. Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara
also lived here as an exile, working at the Hospital General in nearby Colonia Doctores
. On 49 José de Amparán Street in apartment “C”, the home of Cuban exile Maria Antonia Gonzalez, in July of 1955, Fidel Castro met Che Guervara. This began their collaboration which culminated in the Cuban Revolution
.
At the same time, major construction projects changed the neighborhood which would lead to its decline. Paseo de la Reforma was expanded, eliminating smaller streets. The equestrian statue of Carlos IV was moved from the colonia to the Palacio de Mineria in the historic center. The La Rosa streetcar from the 1920s, which ran on Avenida de las Artes (today Antonio Caso) ceased to operate as well. A number of buildings that faced Paseo de la Reforma also disappeared. Many residential areas were replaced with buildings such as the Procuraduria General de la Republica and the headquarters of a number of unions. Soon after homeless and prostitutes appeared.
The colonia celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999 with parades and parties including a parade of antique cars from the 1930s to the 1960s and an art fair. There were also conferences and other academic events on the area's history.
In 2008, the city approved a zoning change that now allows for skyscrapers of up to 20 floors to be built in the colonia.
Colonia (Mexico)
In general, colonias are neighborhoods in Mexican cities, which have no jurisdictional autonomy or representation. It is plausible that the name, which literally means colony, arose in the late 19th, early 20th centuries, when one of the first urban developments outside Mexico City's core was...
or neighborhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough
Cuauhtémoc, D.F.
Cuauhtémoc, named after the former Aztec leader, is one of the 16 boroughs of the Federal district of Mexico City. It consists of the oldest parts of the city, extending over what was the entire city in the 1920s. This area is the historic and culture center of the city, although it is not the...
of Mexico City, on the western border of the city's historic center
Historic center of Mexico City
The historic center of Mexico City is also known as the "Centro" or "Centro Histórico." This neighborhood is focused on the Zócalo or main plaza in Mexico City and extends in all directions for a number of blocks with its farthest extent being west to the Alameda Central The Zocalo is the largest...
. It was created in the late 19th century along with other nearby colonias such as Colonia San Rafael
Colonia San Rafael
Colonia San Rafael is a colonia of the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, just west of the historic city center. It was established in the late 19th century as one of the first formal neighborhoods outside of the city center and initially catered to the wealthy of the Porfirio Díaz era. These early...
and Colonia Santa María la Ribera. From the early 20th century, it became a mixture of mansions and apartment buildings, with major constructions such as the now Monument to the Revolution and the El Moro skyscraper built in the first half of the century. By the 1950s, the area had a Bohemian
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
reputation with writers, artists and exiles living there. These included Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and Ernesto “Che” Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
who met each other and began planning the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
here. Today, the colonia is in decline with problems such as prostitution, crime, street vending and traffic. However, the area is still home to some of the many traditional Mexican cantina
Cantina
Cantina is a word that can refer to various places and establishments. It is similar in etymology to "canteen", and is derived from the Italian word for a cellar, winery, or vault.Cantinas are found in many towns of Italy...
s that populated it in its heyday.
Description
The colonia extends over 28 blocks and contains 19 streets covering a total area of 1.75 km2. About 3,500 live in the colonia with another 10,500 who come in to work. The colonia's boundaries are formed by Avenida Hidalgo, Puente de Alvarado, Avenida Insurgentes and Paseo de la ReformaPaseo de la Reforma
Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs in a straight line, cutting diagonally across Mexico City. It was designed by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig in the 1860s and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as Vienna's Ringstrasse or the Champs-Élysées in Paris...
and bordered by Colonia Buenavista
Colonia Buenavista
Colonia Buenavista is a colonia or neighborhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough located northwest of the historic center of Mexico City. It has historically been a train terminal, and still is as the southern terminal of the Tren Suburbano commuter rail...
and Colonia Guerrero
Colonia Guerrero, Mexico City
Colonia Guerrero is a colonia of Mexico City located just north-northwest of the historic center. Its borders are formed by Ricardo Flores Magón to the north, Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas and Paseo de la Reforma to the east, Eje1 Poniente Guerrero to the west and Avenida Hidalgo to the south...
to the north, Colonia Juárez
Colonia Juárez (Mexico City)
Colonia Juarez is one of the better–known neighborhoods or colonias in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. Its boundaries are: the corner of Paseo de la Reforma and Eje Bucareli to the north, Avenida Chapultepec to the south, Eje 1 Poniente to the east and Circuito Interior José Vasconcelos to...
to the south, the historic center to the east and Colonia San Rafael to the west. There is a mistaken belief that the block immediately north of Puente de Alvarado also belong to this colonia, but records show that this was never the case. Public transportation includes Metro stations Hidalgo
Metro Hidalgo
Metro Hidalgo is a station on Line 2 and Line 3 of the Mexico City Metro system. It is located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, west of the city centre, on Hidalgo Avenue and serves the Colonia Tabacalera, Colonia Guerrero, and Colonia Centro districts....
and Revolucion
Metro Revolución
Metro Revolución is a station on Line 2 of the Mexico City Metro system. It is located in the Colonia Tabacalera and Colonia Buenavista districts in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, northwest of the city centre, on Avenida Puente de Alvarado...
and major streets include Basilio Badillo, Sombrereros and Humboldt.
Since the 1950s, the area has evolved from a residential neighborhood to one with office buildings, mostly belonging to government and union entities. The area is also home to a number of newspapers, especially along the colonia's border with the historic center. This is one reason why parking is a major issue during the work week. Because of the newspapers which operate early in the morning, cantinas and prostitution, which work very late, the colonia is considered to be one “which never sleeps.”(detrioro) The cantina tradition dates back to the colonias Bohemian heyday from the 1930s to the 1950s. There are still 36 in the neighborhood with the most popular located on Ignacio Mariscal Street: Bar Oxford, La Gruta de San Fernando and the Salon Palacio.
Schools in the neighborhood include Carita Alegre Preschool (prívate), Carlos Pellicer Camara Primary (private), Cendi ISSSTE 1 Celia Garibay de Ruiz Primary (public), Cendi Part Nani S.C. Primary (public), Cendi Sp Loteria Nacional Primary (public), Centro de Asesoria Preparatoria Abierta Jose Marti Vocational High School (public) and Pensiones Primary (public).
The colonia has seriously deteriorated since its founding. Much of this has been blamed on the arrival of office buildings in the mid 20th century. The area around Puente de Alvardo, Plaza de la Republica, Ramos Arizpe and Jose Maria Iglesias streets are considered to be a “hot spot” for crime. Each year in December, streets around the Monumento a la Revolución fill with street vendors selling items for Epiphany a major holiday for gift giving, especially toys to children. This annual street market has cause vehicular and pedestrian traffic problems and complaints from those who live in the area. Traffic can be slowed to needing one hour to travel five blocks. Other problems include vendors tapping illegally into electrical lines, trash and “franeleros,” people who control public parking spaces for a tip.
Landmarks
Major landmarks include the Monumento a la Revolucion, Frontón México, the Museo Nacional de San CarlosMuseo Nacional de San Carlos
The Museo Nacional de San Carlos is a Mexican national art museum devoted to European art, located in the Cuauhtémoc borough in Mexico City. The museum is housed in the Palacio del Conde de Buenavista, a neoclassical building at Puente de Alvarado No. 50, Colonia Tabacalera, Mexico City...
(former Palace of the Counts of Buenavista) and the headquarters of the National Lottery. The Monumento a la Revolución or Monument to the Revolution, is located on Plaza Revolución, which is the second largest plaza in Mexico City after the Zócalo
Zócalo
The Zócalo is the main plaza or square in the heart of the historic center of Mexico City. The plaza used to be known simply as the "Main Square" or "Arms Square," and today its formal name is Plaza de la Constitución...
. The avenue that passes by the Monumento a la Revolucion had been called Avendida del Calvario, Avenida Del Ejido and Prolongacion de Avenida Juarez before receiving its current name of Avenida de la Republica. The monument is essentially a cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
of what was supposed to be a building for the country's legislature. The building was commission by Porfirio Díaz
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...
to be the “legislative palace” as part of the Centennial celebrations of 1910. The contractor was Emile Bernard, but only the cupola was finished when the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
broke out. Eighteen years later, Mexican Carlos Obregon converted the forgotten fragment into the Monumento a la Revolucion. Today, the Monument acts as a mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
and museum to that time period. It holds the remains of some of the principal protagonists of the Mexican Revolution including those of Francisco I. Madero
Francisco I. Madero
Francisco Ignacio Madero González was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician, he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce...
, Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...
, Francisco Villa, Plutarco Elías Calles
Plutarco Elías Calles
Plutarco Elías Calles was a Mexican general and politician. He was president of Mexico from 1924 to 1928, but he continued to be the de facto ruler from 1928–1935, a period known as the maximato...
and Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
.
The Museum of the Revolution was created here in 1986. It is located in the foundation of the building, and has received about 250,000 visitors each year. The collection includes photographs, flags, arms, documents, recreation of rooms and other spaces and utilitarian and decorative items from the time period. In 2010, the Monument and its museum were closed for renovations and expansion for the November 2010 celebration of the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution. The budget for the project was 240 million pesos
Mexican peso
The peso is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 15th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use its sign, "$". The Mexican peso is the 12th most traded currency in the world, the third most traded in the Americas, and by far the most...
which included reparations to the building, expansion of the museum space to 3,650 m2 and the creation of an underground parking garage. An elevator to take visitors up to the cupola was also installed. Originally, the museum only covered the years of the Mexican Revolution but now it covers the period from the Constitution of 1857 to 1940, the end of the Lázaro Cárdenas administration. The remodeling is the first revision of the museum since it opened in 1986. Some of the new acquisitions include a flag from the Constitutionalist or Venustiano Carranza army of 1914. One change is that the museum now shows the carnage of the epoch as well as the glory. The Revolution was responsible for over a million deaths.
The Museo Nacional de San Carlos or National Museum of San Carlos was created to hold the very large art collection of the Academy of San Carlos in the historic center. This art collection began with plaster casts of original Greek, Roman and European works to be used as teaching aids at the school. Later, other works from the 16th to 19th centuries from Europe were added. When the collection outgrew the gallery space at the Academy, the collection was divided, with some going to the Museo Universitario de la Academia, some to the Museum of San Carlos and some remaining in the original location.
The museum is house in the former country home of the Counts of Buenavista, having been built by Josefa Rodriguez Pinillos y Gomez, Countess de la Carlos for her minor son who held the Buenavista title. This house was occupied by a number of notable people in the 19th century including the Count of Regla, General Rincón Gallardo, General Aquiles Bazaine and Antonio López de Santa Anna. The last two occupied it during the French Intervention in Mexico.
Later it was occupied by the Tabacalera Mexicana Company, a tobacco company, with workers living around it. This factory would give the colonia its name. In the 1940s, the National Lottery occupied it in part and held drawings here, before moving to its current location at Rosales Street and Avendia Del Ejido. The building was than a preparatory school. In 1986, it was converted into the current museum, which exhibits European art from the 14th to 20th centuries. It also holds temporary exhibits such as the collection of works by Francisco de Zurbarán, a contemporary of Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
.
One of the first skyscrapers in Mexico City, the El Moro Building, was built here to accommodate the National Lottery. It is 107 meters height. It is still considered one of the safest buildings in the city as it was built over reinforcement against earthquakes. The building was inaugurated in 1945. The origins of Mexico's national lottery back to the early colonial period when viceroy Marques de Croix
Carlos Francisco de Croix, marqués de Croix
Carlos Francisco de Croix, marqués de Croix , was a Spanish general and viceroy of New Spain, from August 25, 1766 to September 22, 1771, a period of considerable turbulence....
instituted one based on European lotteries of the era. It was instituted as the “Real Lotería General de Nueva España” in 1770 with the earnings going towards various charities such as the Hospicio de Pobres home for the poor.
The Frontón (jai alai
Jai alai
Jai alai is a sport involving a ball bounced off a walled space. It is a variety of Basque Pelota. The term, coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also often loosely applied to the fronton where the sport is played...
) Mexico building is Art Deco from 1929. It was home to the city's only jai alai courts. Due to economic pressures, the building tried to diversify to include artistic and cultural events in 1992 but by the end of the decade it had closed. For fourteen years, the building was abandoned until it was reopened for the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution in 2010. For the reopening, three million USD was invested to renovate the building and its jai alai courts. Spectator boxes, a restaurant-bar and a cafeteria were also added. Plans for further development of the property include a sky bar on the roof, a casino, small hotel and a pool to open in phases in 2011.
Near the Museum is a hotel zone with a plaza in the center. This zone catered to foreign and business travelers for over thirty years in the mid 20th century as it was near the train station and various busses. Today, the area has deteriorated and most of these same hotels now exist as “hoteles de paso” for short stays, often with prostitutes. The plaza in the center is called the Juan Antonio Mella Plaza and contains a bust of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, commemorating the time that the Cuban revolutionary stayed in the area. This plaza is also deteriorated and filled with homeless, drug addicts, garbage and weeds.
History
From the early colonial period, this area was outside of Mexico City, filled with farms and haciendas, near Lake TexcocoLake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs built the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake. The Spaniards built Mexico City over Tenochtitlan...
. Later, much of the area belonged to the Counts of Buenavista, whose country home still exists on Puente de Alvarado Street as the Museum of San Carlos. The modern colonia was founded with a mixture of mansions and apartment complexes to be similar to neighboring Santa Maria Ribera and San Rafael.
On 4a Calle de la Paz, today Ezequiel Montes, was one of the first raids against homosexuals in the city in 1901, which detained 41 men. One of these was the son-in-law of then President Porfirio Diaz, but his case was dismissed. This event has associated the number 41 with homosexuality in Mexico, which has caused it not to be used in police and military designations to this day.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, the colonia took on a Bohemian reputation as writers and artists such as Juan Rulfo
Juan Rulfo
Juan Rulfo was a Mexican author and photographer. One of Latin America's most esteemed authors, Rulfo's reputation rests on two slim books, the novel Pedro Páramo , and El Llano en llamas...
, Ricardo Bell, Nellie Campobello
Nellie Campobello
Nellie Francisca Ernestina Campobello Luna, born María Francisca Moya Luna , was a Mexican writer...
and Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
lived here and the area was filled with traditional Mexican cantinas. It was also home to Cuban exiles such as Julio Antonio Mella
Julio Antonio Mella
Julio Antonio Mella was a founder of the "internationalized" Cuban Communist Party.Mella studied law in the University of Havana until he was expelled in 1925 and is considered a hero by the present Cuban government. Some Cubans view him as a victim of the Stalin-Trotsky struggle...
and Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
. Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
also lived here as an exile, working at the Hospital General in nearby Colonia Doctores
Colonia Doctores
Colonia Doctores is an official neighborhood just southwest of the historic center of Mexico City. It is bordered by Avenida Cuauhtémoc to the west, Arcos de Belen Street to the north, Eje Central to the east and Eje 3 Sur José Peón Contreras to the south....
. On 49 José de Amparán Street in apartment “C”, the home of Cuban exile Maria Antonia Gonzalez, in July of 1955, Fidel Castro met Che Guervara. This began their collaboration which culminated in the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
.
At the same time, major construction projects changed the neighborhood which would lead to its decline. Paseo de la Reforma was expanded, eliminating smaller streets. The equestrian statue of Carlos IV was moved from the colonia to the Palacio de Mineria in the historic center. The La Rosa streetcar from the 1920s, which ran on Avenida de las Artes (today Antonio Caso) ceased to operate as well. A number of buildings that faced Paseo de la Reforma also disappeared. Many residential areas were replaced with buildings such as the Procuraduria General de la Republica and the headquarters of a number of unions. Soon after homeless and prostitutes appeared.
The colonia celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999 with parades and parties including a parade of antique cars from the 1930s to the 1960s and an art fair. There were also conferences and other academic events on the area's history.
In 2008, the city approved a zoning change that now allows for skyscrapers of up to 20 floors to be built in the colonia.