Its Limits: Entre Rios avenue, Callao avenue, Sánchez de Bustamante street, Loria street, Corrientes avenue, Cordoba avenue, Pueyrredon avenue and Rivadavia avenue.

 

Important places: Once, Abasto and Congreso

 

When the city of Buenos Aires joined the Congreso neighborhood, the Abasto neighborhood and the Once neighborhood, it was to unite those “central neighborhoods” in only one, that would be called as the same as the “Nuestra Señora de Balvanera” (“Our Lady of Balvanera”) parish , located in 2431 Bartolomé Mitre street.

 

The neighborhood, is usually traveled over for any tourist; Corrientes avenue, Florida street, Mayo avenue are significant for the city for being the most picturesque.

We can find universities, shoppings mall, parks, and obviously the history of the most important tango protagonists. 

 

Once

 

It also exists the other side of Buenos Aires, the most popular, located in Pueyrredon avenue, in Plaza Miserere (“Miserere Park”) or Once. Germinal Nogues described it better than nobody: “Buenos Aires does not have a place that seems more to Latino America, more to any Latino American city, that those few blocks that surround the Miserere Park...”

 

In Once, different transports flow (train, subway and bus lines) that make it a concurred place, besides being one of the most important wholesale shopping center. 

 

The “Plaza de los Dos Congresos” (“The two Congresses Park”) and the Plaza Once (“Eleven Park”) are the representatives of the neighborhood, and generally is common to call all the zone as Congress Neighborhood or Eleven Neighborhood, but in the official nomenclature they are not separated. 

 

In the Park center is found the Bernardino Rivadavia mausoleum, declared in 1946, National Historic Monument. 

 

The park is a transit place for workers, to there arrives the line “A” subway and the Sarmiento railroad. 

 

Near the park, is found the famous school Mariano Acosta (1874), where people like Julio Cortazar, Julio Argentino Roca, Leopoldo Marechal, Enrique Santos Discepolo, among others, studied. 

 

We can remember in Pichincha street the old Doria Theater, with successful lyric music periods and also the Anselmi circus (1896), wrestling championships, and the most various spectacles billboard. After the Doria Theater, the Marconi Theater appeared, the majority of its audience were Italians that also worked in the Spinetto market (actually a shopping). From 1970 it was converted in the “Armando Discepolo” Theater. Close to it, in 2330 Rivadavia Avenue, it is found the coffee store that helped Discepolo to create the famous tango “Cafetin de Buenos Aires” (“Buenos Aires Little Coffee”). 

 

A long time ago, across the Spinetto, passed the Manso stream, and a project was summarized in 1894 by David Spineto. Initially, the market, was dedicated to sell vegetables and fruits, exclusively to wholesalers, and after a fire, it also included the sold of clothes. Complementary locals also existed: Matheu and Moreno.

 

 

The Congress and its outskirts

 

In the old corner of Rivadavia avenue and Rincon street, still remains the echoes of the “Café de los Angelitos” (“Angels Coffee”), currently it is being restored, but time ago it was one of the most recognized Buenos Aires coffees. It attended people like Gardel, José Razzano, Gabino Ezeiza and José Bettinotti. In this coffee born the tango that carries its name composed by Castillo and Razzano.  

 

I evoke you, lost in the life,

 

and entangled in the threads of the smoke,

 

set against a pleasing memory that I smoke

 

and to this black cup of coffee.

 

Rivadavia and Rincón! ... Old corner

 

of the antique friendship that returns,

 

flirting its grey on the table that is

 

meditating in its yesterday nights.

 

Angels Coffee! 

 

Gabino and Cazón Bar! 

 

I make you happy with my shouts

 

in the times of Carlitos

 

by Rivadavia and Rincón.

 

Founded, in 1890 with the name “Rivadavia Bar”, its owner was an Italian called Batista Fazio. At first it was a coffee of criminals. In 1919 when it began to be famous for the figures of Gabino, Higinio Cazón, José Betinotti, José Razzano, Carlos Gardel, Roberto Cassaux, Florencio Parravicini, among others it was acquired by Angel Salgueiro. 

 

It was exactly in this coffee where, in 1917, the Odeón seal artistic director, Mauricio Goddart made an agreement with a native famous duet Gardel-Razzano. In this manner they could be listened in the disk “Cantar Eterno” (“Eternal Sing”) and “El Sol del 25” (“The ´25 sun”).

 

According to the daily Página 12 (“Twelve Page”), the Coffee new restoration:

“The new “Café de los Angelitos” (“Angels Coffee”) will not be the same, simply because the old one was demolished in the past December. Therefore, the businessmen that bought the uncultivated land of 600 square meters will raise walls of 9 meters height, almost the double one of the original model. It is that the 2002 version of the classical bar will have three levels, two on the surface and another one subterranean.”

 

Among the most significant buildings we can find “El Molino” (“The Mill”) coffee store of 1860, “El Club Ateneo de la Juventud” (“The Youth Literary Society Club”) ubicated in 165 Riobamba street. 

 

Luckily the Buenos Aires city has many buildings with history, as these two bars, but unfortunately we suffer from seen them in its decadence. “The Mill Coffee Store”, located in Callao avenue and Rivadavia avenue, continues being an outstanding account since it continues walled up.

 

In the house that remains in 137 Rincon street, lived Carlitos Gardel. The Balvanera neighborhood also knew the summit epoch of the tenement houses located in the streets next to the Congress (Mexico street, Alsina street, Sarandi street). 

 

The Sanitary Works building, located in Cordoba avenue, Riobamba street, Viamonte  street and Ayacucho street was built, by the architect Carlos Nyströmer, to store 73.000.000 liters of water approximately. With a baroque style, overload of decoration, the building is done with European material. 

 

These are all spaces that form part of the city history and they are very loved by the people.  The neighbors, besides all, remember them with a lot of affection. We hope that, these buildings, monuments, parks, will continue conserving as time ago, or in any case that they would be recovered. 

Marinha Villalobos

Alejandro Cigliano

Its limits: La Plata avenue and Rio de Janeiro street (western)

 

Independencia avenue (south)

 

Sánchez de Bustamante street, Díaz Vélez avenue and Gallo street (east)

 

Cordoba avenue, Estado de Israel avenue and Angel Gallardo avenue (north). 

 

 

Its name does not enclose a lot of mystery, but some authors discuss their origin. Exist those who support the version that it is due to his primitive owners, children of the Dr. Juan María Almagro and De la Torre, who was an official of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. Others suppose that the neighborhood belonged to Toribio Almagro who in 1857 gifted it to the Company of Railroads to install a passengers railway station; that was located in the corner of Lezica and Angel Peluffo passage. 

 

Approximately until 1870 the neighborhood was well rural and with colored trees. Then it become famous for the families that inhabited it. The families were: Villarino (that occupied the square of San José of Calazans Church), Ballesteros, the Pereyra, the Muñiz, famous for its parties, where the high society concurred. 

 

Their lands were plains, with some streams, but they were historical houses as the legendary house of Santiago de Liniers and Bremond, situated in Hipólito Yrigoyen and Virrey Liniers, known as the Window of Lange. 

 

Like in all the neighborhoods the limits were changing as soon as the city advanced. The limit was given by San Jose de  Flores neighborhood. Even in 1870, with the increase of the population and the progressive growth of communications Mr. Florencio Madero, intend to sell the lands of the new town of Almagro. Once they were sold a transformation was produced due to the inmigration that took place between the years 1895 to 1914.

 

The tenement houses (Los Conventillos)

 

At first the majority of the people of Almagro were of Basque origin, due to the presence of dairys in the place. Then such situation was reverted and  the Italian population dominated, who were in charge of the bricklaying. 

 

In the years 1880, 1898 and 1912, the tenement houses that occupied the neighborhood could be counted.  The Licensed Llanes found the most important of them situated in: the corner of Boedo and Independencia, nowadays a bank is situated there, another one in Castro Barros 433 “María the Lunga”, another that was called “The Black cave” inhabited by color people, and there was another one In the corner of Victoria and Liniers  inhabited by Andalusian families.

 

 

 

The tango in the Neighborhood

 

 

The neighborhood has a rich history of tangos, tangueros and famous personalities of the environment of the epoch. There men like Carlos Gardel grew, Alfonsina Estorni (poet), Juan Maglio (in Bulnes and Tucumán), Luisito Pérez, Luis C.  Villamayor (author of “The language of the low fund”), Osmar Maderna, “The Cachafaz” and “The Blond Mireya” (tenement house of Castro Barros 433), Sebastián Piana (born Castro Barros street) and Osvaldo Pugliese who prompted the project to create the House of the Tango. 

 

Almagro is very extensive, but has only one park that has the Monument to the Flag built by the architect Alejandro Varangot, it is there where it is yielded homage to Vicente San Lorenzo, who gave music to the tango “Almagro” (Salguero, Sarmiento, Bulnes and Perón), with letter of August Martin, composed in 1930. Gardel consecrated it with its phonographic version on May the 1st of 1930. 

 

 

“How I remembered, loved neighborhood,

those times of my childhood….

 You are the place where I have born

 And you are the cradle of my

honesty.

 Neighborhood of the soul, it was by your streets

 where I have enjoyed my youth.

 Nights of love I lived,

with tender eagerness I dreamed,

 and among your flowers

  I also cried…

 Its sad  to remember! 

The heart hurts me... 

My Almagro,

 how

sick I am!”

 

Among all the leaders of the neighborhood, the one that was more emphasized was Aparicio, for being the one that  more electoral triumphs had. Because of that the musician (“bandoneonista”) Domingo Santa Cruz dedicated him the song “Civic Union”.

We cannot stop citing a Coffee Store that represents a lot of our Argentinean history: The Violetas Coffee Store, founded in 1884. 

The French orphanage of the parish San Carlos contained a land(Rivadavia 3824) that is remembered for a particularly fact: in 1912 Carlos Gardel sang a tango.  In their workshops studied together Ceferino Namuncurá and Carlos Gardel(“The Thrush”). 

 

 

 

“Almagro, Almagro of my life,

you were the soul of my dreams... 

How many nights of moon and faith,

under your protection I knew to love…

 Almagro, glory of the braves,

place of romances and poetry,

my head the snow covered,

 my happiness has already gone

as a ray of sun.”

 

 

 

The San Lorenzo of Almagro Club was born in the 1^st of April of 1908. At the beginning it was located in the neighborhood, nowadays it functions in the Nueva Pompeya neighborhood. 

 

In Guardia Vieja 4049 functions the House of the Tango Foundation. There you can visit the library, the museum and it has also a coffee store where you can dance, like in the Educational Center of the Tango (University of the Tango) located in Agrelo 3231 too.  Another company dedicated to our tango is the Argentine Union of Musicians “Astor Piazzolla” (Av.  Belgrano 3655). 

 

In the neighborhood was located the famous school Mariano Moreno between the streets Rivadavia, Sadi Carnot (actually Mario Bravo), Billinghurst and Bartolomé Mitre. Students like Eduardo of Robertis, Alberto Vacarezza, Homero Manzi, Luis Sandrini, among others studied there. 

 

“The ungrateful time double my back

and to my smile coldness gave…

I am old, I am a load,

 with many doubts and loneness.

  My Almagro, all has passed,

 ashes of what I was still remains… 

Lover

of your love without end,

 where I have born

I should die. 

Almagro, sweet home

I leave you the heart

as a memory of my passion.”