Colonia Tabacalera
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 1900s, 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 cantinas that populated it in its heyday.
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 Reforma 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 colonia's Bohemian heyday from the 1930s to the 1950s. The most popular cantinas are located on Ignacio Mariscal Street: Bar Oxford, La Gruta de San Fernando and the Salon Palacio.
...
Wikipedia