More Art Deco

Last week, inspired by a magazine article, I wrote a post about examples of art deco architecture in the historic center of Mexico City.  I didn't photograph all the buildings listed in the article, so a few days ago I returned to finish off the list.

On Victoria Street, a street lined with scores of lighting stores, the former headquarters of "Teléfonos de México" stands out.

The art deco building was built in 1931, and the architects were Fernando and Miguel Cervantes. (Brothers?)

Among the decorative features are carvings representing stylized telephone receivers.

(I suppose that there are some people in the younger generations who don't even know what  handheld telephone receivers looks like.)

The building is still a Telmex store (the name the telephone company took when it was privatized in 1990).

I mentioned in the earlier post that one variation of art deco is called "streamline moderne".  Its lines are influenced by ocean liners.  Another example is the Normandie Building on Balderas Avenue.  It was constructed in 1939.  Although is has been much altered over the decades, its curved shape and monumental lettering indicate its art deco origin.

Today the building houses offices and a vocational school, and on the ground floor there is a Little Caesar's Pizza.

A short walk from there, on Morelos Avenue, is the YWCA Building.

"Asociación Cristiana Feminina"

The building was constructed between 1923 and 1933.

Just behind the art deco structure is a boxy, nondescript building which also belongs to the YWCA.  I assume that the two buildings connect because the door to the original building is closed.  If it were not for the open upper windows, I would have thought that the art deco building was abandoned.

The relief carvings at the ground level are all covered with graffiti.

There is a plaque that says that the building has was restored in 2020, but obviously there has been no maintenance.  The condition of this architectural gem is a disgrace, and it speaks very poorly for the organization.

Fortunately the upper floor carvings are free of vandalism.

A few blocks away on Independencia Avenue is the Metropolitan Theatre.

It opened in 1943 as a movie theater.  Its facade was inspired by Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  Today it is a major venue for live musical performances.  You may remember that Alejandro and I attended "Swan Lake" here a couple months ago.

Finally, on the same street as the Metropolitan is this art deco gem about which I have written frequently.

The building was constructed in 1928 as Mexico City's central fire station.  Since 2006 it has housed the Museum of Popular Art, one of my favorite museums in the city.

A Fighting Woman

You may recall that a few weeks ago I showed you a tile plaque at the entrance to a subway station honoring Miguel Hidalgo, the Father of Mexican Independence.  The other day, I saw a similar plaque at a different station honoring another hero of the war for independence, Juana Arcos Barragán.  Even though I am a history buff, I had never heard of her.  I had to do some research.

 Juana Arcos Barragán was born in a small town in the southern state of Guerrero in 1780.  In 1810 the War for Independence from Spain broke out.  Members of her family were involved in the insurgency, and the story goes that she joined the rebellion when she found the bodies of several relatives hung from a tree by the Spanish.  She gathered a small army of peasants and joined forces with José María Morelos, who was Hidalgo's commander in the south.  After Hidalgo was captured and executed by the Spanish, Morelos led the insurgency.  Barragán fought with Morelos in numerous battles, and he gave her command of her own batallion.  Morelos was also captured and executed by the Spanish, but Barragán continued fighting in the mountains of southern Mexico.  She evaded capture by the Spanish for five years, but died before a firing squad in 1820 shortly before the nation finally achieved its independence.

A Mess in the Park

A short walk from my apartment there is a pleasant neighborhood park.  However, for the past several months work has been underway to do a complete renovation.

They have nearly completed redoing the walkways through the park with paving stones.  However the running paths next to them have not been replaced and in some places are a muddy mess.

The basketball courts are closed for renovation.

The cement sidewalks around the perimeter of the park have been torn up and are being replaced with paving stones.  Although it might look nice when completed, I question how long the paving stones will last as opposed to cement.

A large portion of the torn up sidewalk remains unfinished.  The paving materials were piled up along the side, but on the sunny afternoon that I was there, no one was doing any work.

The biggest problem is that on Thursdays a "tianguis" or weekly outdoor market is held around the perimeter of the park.  For weeks the vendors have had to set up their stalls on the dirt amid the construction materials.

 I was talking with the vendor from whom I buy avocados each week.  I said, "¡Qué desastre!". (What a mess!)  He complained that they have been dealing with the dirt and mud for weeks.  And he said that during the week he sets up his stall at two other locations where similar  construction has been going on at snail's pace.

It seems that the city government, in its zeal to spruce up the city before the World Cup, has bitten off more than it can chew! 

Snow on the Mountain

With the recent rain that we have had in Mexico City, the slopes of the active volcano, Popocatépetl, located 43 miles to the southeast of the city, are once again covered with snow.

Here are a couple of webcam views of the mountain from this morning...

Yucatan Week

Last Saturday Alejandro and I went to an event called "Semana Yucatán en México" (Yucatan Week in Mexico City).

It is being held at the Sports Palace from May 8th through May 17th, and brings together 270 vendors selling handicrafts, food and drink from the state of Yucatán.

There was a wide variety of merchandise for sale including hand-made wooden kitchen implements...

bags made from henequen, the fiber from a kind of agave plant...

and Mayan masks.

There were vendors selling traditional embroidered clothing for women.

And for the men, there were several booths selling beautiful guayabera shirts.

Neither Alejandro nor I need more clothes, but we couldn't resist buying a couple of shirts.

One of the main reasons we went to the event was to see if we could find the artisanal brand of Xtabentún that we like.  I have mentioned Xtabentún before.  It's a honey, anise liqueur that is a specialty of Yucatan.  It is hard to find here in Mexico City, but at some stores you can find a commercially produced brand of the liqueur.  Last year Alejandro and I were at a festival featuring products from Yucatan.  There was a guy selling an artisanal brand of the beverage.  We tasted a sample, and we liked it even more than than what you normally see in the stores.  Some months later, I was at a Yucatan fair held at the Museum of Popular Cultures.  The same fellow was there, and I bought another bottle.  Sure enough, he was at this event, and he remembered us.  We bought two bottles, so that we have a good supply to serve when we have visitors at the apartment.

After spending a couple of hours at "Semana Yucatán", we took our new guayaberas and our bottles of Xtabentún and headed home.  

Mud!

It would appear that the rainy season is off to an early start.  Yesterday at 4 PM we had heavy rains.  Although they tapered off, the precipitation continued well into the night.  On Monday night we only had light rain, but heavy storms affected the western side of the metropolitan area.  The Hondo and Remedios Rivers overflowed their banks and flooded roadways, vehicles and numerous homes.  The most affected areas were the western suburb of Naucalpan and the borough of Azcapotzalco.  Water as high as a meter left a muddy mess inside houses.

The headline of one newspaper today screamed "¡LODO! (MUD!) with a photo of the destroyed furnishings inside of a man's house.

(photo taken from the internet)

Last summer was exceptionally rainy with flooding in many parts of the city.  A repeat this summer would not only be dreadful for the residents of affected areas, but it could cause major headaches for the World Cup games here. 

Welcome!

Mexico City has an advertising campaign for this summer's World Cup games.  I have seen  the signs in Metrobus and subway stations and on the walls of underpasses.  One of the signs is this one...

 It says,

"In Mexico City all nations are welcome."

It seemed to me (and Alejandro agreed with me) that the message is a subtle dig at a certain country that has not earned a very good reputation for welcoming foreign visitors.

At the bottom of the sign is the phrase, "La pelota vuelve a casa." (The ball returns home.)

It seems to be Mexico's slogan for the games and refers to the fact that Mexico is the only country to host three World Cups.