More in the Historic Center

Yesterday I began writing about some of the lesser-known sites in Mexico City listed on the website "The Historic Center - 200 Essential Places".  Here are a few more of those places which I photographed as I walked around the heart of the city.

Café Tacuba is located on Tacuba Street just a short walk from the city's main plaza.  

The 16th century mansion was later was the location of a bakery, and then in 1912 opened as a restaurant, making it one of the oldest continuously operating restaurants in the city.  In the 1920s and 1930s it was a favorite place for politicians, intellectuals, artists and actors to get together.  Diego Rivera and his first wife had their wedding reception here, and the famous composer Agustin Lara (you would surely recognize one his most famous songs, "Granada") wrote a piece here, inspired by the lovely wife of the owner.  Some employees claim that the place is haunted... that they have seen an apparition of a nun floating through the restaurant late at night.

This restaurant used to be one of my favorites in Mexico City, but unfortunately the place has become a tourist trap, and the food is only mediocre.

Even if you do not know much about Mexican history, you have certainly heard of the Mexican President Santa Anna, the vainglorious President / dictator who led the Mexican troops against the Texan rebels in the Battle of the Alamo.  It was in this house, just around the corner on Simón Bolívar Street, that Santa Anna died.

Santa Anna who had lost half of Mexico's territory in wars with the Texans and with the United States, went into exile in disgrace.  In 1874 he was allowed to return to Mexico.  Crippled and nearly blind, he spent the last years of his life here, writing his memoirs.  He died in 1876 at the age of 82.

I was surprised to see that the building now houses a branch of the restaurant chain "El Bajío".  I had no idea that they had a location in the Historic Center.  I will have to keep that in mind because I generally like their food.  When an employee at the door saw me taking pictures of the building, he invited me to come in and photograph the courtyard which is now the main dining room.

Turning another corner onto Avenida 5 de Mayo, we come to the "Dulcería de Celaya", a candy shop which has been in operation since 1874.

The shop was originally located a block away on Madero Street but moved to this location in 1900.  The marquee above the entrance is said to be the oldest in the city.

The shops windows are filled with an assortment of Mexican confections, including candied fruits.

The interior retains its original "art nouveau" decor.

Turning one more corner onto Isabel la Católica Street, we will stop for a final photo stop.  The Hotel Gillow is one of the oldest in the city.  

The name Gillow might sound familiar to you.  Remember that former hacienda in the state of Puebla that Alejandro and I visited on my recent trip?  An Englishman by the name of Thomas Gillow was the owner of that estate through his marriage to a Mexican heiress.  One of Gillow's other business enterprises was to buy this Mexico City property and turn it into a hotel.  It opened its doors in 1876.  The building was remodeled a couple of times. In the 1930s it received an "art deco" facelift.  The hotel today is no longer the fashionable lodging it once was.  It is a budget hotel with rooms costing about 70 U.S. dollars per night, but it gets fairly good reviews.

I saved that list of 200 places in the Historic Center, and when I return to Mexico City in April, I will have to pick out some more spots to write about.