As a lover of coffee shops and a person that goes daily to them, I wanted to share with you this article about this "pasión porteña"
Index:Bares in Buenos Aires
How to distinguish a notable bar in five minutes…
Bares in Buenos Aires
Why do many people spend time in cafés in Buenos Aires?
The café is a “porteño” institution par excellence. This is the place where people can feel free at their ease, the perfect spot to dream with friends and find magical solutions to the country’s problems. It is here, better than another scenario, where people think that utopias are possible. Bars are very warm; How many love relationships have started there? How many people have had their first kiss?
On the other hand, some goodbyes and separations have taken place in these houses. The cafes are as life is, the light and the shadow, happiness and sadness, but always with the presence of a friend. Jorge Luis Borges said: “I think that one of the most important functions of the city is to bring the dialogue”, and cafes are the best solution to that. We could say that the Café is the friendship temple and thus, for that reason, its continuance.
Why are the cafés considered cultural patrimony?
Cafes are usually real references to the neighbourhoods. They are part of the usages and customs of the porteño society and its everyday history. Cafes are part of the town landscape, poetry and literature. Going to a café is very necessary for many writers in the process of their work. The bars, with their continuance, provide the fondest situations. There, the tangible and intangible cultural patrimony is always and daily present.
Why are the cafés in Buenos Aires different from those in other cities of the world?
Generally, in other cities, people go the café in order to drink something, have a work meeting or a quick date.
The porteño café is heir of those from Madrid and Paris. People can go to drink a coffee or aperitif, but also, they can read the newspapers or a book in no hurry. Besides, they can study or enjoy a concert, and of course, in many cafés they can play billiards.
Which characteristics were taken into consideration in the process of selection of notable bars?
According to the Act 35 of 1998, the “Comisión de Protección y Promoción de los Cafés, Bares, Billares y Confiterías Notables de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires” (Association for the promotion and protection of notable bars in Buenos Aires) was created. Pursuant to such rule, the following requirements to consider a bar as notable were established: antiquity and continuance; an outstanding architecture; situations of cultural value taken place in such bar; attendance of important characters and, of course, such bar must be a reference to the neighbourhood or zone
Thus, at first, 39 notable bars were chosen. Nowadays, 20 bars have been added to the list.
The selection is very extensive because people can find classic and prestigious cafes at international level as the Tortoni but also some typical bars of neighbourhoods such as the “12 de Octubre”, near plaza Almagro, or “El Progreso”, at Montes de Oca and California in the district of Barracas.
Which is the oldest café in the city?
Porteño Cafes started to appear at colonial times. Most of them were located in the surroundings of Plaza Mayor, today Plaza de Mayo. Among others, we can enumerate “Café de la Comedia”, “De los Catalanes” and “De Marco”, meeting point of Mariano Moreno, Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and Bernardo de Monteagudo the nights before the “Revolución de Mayo” in 1810.
The oldest café in full swing is the “Tortoni”, founded in 1858, at the corner of Esmeralda and Rivadavia. In 1880 it was moved to Rivadavia 1826. In 1898 the entrance on Avenida de Mayo (the other side of the block) was opened with the number 825/29.
Has the function of the City’s cafés changed?
The city is a cell that changes constantly. It is necessary to have a balanced view of civic and intellectual readiness to rescue those cultural properties (such as buildings, green spaces, pieces of art, etc.) that play an important role in our collective memory and patrimony. Approximately 25 years ago, all the cafés got modernized, unified their styles and put a lot of plants, absurdly in some cases. Thus, they lost their personal styles that had made them different (except from La Giralda and El Gato Negro). Nowadays, a greater authenticity is being searched in order to rescue the original situations.
The essential function of the cafes has been kept, with the noticeable changes because of the present fashion and technology. Anyway, “know-all and suicide people” (as the tango says) still frequent these places but obviously they do not wear broad-brimmed hat and “lengue” (a kind of handkerchief).
Nowadays, do porteños spend more or less time in the café than before?
It depends on the kind of café, its location and the age of regular clients. Those coffee houses with billiard tables keep their style(36 Billares, Richmond, etc.). The neighbourhood cafés (such as Café de García, Margot, El Banderín, etc.) have their regular customers. Many of those located at downtown are always full of people (London City, La Giralda, Tortoni, etc.). However, nowadays, the literary meetings have decreased, even though some cafes (such as Bar de Cao, Margot, Tuñón, etc.) are the exceptions which prove the rule.
Which is your favourite café?
It would be unfair to mention only one. I like to have breakfast early in the morning at the Tortoni, with all its paintings and history. I like to: drink a coffee at Le Caravelle on Lavalle almost Maipú at the afternoon, meet with my wife at El Gato Negro while feeling the smell of the recently ground cinnamon, eat a sandwich at El Progreso and we will feel lucky if its owner, Mrs. Licinia, sings an Asturian song. At Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, I like to share a great “picada” with amigos at the Café de García, and at any moment I like to visit “La Buena Medida” at Suárez and Caboto, in front of “Plaza Solías” where the glorious Boca Juniors team was founded; eat a sandwich of marinated pavita at the Margot while we chat with the poet Rubén Derlis or the artist Juan Manuel Sánchez. Finally, I would enjoy drinking a cup of white coffee with croissants at Carlitos, along Carlos Calvo at Saavedra corner.
How to distinguish a notable bar in five minutes…
One person sits down, asks for something and in five minutes that person could appreciate if he is in a notable bar or not. We come in the café. We choose a table. We sit down. Observing quickly the place, we have an almost accurate idea of the architectonic space and its qualities, including its equipment (furniture and ornaments or documents: poetry, paintings, photos and dedications written in many cases by its customer and/or friends). The most important point in order to get a conclusion is the quality of the dish or drink chosen. The attention of waitress may be an advantage or disadvantage. In few minutes, taking into account the sounds and noises, and after watching the movement, routines and how the customers act, one person can appreciate the personal character of the café and realize how notable the bar chosen is.
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*Horacio Spinetto: architect. In 200X he wrote a book called “Cafés in Buenos Aires”, in which he pays a tribute to these temples of friendship.
