Blast from the past

Every Sunday, the largest flea market in Mexico City converges on and around the corner of Reforma and Comonfort. This is the edge of La Lagunilla, a street market that sells new stuff every day, but blasts from the past only Sunday. One of my first posts in this blog was about people who sold Nazi paraphernalia at the flea market. I am happy to report that they are gone, although there are still people who sell the odd Nazi item among the rest of their stuff. See below.

It had been ages since my last visit to La Lagunilla, so I went a few Sundays ago. It was as much fun as ever. Here are some of the items that were for sale.

I was a little concerned about how few people were there. I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that for the past couple of years each Sunday morning a huge swath of Paseo de la Reforma is closed to cars so that bicyclists can enjoy it. This may impede passage to La Lagunilla.

There was a woman on Reforma who was selling issues of a magazine called Agenda from the 1970s, which advertised the shows in restaurants and nightclubs of Mexico City in those golden days.

Nearly of the places on these pages are gone now, as is the whole style of variety entertainment they advertise.

I did manage to get to Las Catacumbas before it closed its doors in the early 1990s. It was on calle Dolores, near the Alameda. A guy dressed in a monk's robe greeted you at the door, and took you down a long hallway. At the end of it a skeleton popped out and scared the daylights out of you. Then you went inside the club and enjoyed the show.

At a dingy nightclub in the colonia San Rafael, Gabriela Rios, known as La Che, entertained at my bachelor party in 1992. Honey, if you're still out there, I got divorced ten years ago.

I bought these magazines from a woman who told me she appeared in their pages. Here she is, back in the day. Stupidly, I didn't think of taking her picture but I assure you that Mina Beltrán has hardly changed a bit.

Climb those stairs

Every tourist guide to Mexico City suggests a visit to the Casa de los Azulejos (the House of Tiles) on the corner of Madero and Callejón de la Condesa in the centro histórico. Constructed in the late 18th century, the facade is covered with blue and white tile from Puebla. It was a private house until the early 20th century, when the Sanborn brothers bought it and renovated it into one of their chain store/pharmacy/cafeterias.

Many tourists, frightened of what mysterious bugs they might pick up from eating at markets or at taco stands on the street, haunt the lunch counter and the restaurant, where the fare is allegedly safer. Middle-class Mexicans also congregate here. You can check out one of Orozco's earliest murals inside.

Almost no one, however, climbs the stairs to the bar on the upper floor. I don't know why -- it's a pleasant, old-school setting to have a drink.

From the bar there are balconies where you can step out for views of the surrounding streets of the centro.

And even these street "performers" putting on their cartoon-character costumes.

They make a hell of a Bloody Mary, too. The Sanborn's chain is owned by Carlos Slim. The bar is one of  the few unimpeachable parts of his empire.