After what dreams did they fly?
In what stars will they walk?
The voices that came yesterday
And they passed away, and were silent,
Where are they?
To which street will they return?
~ Cafe de los Angelitos, tango classic by Razzano y Castillo (translated from the Spanish)
Joel Bowman, with today’s Note From the End of the World...
When Victoriano López Robredo opened El Gato Negro cafe in downtown Buenos Aires almost a century ago, he had in mind a cafe at which local porteños could savor the exotic spices, teas and coffees he had collected along his travels throughout Asia and the Middle East.
Having toured extensively, from Ceylon to Singapore, Malaysia to Manchuria, across Siberia and over the great Arabian deserts, the Spanish adventurer, Sr. Robredo, finally followed his heart... and the Argentine woman to whom it belonged... down to the End of the World.
El Gato Negro would be his gift to the city and its people.
It was an age of abundance in the country’s history, when the phrase “to be rich like an Argentine” was whispered in Parisian salons, Viennese kaffeehäuser and at fashionable Manhattan dinner parties. Riding high on 75 years of robust economic prosperity, the well-healed denizens of Buenos Aires were the envy of the world.
A Tale of Two Cities
In many ways, it was the best of times... ahead of the worst of times. When tango singer Carlos Gardel was still among the living... and Juan Perón had not yet come to power; when Argentina’s ships left Puerto Madero laden with her vast goods... and returned with currency from around the known world; when grand, belle epoch-style buildings were erected along the city’s generous boulevards... and the Wall Street crash, subsequent Great Depression and the so-called “infamous decade” were still safely ensconced in an unimaginable future.
A century on, no fewer than eighty-two “bares notables” stand as testament to the country’s once and future glory days. A “notable bar,” as the historical designation explains, is...
“...considered to be those bars, cafeterias or salons related to significant cultural events or activities; those whose age, architectural design or local relevance give them their own value.”
They include such time capsules as Café Tortoni, a French-styled cafe opened in 1858, in which artists, philosophers and literary giants, from José Ortega y Gasset, to Jorge Luis Borges, Molina Campos and Benito Quinquela Martín, discussed and debated the pressing concerns of the day...
To Café de los Angelitos, inaugurated in 1890 as a meeting place “del barrio,” where Carlos Gardel got his start, forming a duo with Jose Razzano, and which was immortalized in the tango classic of the same name:
¡Café de los Angelitos!
¡Bar de Gabino y Cazón!
Yo te alegré con mis gritos
en los tiempos de Carlitos,
por Rivadavia y Rincón.
Little Angels Cafe!
Gabino and Cazón Bar!
I made you happy with my screams
in the times of Carlitos
through Rivadavia and Rincón.
(Music by Jose Razzano, lyrics by Cátulo Castillo)
And of course, El Gato Negro, captured in the video above. Through their gilded bronze doors, the flâneuring visitor is invited to take a trip back in time, to a bygone era, when down was up and Argentina was on top of the world.
We’ll have more Notes From the End of the World next week, but for now, please enjoy our musings from the week that was...
Until next time…
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
Time Travel to the End of the World