Joel Bowman with today’s Note From the End of the World: Buenos Aires, Argentina…
Classic cocktails… dinner and a show in a lush, art deco setting… and scantily-clad cabaret dancers strutting and shimmying their leggy forms across the stage…
Clearly your editor had little interest in the proposed plans for the evening, but dear wifey wanted to try the newest old place in town, so we grudgingly went along, in deference to the higher power of husbandly duties.
A century ago, this venue served as the prestigious “El 35” teatro, the stage upon which many of Argentina’s premier actors cut their teeth, including Rodolfo Bebán, Antonio Gasalla, Norberto Suárez, Virginia Lago, and Oscar Martínez.
Today, the fully refurbished, ‘20s-era theater features original, French marble tiles, Slavonian oak panelling and the very same, 100-year-old scissor lift, which carried the stylish denizens down to their hazy evenings of entertainment and gourmandizing revelry.
A New Era
After lying dormant for 40 years, El 35 finally reopened to a new and rejuvenated Buenos Aires last November, under the nifty name Albur (meaning “a gamble”). Suggested to the owner by a friend and local singer, the inspiration came from the tango classic, El Corazon del Sur, by Eladia Blázquez. A snippet:
Nací en un barrio donde el lujo fue un albur,
por eso tengo el corazón mirando al sur.
Mi viejo fue una abeja en la colmena,
las manos limpias, el alma buena...
Y en esa infancia, la templanza me forjó,
después la vida mil caminos me tendió,
y supe del magnate y del tahúr,
por eso tengo el corazón mirando al sur.~~~
I was born in a neighborhood where luxury was a gamble,
That's why my heart is looking south.
My old man was a bee in the hive,
Clean hands, good soul…
And in that childhood, temperance forged me,
Then life laid out a thousand paths for me.
And I learned about the magnate and the gambler,
That's why my heart is looking south.
Located along the storied Avenida Callao, Albur is near enough to plenty of bares notables, such that one is often obliged to suffer a post-show nightcap there, too.
The things we husbands do, eh?
And now for your Notes From the End of the Week…
Final Notes…
We’re off to the airport today, destined for the foothills of the grand old Andes Mountains and the verdant Valle de Uco below. Running along the Tunuyán River, which brings its life-giving waters from the peak of Mount Tupangato, the Uco Valley is known for its rich terroir and deep red Malbec grapes. We’ll send pics and Notes from the ground.
But before we go…
A special shoutout to our dear Notes Members today; we’re ever grateful for your generous and ongoing support. As mentioned in this space previously, Notes is an entirely independent, reader-supported publication (as in, we accept no advertising and bow to no boss, receive no USAID, etc.)
Rather, we’re interested in free markets, free minds and free people…and we hope you are too!
So if you’re enjoying our work, and would like to help support the project, please consider joining our small but growing community of free-thinkers, deep readers and cheerful skeptics, here…
Whatever you’re up to this weekend, raise a glass – of water or wine – for all that’s good and hopeful on this green earth.
And stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World…
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
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