The cities western districts are realworld Buenos Aires - where ordinary porteños live, work and die.
Once & Abasto
Once (pronnounced 'on-say'), about 20 blocks west along Avenida Corrientes from downtown, is the city´s most hectic commercial district -a warren of wholesale and retail outlets, the noise and colour all reminiscent of an Arabian souk. Visitors who have bougth into the cliché of Buenos Aires being the 'Paris of South America' should take a brief detour here - Once is a loud, bustling and brash as a Guatemalan bus station. Historically associated with the City´s large Jewish population, it is now also home to sizable Korean, Middle Eastern and Peruvian communities.
Here, latin dance beats blast out from every other store and the selling of tack and trash spills onto the streets as visual pollution is taken to extremes. If you like streile shopping malls forget Once, although it certainly deserves a jaunt just to experience what local author Alvaro Abós calls a 'branch of hell'. And adventorous shoppers will delight in sinking deep into Once´s serpentine gut in search of the cheap and bizarre.
Just along from Once, at Avenida Corrientes and Anchorena, is the beautiful Mercado de Abasto building, an art deco masterpiece built between 1930 and 1934 as a central wholesale market serving the entire city. It was neglected for decades, and the buildings powerful, but empty , presence became symbolic of the Abasto neighbourhood´s downward spiral into a seedy scene of blues, booze and cocaine.
in 1998 the market building was the first in the barrio to see rejuvenation, converted into a shopping mall known as El Abasto. Inside tha mall is the Museo de los Niños Abasto (Abasto Children´s Museum), three floors of informative displays about the commercial and industrial activities of Buenos Aires.
Tha mall´s sorrounding ten blocks are currently undergoing a full makeover, with tango as the guiding theme.
Once & Abasto
Once (pronnounced 'on-say'), about 20 blocks west along Avenida Corrientes from downtown, is the city´s most hectic commercial district -a warren of wholesale and retail outlets, the noise and colour all reminiscent of an Arabian souk. Visitors who have bougth into the cliché of Buenos Aires being the 'Paris of South America' should take a brief detour here - Once is a loud, bustling and brash as a Guatemalan bus station. Historically associated with the City´s large Jewish population, it is now also home to sizable Korean, Middle Eastern and Peruvian communities.
Here, latin dance beats blast out from every other store and the selling of tack and trash spills onto the streets as visual pollution is taken to extremes. If you like streile shopping malls forget Once, although it certainly deserves a jaunt just to experience what local author Alvaro Abós calls a 'branch of hell'. And adventorous shoppers will delight in sinking deep into Once´s serpentine gut in search of the cheap and bizarre.
Just along from Once, at Avenida Corrientes and Anchorena, is the beautiful Mercado de Abasto building, an art deco masterpiece built between 1930 and 1934 as a central wholesale market serving the entire city. It was neglected for decades, and the buildings powerful, but empty , presence became symbolic of the Abasto neighbourhood´s downward spiral into a seedy scene of blues, booze and cocaine.
in 1998 the market building was the first in the barrio to see rejuvenation, converted into a shopping mall known as El Abasto. Inside tha mall is the Museo de los Niños Abasto (Abasto Children´s Museum), three floors of informative displays about the commercial and industrial activities of Buenos Aires.
Tha mall´s sorrounding ten blocks are currently undergoing a full makeover, with tango as the guiding theme.
- Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas. Avenida Corrientes 2038, between Junín and Ayacucho. (4954 5521). Open: 10am-11pm Mon-Sut; varies Sun. Admission: varies.
- Museo Casa Carlos Gardel. Jean Jaures 735, between San Luis and Viamonte (4964 2015) Open: 11am-6pm Mon, Wed-Fri; 10am-7pm Sat, Sun. Admission: $3; free Wed.
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