Founded in 1893, in October it turns 128 years old. Located on the corner of Iriarte and Goncalves Días it closed with the pandemic and now it has been bought by new owners. Its walls keep secrets and stories of workers and tangueros. Chosen by Enrique Cadícamo, Ángel Vargas and Alfredo Palacios, it was the scene of several films.
The Buenos Aires neighborhood of Barracas had no consolation. Since the pandemic arrived, the Bar Notable Los Laureles closed its doors and although last November it tried to reopen them, it could not stand for more than two weeks. A month ago, two neighbors of the neighborhood decided to buy the goodwill and reopen it. While they are finalizing the details, they tell how this new stage of Los Laureles, the bar that in a few weeks will be 128 years old, will be.
The neighborhood used to be the place chosen by the high society people who had their houses on Montes de Oca Avenue. When the yellow fever arrived in 1871, there was no one left, everyone went to the north side of the city. Little by little it became a manufacturing area that housed companies such as Alpargatas, General Motors, Medias Paris, General Electric, Primicia, Valle de Oro, Citroën, among others. The Hipólito Irigoyen train station had the same circulation that Plaza Constitución has today.
On October 11, 1893, the pulpería that later became Los Laureles bar was founded. A bar of tangos and milongas. When neighbors are asked what the bar on the corner of Iriarte and Goncalves Díaz means, they do not hesitate: "It is the last bastion of the porteño suburb". At some point it changed owners and it was said that it would become a building, the neighbors mobilized: "We defended it tooth and nail, we even collected signatures", they say in the documentary Bar histórico Los Laureles.
Sergio Mosquera and Claudio Sodini are the neighbors who bought the goodwill. Although Mosquera worked a lot in tourism, today he is one of the people who knows the secrets of Barracas best. No detail escapes him and if you want, you can listen to him tell a story that "proves" that Buenos Aires was founded in the neighborhood of Barracas.
All the neighbors and tango lovers wonder if the beloved bar in Barracas will keep its bohemian spirit. Sergio Mosquera told BAE Negocios: "The bar Los Laureles will be what it was historically, a "bodegón milonguero" for the people of the neighborhood. It will be the same bar, we are trying to fix it up without neglecting what it was. There will be the same tables and chairs, maybe some new paintings, the kitchen and the doors are new, we renovated part of the roof because it was raining and water was falling. We want to recover its golden age, there will be a milonga, tango show and even a folkloric peña. There will not be an executive menu, there will be a neighborhood menu, so that everyone can come".
Regarding the shows at Los Laureles, he explained: "At night there will be a tango show with a different type of menu for tourists and another one for the neighbors of the neighborhood. The idea is to give priority to new artists. We want to show something genuine to tourists, we don't want to be Señor Tango or El viejo almacén. Sundays will be the day of the folklore peña, people will sign up to sing. Inside we have space for 80 people, I want to negotiate with the City Government to allow me to put a deck. I found some debts from Aysa and Afip, so I hope to be able to bring everything up to date", said Mosquera.
Mosquera told BAE Negocios the history of the bar: "They say that Angelito Vargas was a regular visitor of the place, so much so that he wrote the song Tres Esquinas, emblematic of Barracas. It was common to see Enrique Cadícamo, Alfredo Palacios also came there, with his friend Benito Quinquela Martín. With Palacios great political debates were held. Even though Ringo Bonavena was from Parque Patricios, he always came to have lunch or to spend some time".
The bar was the scene of great movies: Gatica "El Mono" by Leonardo Favio, Fermín with Héctor Alterio and Gastón Pauls, Tita de Buenos Aires, Adiós Buenos Aires and even filmed some chapters of El Marginal.
Journalist Mariano Onega from Radio 10 and C5N was the first to discover that this Bar Notable was reopening and he told about it in a tweet. The whole neighborhood and the regulars of Los Laureles are anxious to know when it will open. Sergio Mosquera confessed: "We wanted to open for the anniversary of Barracas but we didn't make it, it will be for September 21. On Sunday, August 29, the Board of Studies of Barracas is organizing a guided walk, it will pass by the bar La Flor de Barracas and will end at Los Laureles, where people will be able to enter and see how the work is going".
The new owner of Los Laureles is enthusiastic. "I'm 61 years old, I used to go out to eat with my family on the weekends when we could all go out to eat. I'm a Barracas fanatic, a barriologist, I do guided walks around my neighborhood, which is my world. I started 30 years ago, I organize the walks for senior centers and schools, all non-profit. I created seven different circuits to discover Barracas, where I tell the whole story.
Such is the affection for the neighborhood that Sergio Mosquera told BAE Negocios: "As I love the neighborhood very much, the soda will come from a neighborhood soda shop, I will have Sifredi sodas, which are bottled in the neighborhood. If I don't get an expert pasta cook, I will buy the pasta in the neighborhood and the workers will all be from the neighborhood. I am a big fan of my neighborhood. Having this Bar Notable is a lifelong dream, I hope I can live up to it, I will put all my heart into it", he said happily.
SOURCE: Graciela Moreno for www.baenegocios.com