One I was a child, this was my favorite place to ran around. It was a sea of people and it felt like a boulevard of shops. It used to have an entrance for the subway in each end, for 2 different lines. The shoe shine store was a wall of well dress men, very busy. I remember one of the sides had a huge marble staircase, which I loved running down on my big puffy dresses. Each store had a personality, their own charm. Neon signs, light up signs, funny ones, along with unique names. The bathroom (only for merchants) was fascinating to me cause it was old. There was this huge magazine stand, were you can find everything there. Everyone knew me and would wave and smile as I speed by to ran into my father's arms. My mom and I would dress so chic to go and spend the day in Palermo Park, running around the roses there.
You would see everyone here, actors, politicians, athletes, Sometimes the villain of the soap opera would get a good slapping from a lady who would think the script was real, lol.
Things changed when they unified the subway lines underneath and were connected (people are still confused and I don't blame them, it feels like a claustrophobic maze lol. I am mot a fan). After that, the city sold it to a private company who made things "nicer". Except that nice took away the personality of the place and it's uniqueness. All the shops look the same. There is nobody when I go shopping there. Most of the shops are empty. The majority of the people who I knew left or are telling they will. My 94 year old friend is retired. I miss her theater stories and how Buenos Aires used to be in the 1920-1930s. I used to sit on her shop for 3-4 hours listening to her youth stories and soaking in every bit of it. read more