End of a cultural icon

[Davidglen77]

Look y'all if they were talking about tearing down the building you'd better believe I would be the first one protesting. For the almost 5 years I have lived in Buenos Aires it makes my fuc**** skin crawl when I see them tearing down old houses for new construction. It's a disaster at this point. However I see nothing wrong with retrofitting a historic structure for a new and viable use, even if it's not something I personally would patronize. In fact, it contributes to the longevity and viability of the structure. 3 years ago I purchased a brand new apartment in Villa Urquiza, all shiny, porcelain floors, outlets, switches, and all the electrical bells and whistles you could want. Within 6 months, every doorknob had broken and fallen of the doors and left big gaping holes. There was water coming in from the roof, down the stairs, beneath the entrance door and at one point it got so bad the water filled up the elevator and burned out the motor. The electrical installation started to fry also, they used very thin wires which heated up inside the walls and shorted out. Closet doors fallen off their rails and water coming out from under the bathtub because they didn't connect the drain to the pipes before installing it. Of course we had screaming fights and threats to the builder who pretty much laughed in our faces and of course a lawsuit which was settled in mediation and he did have to repair just about everything. Once all the work was done I sold it quickly. I now live in a lovely 1926 french style building which I love, all of the door handles are original and solid!! The walls are thick and soundproof and NO humidity filters through them at all. Are there 10 outlets and 10 lightswitches in every room? NO! But it's the best apartment in the world! Anyway I am very much a conservationist, but I don't see anything wrong if a structure's use changes what's important is that they leave it be.......

 

[ReemsterCARP]

andrewjps is right, the article in La Cronista confirms that the Richmond is one of the "bares notables" protected as part of the city's heritage and cannot change category to become another type of business.

Sorry but that's just ridiculous. If the business is not making a profit it simply has no right to survive in the market place. If everybody really cared so much about this place, than people should've visited the place (more often).

Same stuff with Wall Mart and local businesses. Everybody says they hate Wall Mart and support their local shops, but in the end they prefer to save a few bucks and go to Wall Mart in stead of the local shop.

 

[steveinbsas]

Sorry but that's just ridiculous. If the business is not making a profit it simply has no right to survive in the market place. If everybody really cared so much about this place, than people should've visited the place (more often).

Same stuff with Wall Mart and local businesses. Everybody says they hate Wall Mart and support their local shops, but in the end they prefer to save a few bucks and go to Wall Mart in stead of the local shop.

Almost everybody...

...Walmart never drove anyone out of business: The people (aka customers)did as they simply stopped shopping at smaller stores with higher prices.

(From the thread: Price comps?: Walmart, Makro, etc.)

 

[chris]

I don't have access to the figures but I suspect that the Richmond was making money. The owner was apparently made a very good offer and decided to sell. There IS a market for traditional cafes. Just look at LA BIELA. It's huge, always busy. If there is a "power cafe" in BA it's La Biela. They have to be making a fortune. The Richmond may have suffered from its declining location on Calle Florida. Fashionable and elegant a few decades ago but not now.

 

[starlucia]

Same stuff with Wall Mart and local businesses. Everybody says they hate Wall Mart and support their local shops, but in the end they prefer to save a few bucks and go to Wall Mart in stead of the local shop.

The only time I've set foot into a Wal-Mart since I was 17 was during a road trip in 2007. I was somewhere in South Carolina, and it was the only place near my hotel that I could buy a bottle of water, some toothpaste, and a yogurt at 11pm. It, and its patrons, were disgusting.

I unabashedly love Super-Target, however

 

[CarverFan]

I love Walmart, what's wrong with you all? I buy all my clothes there. Target has good clothes but it's too pricey....

 

[CarverFan]

Sorry, off topic...

 

[Ries]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNHzsinFd8s

One of the main reasons I love Buenos Aires is that, due to unique circumstances of politics and economics, it has not been "globalized" and had everybody bow down to the almighty dollar and tear everything down.

There are plenty of countries where "If the business is not making a profit it simply has no right to survive in the market place."

Luckily, Argentina has not been one of those places to the degree that it has happened elsewhere. Thruout the USA, great buildings have been destroyed so they can build crap. NYC has been pretty bad in this, but certainly not unique.

I have never bought anything from Walmart, and never will.
And the idea of wearing clothes from there literally makes my skin crawl.

But for those of you who LIKE Walmart, there is no shortage of em, pretty much anywhere. Its the biggest private employer in the USA, and has over 2.1 million employees worldwide, so my refusal to play along is hardly endangering them.

Likewise, Nike. I have no interest in owning or wearing much of anything they sell. And they could care less, and will continue to buy out places like Richmond, world wide, and do just fine, in spite of me.

But that doesnt stop me from feeling sad to see bits of genuine Porteno history and culture being tossed aside for Nike, which is not even genuine in its home town.

I will continue to patronize and appreciate outmoded, dated, and passe places in Buenos Aires. Y'all can shop at Nike.

 

[chris]

I too have appreciated the old fashioned aspects of BA and the relative lack of globalization. When I came here some years ago it really was MUCH MUCH less affected by globalization but that gradually changed. I used to love the traditional restaurants where the waiters all wore white jackets with brass buttons, a white napkin slung over their arms. There is very little of that any more and it used to be commonplace. Some of the changes were needed like better phones but a lot of what made BA unique has been lost.