Fifty years ago it used to be a middle class neighbourhood. Just as well as Congreso, families living there moved to poshier parts of town during the 1950s.

I don’t know what happened with Constitución: intellectuals borned there, like Juan José Sebreli, refer to the fact that it faced a process of “lumpenization”. I guess it is related to the fact that it was a residential neighbourhood close to Barracas, an industrial zone were local companies had their factories. Take in mind that Constitución, the railroad station, is placed there, so the reason for the presence of so many hotels: Buenos Aires served as a transfer spot between the RR lines coming from the South (Genera Roca), the West (Sarmiento) and the the North (General Mitre). Thus, for example, if you were comming from Esquel in way to Rosario, you would have to find a place where to sleep duirng the stop over.

Now, the presence of hotels has nothing to do with this: long distance RR lines were disaffected back in the early 1990s. So, taking in mind that Constitución became a local version of the Bronx, the hotels you saw cater to the clients of prostitutes. Three years, on my way to the Gastroenterology Hospital, I found out that the streets near the old RR station were plagued with hookers strategically located at the entrance of the hotels you saw. When referring this to friends they all asked me what the heck was doing there.

I am betting my brother (33 years old, artists, and in desperate search for an apartment dating from the early 1900s) that Congreso will become a gentrified neighbourhod in years to come, just like Palermo Viejo, the nieghbourhood where my grandpa lived, which used to be the place for auto repare workshops. Regarding Congreso, “esa es otra historia…”

Apologies for referring to you as Richard!

Any of these ring a bell? I wonder which is to be best recommended?

1)Buenos Aires, esa desconocida :sus calles, plazas y monumentos by Jorge Oscar Canido Borges.
2)Buenos Aires : historia de las calles y sus nombres by Vicente Osvaldo Cutolo.
3)Buenos Aires : calles conocidas, soldados olvidados by Hugo Alfredo Giberti.
4)Las calles de Buenos Aires : sus nombres desde la fundación hasta nuestros días by Alberto Gabriel Piñeiro.
5)Barrios, calles y plazas de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires : origen y razón de sus nombres by trabajo efectuado por el jefe de la División de Investigación del Instituto Histórico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires Alberto Gabriel Piñeiro.
6)Calles, plazas y estatuas de Barracas, 1988 by Enrique Horacio Puccia.

Great blog…I’ll be back down in BsAs this November at the latest and will try to explore Constitucion. I’ve provoked some anti-tourist comments from a resident of the barrio who are on the expat list, but I would like to walk around and try to feel the past, as well as see the present.

Richard – thanks for stopping by. You’re right about the Garrahan being a highly respected hospital. Sorry if I implied that it wasn’t. And true that I didn’t link to my posting about El Aleph, which does take place on the edges of San Telmo and Constitución.

Also, as ugly as the area around Garrahan may look to your eyes, the hospital itself is considered one of the best pediatric hospitals in South America, and its services are extensive and well appreciated by those who use it, if not to those taking weekend strolls.