The Giralda is sold: the fight to survive in one of the last historic cafes of Corrientes Avenue

A newspaper clipping illustrates one of the walls of The giralda. It is written in a box: "It is one of the few that remains intact, without the threat of imminent threat. fast food. It's clbadic, it has a melancholy touch. "In another paragraph he describes:" A symbol of Buenos Aires. The stage of the meeting with the friends, the debate and the date of love. But now that the lifting Corrientes Avenue reaches the clbadic cafes are turned into confectionery. Where can you recycle without losing your identity?"

The note was about the famous cafe located on Currents at 1453 like a corner of resistance. The Giralda is, as the text becomes a painting, a souvenir of the Buenos Aires tradition. The latest critics of a bar that was founded in the late thirties are not optimistic. Consumption has fallen, demand has changed, gastronomy has changed. The condition of immunity to modernity, its aesthetics vintage and romantic are not enough to support the productivity of a place that only sells coffee, toast, soda, chocolate and churros.

Marcelo Nodrid, his current owner, confirmed Infobae who will sell the property and goodwill, and that the workers will be compensated. But he erased the rumors of disappearance: "It's not going to close, there's going to be a signature change. Another company will come to take the helm, but the idea is to continue like La Giralda. "

Since he's announced his decision to part with family badets, he has received many proposals: owners of the Los Galgos bar and directors of the law firm's bar practice. American Starbucks. "But I'm not interested in turning that into Starbucks," he said.

Marcelo inherited from his great aunt, Ivonne Nodrid, the legendary director of La Giralda. The great-grandfather bought it in 1950, but the cafeteria was founded ten years earlier when the border building was built. It retains the mirrors in nets, chairs and tables in wood, the clbadic arrangement, a showcase with small bottles and the facade with old products.

Servers who have been living for twenty years do not remember remodeling or rebuilding. It's a confession of José Orellana, who worked in the cafeteria until March 28, 2018. He did it for 21 years. When he recalled this step, in dialogue with Infobaehe was moved and cried. Between sobs, he appreciated: "It would be terrible if it disappeared. A whole lost tradition. People welcomed us, we had an impressive recognition. They came recommended by chocolate with churros, for our attention. I would lose a lot Corrientes Avenue without La Giralda. They are many memories. "

His first time was in 1997. He opened the coffee blinds in the morning. Remember with nostalgia and warmth of the administration of Ivonne and José Nodrid, when the bar did not sleep: it was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"They came Luisa Kuliok, Carlín Calvo and Palito Ortega: The owners have said that it started there. When Palito was a shoeshine boy, he drank a latte and stayed up until the night, "said José, who, along with six other former workers, is suing the current owners for irregularities in the contracts.

The Giralda is one of the few historic bars on Corrientes Street to remain in place. Maybe for a little while. The economic crisis and the pedestrianization of the avenue have seriously undermined its profitability. La Martona confectionery closed its doors a month ago and was in the corner. The bar La Paz has become something that does not match his genetics. El Astral, El Nacional and Pernambuco have disappeared. In this unfavorable situation, The Giralda could undergo transformations that do not respect its essence.

This is the concern of Laura, a hard-working customer who came into the cafe to corroborate the news that was talking about her disappearance.

"When we discovered this, we were surprised, a place so good, so nice, with such attention, I'm afraid it disappears because it's something that belongs to our culture, something typical of this region. It does not seem strange to me that I can breakbut when it happens with places as expensive as that, it hurts, "she explained, she has been working at the center for fifteen years, she grew up and lived the night at La Giralda, a coffee that lasted almost ninety years of history. Laura asks the same question: where can you recycle without losing your identity?