NEWSLETTER

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BIENVENIDOS A TIJUANA!

BY GABRIELLA GÓMEZ-MONT

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We have a saying here, south of the border, that we like to recite while looking toward the sky, with a dramatic voice straight out of a telenovela: Oh, Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.

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Photo: Alfonso Lorenzana Navarro

This is probably truer in Tijuana than anywhere else in the country. It’s crazy how much of Tijuana’s identity and way of being stem from its existence as an alter ego to nearby American cities. Everything that is considered dangerous or overlegislated in the US has a place in “Tijuas,” as the locals lovingly call it. It could easily be named one of the ugliest tourist cities in the world, but it grows on you for one simple reason: Tijuana is an escape from the rigid constraints on the other side of the border. It is as far away from the sterilized feel of the American mall as can be; it feels alive and real in all its seductive unbeauty. The numbers don’t lie: Tijuana is the busiest land-border crossing in the world. Over 40 million people come across each year, and about 300,000 of those come by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. They love it. We love it too.

For this guide we asked three people to give away their dirty li’l Tijuana secrets and tell us about their hideaways; so, during your visit, toast frequently to the health and happiness of Rubén Bonet (writer and limitless party animal), Iván Diaz Robledo, aka “El Güero” (filmmaker and street-savvy Tijuana-born kid), and Tania Candiani (visual artist and lover of the good life).

Restaurants, taco stands, pharmacies, bars, dance clubs, drinks, drugs, shops, stalls, Mexican crafts, surgery, dentists, souvenirs, sex, fun, anonymity, notorious bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and games are all in walking distance from the border. And it’s a whole lot cheaper; especially since the peso was thrashed by the financial crisis. So, oh sí señor, pase usted por aquí, dos por diez pesos, siga leyendo para saber todo lo que puede hacer aquí en Tijuana, que guerito, oig-ame usted, aquí comienza la patria…

Tijuana has always warmly welcomed every type of person from every walk of life and is especially accommodating to all sorts of unhinged addicts. A good part of the population’s job is to pamper and serve while trying to grant visitors their every possible wish. That is what the city lives for. And that is what the city lives with.

To understand Tijuana, you have to be willing to accept that its most important historical building is probably Hotel Balneario, which, ironically, no longer exists. This hotel—today a local high school—was where Al Capone and his buddies spent their money and where Hollywood stars would come to lounge, let loose, and drink like horses since it was still Prohibition times on the other side of the border.

The hotel was part of the Agua Caliente Touristic Complex, which also included a casino, racetrack, and spa. It achieved near-mythical status during those times, thanks to gangsters and Hollywood stars who loved to call their favorite table at their favorite bar their second home. (Rita Hayworth was discovered here, for example.)

The only monument in the city today is the Torre de Tijuana. It used to be part of Agua Caliente, which also included swimming pools and a hippodrome. Now you can find an electronic betting place and greyhound races.

In the 20s, Avenida Revolución was the heart of tourist Tijuana. There were casinos, bars, nightclubs, you name it, and anything could be had for a price. The same holds true today, and it is still one of the busiest and most tourist-filled places in Tijuas.

Then we have, of course, el bordo. Or the fence, or the border, or the line, or the frontier. Its presence is constant and inevitable. It is an unfailing reminder of lots of things and one of the elements that gives Tijuana not only its strangeness but also its character and identity, for better or for worse. Metal plates that were used as desert runways during the first war against Iraq now help make up the barrier that runs for 26 miles along the border. The fence has become not only an icon but also a prop. People integrate it into their lives. In some places, such as the poorer neighborhoods that were constructed right beside it, some people use it as their fourth living-room wall. In others, artists and graffiti lovers have intervened.

Parque la Amistad, or Friendship Park, used to be a place where families and friends who lived on different sides of the border could meet and talk and share stories through the fence, under the watchful eye of the border patrol and la migra. Alas, the park (and friendship?) has disappeared.

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Comments

Anonymous, on Jun 28, 2009 wrote: Any-one else no-tice all the hy-phens?

Anonymous, on Jun 26, 2009 wrote: the best crack in the world is in la coahuila! so as the mamacitas