Plaza Anibal Pinto

The Plaza Anibal Pinto is at the foot of Cerros Concepcion, Alegre and Panteon. Looking at the photo, to the bottom right is the turn off that forks up Almirante Montt towards Concepcion and Alegre and Subida Cumming that will take you up past the cemeteries and the ex-jail. On a Friday and Saturday night, this part of town is total carnage as the numerous bars open up and all the students in the area get totally hammered. It reminds me of Basingstoke on a Saturday night. It's more fun than it sounds.

I couldn't get the angle quite right on this one. The original photo from around 1925 was taken from the second floor of a building which I couldn't get in to. Quite a bit has changed in the last 80 years or so. The palms have had a bit of a growth spurt for one.



To the left in the photo above you can just about make out the Brown building that was thankfully destroyed to make way for the Intendencia in the '70s. To the right in the photo below, is a tall greyish building that is completely out of place on the square and in this part of Valpo. But it's a beautifully brutal, late Art Deco-early Modernist building with some super-cool doors on it so I'm going to let that one slide.


The Plaza used to be home to the Cafe Riquet, one of the city's most famous and frequented cafes slash tea houses. The building in which it was housed (next door to where you see the parasols) was sold to private owners who allegedly want to convert it into a boutique hotel. Here's what 'Mare, sorry, Mayor Aldo Cornejo had to say almost a year ago.

It is our biggest interest, as we have made quite clear to the new owners, that Cafe Riquet does not die, that it continues being a cafe, the way it has been traditionally.

Good job, Aldi.