Lima of yesteryear – 1920s to 1970s
February 6, 2009 Culture & History, Lima City Guide
The Lima of two periods of time are both equally well known; the colonial Lima that is still visible in the area around the city’s plaza, and the modern noisy metropolis that extends for kilometres.
But what about the time in between?
1920s to 1970s
From the start of the period of mass migration to Lima that stretched the city to its limits, up until the economic collapse of the first Garcia presidency, Lima grew to become a completely different place than it is today or was before.
Jirón de la Unión was once clean and up-scale. Nor had it been pedestrianised.
The once orderly, clean and upscale Tacna
The Lima of this period was a modern vibrant city of wide pristine avenues, fancy boutiques, fine restaurants, swinging bars, clubs and both neo-classical and post-modern architecture. Places like Miraflores, Barranco and Surco, today city districts, had only recently ceased to be small towns. Here restaurants and supermarkets were opening up to cater to the growing numbers of middle class Peruvians.
Avenida Arequipa, which ran from Lima to the once seaside town of Miraflores, was built in the 1920s under the orders of President Leguía, who is credited with breathing new life into the city and initiating this modern renaissance period.
Avenida Arequipa
Avenida Wilson... its horrible now, but nice back then
Av. Wilson - now called Av. Garcilaso del la Vega - located at the end of Av. Arequipa
In the area spanning from the first few blocks of the Av. Arequipa until the Plaza San Martín, a new, hip and vibrant Lima came into being. The city had a cosmopolitan feel to it, not at all unlike a European city. Perhaps the best comparison would be Buenos Aires – developed, attractive and with a similar atmosphere.
La Colmena
Another of La Colmena
Plaza San Martín’s neo-classical buildings were also built during the 20s, but came into their own in the 40s, 50s, 60s when housing bars, cinemas and of course the famous Hotel Bolivar, run by a manager of the London Ritz.
Plaza San Martin's Cine Metro
Another hotel nearby was just as famous – the Hotel Crillón – home to the famous Sky Room bar-restaurant overlooking the city.
Hotel Crillón
La Colmena and the Hotel Chrillón
Sky Room at the Hotel Chrillón
Sky Room at the Hotel Crillon
Hotel Riviera, Av. Wilson
During Lima’s heyday, the city was quite the celebrity hotspot. Famous visitors over the years included Ernest Hemingway, Richard Nixon, William Faulker, Edward VIII, Greta Garbo, Charles de Gaulle, Nelson Rockefeller, Fulgencio Batista, Ava Gardner, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The Rolling Stones even wrote a song here called “Let it Bleed”.
As the attraction of the centre faded, Miraflores began to take over as the place to be seen. Large mansions gave way to shopping malls and post modern buildings sprung up.
The Avant Garde bar
Inside upscale bar Avant Garde
Once the Bar BQ fast food drive-thru, now parking for the Wong supermarket in Ovalo Gutierrez
Edificio Diagonal opposite Parque Kennedy - still standing
Oeschle-Monterry supermarket in Larco - now La Quinta
Larco from Benavides
Farmacia Marte
Pardo Super Market, now Vivanda
The modern El Pacifico building on the Ovalo Miraflores
Lobby of Cine El Pacifico
Parque Salazar, now home to LarcoMar mall
Future site of Saga Falabella, Ovalo Miraflores
Clean and orderly public transport ran on time throughout the city.
Buses from Lima to Miraflores
Another change that took place was the urbanisation of San Isidro. Fields became homes, and the Limatambo airport was re-purposed.
Limatambo airport, now the Interior Ministry.
Sears in San Isidro - Now location of Saga Falabella
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Comments (7)
Fantastic pictures Stuart. It’s too bad the city has been developed the way it is now.
Yeah, Lima used to be this way. It’s sad many of these things were lost because of the economy, among other things. Peru had one of the oldest department stores in the world, called Oeschle, founded in the late 1800s. There were all different kinds of supermarkets, stores, there were no combis, no tuks tuks, traffic was very organised. We had street carts all over, including one from Lima to Chorrillos, and from Lima to Callao. You can still see the remnants of this by looking at the trolley in Barranco that only runs for about 3 blocks. Lima at its best had probably the same status as many American and European cities of their time, and maybe better!! But many of these things were lost because of the economy, and the mass migration of people from the Andes, especially of Amerindian descent.
On the bright side, Lima is recovering, slowly, but still, and now it depends where you are in Lima in order for you to have a bad or a good quality of life
[...] – Lima’s toxic smog of death is now 11.77% less deadly – The Dead Walk! – Streets of Lima – Lima of yesteryear – 1920s to 1970s – The Car Horn – Walking in Lima – Peruvian Traffic Death [...]
I wonder if law & regulation were actually enforced back in Lima’s glamorous yester-years?
What a shame that the city devolved to what it is today. The Lima of the past looks more modern than the Lima of the present.
[...] If you would like to see more of the glorious yester-years of Peru, visit Stuart Starr’s Blog for fabulous pictures of Lima’s golden age. [...]
[...] contradict what I have written above. But the Peru that Vargas was born into was different from the one we see today. The cities like Arequipa (where he was born) and Lima were dominated by criollo middle classes of [...]
[...] Cavero Velázques was born in the city of Lima in 1940, quite a different city from the one that exists today. It was an old city, a traditional city, a city of the creoles – the descendants of the [...]