They sang in her bower figures like Roberto Goyeneche and Alberto Castillo. It became open 24 hours and had billiards. His parishioners came to put together a soccer team and built their field in front of.

The Olimpo bar founded in 1950 in Monte Castro preserves the style of yesteryear in a neighborhood where tranquility is still present.

The slightly worn floors in a corner of the Olimpo bar show the traces left by the hundreds of patrons who, when playing, For years they circled the pool table.

On a shelf appears an old television, “the first that the neighborhood had” account Horacio Camilloni, one of the current owners of this remarkable bar, who points out that at that time adults and children joined the habitués putting“the nose against the glass” from outside the cafe to watch the first broadcasts.

Antique decorations of all kinds on the walls -from old taxi flags, cameras to bus purses and old street signs- stand out in this place where a time of Buenos Aires that seems to have gone.
Founded in 1950, the olimpus, that was designated notable bar of the City is located in Irigoyen 1491 on the corner with Arregui, in Monte Castro. Here there are no rushes or people running. The bar blends in with an area of ​​the west of Buenos Aires, where neighborhood life is still present.

“This bar was founded by the Solá family in the 50 who soon hired my father-in-law as an employee”, expresses to La Prensa Camilloni. “He lived around here and is employed. after a while, at 56 They offer to buy a part since the owners get sick and decide to return to Spain, where they were born”.
Pablo Sánchez - that was the name of Horacio's father-in-law- started a new partnership with his brother-in-law that would last until 2002. “It was always a family bar. they were almost 60 years together working here”.

– What was that bar like in the beginning??
– When they take over the bar, my father-in-law and his brother-in-law made a gazebo on the terrace. The partner was a bandoneonist, last name Zarate, and always played in the locals, the cabarets of those years. Then he rescued some singers and the whole tango scene was put together in the Olimpo roundabout on weekends. There was also dancing. There was even a time when the bar was open 24 hours. In the beginning there were not so many bars, Here in the neighborhood, Olympus was a reference. It was a time when minors could not enter, for women it was very restricted. Maybe it looked bad that a woman was in the bar. There were some brave patrons.

GREAT SINGERS
– Tango was closely linked to the bar
– Yes, It was always like that on Olympus. Here Roberto Goyeneche sang, Alberto Castillo, Adolfo Garcia Grau. In front was all-terrain, a freight train passed by that went from Villa Luro to Santos Lugares. He had a stop at Villa Real, that was all corralones of materials. There was also the corporation of the line 2, workshops, who rode with a trolleybus along Rivadavia avenue.

– And a soccer team is also born from the bar
– Clear, the same people, bar patrons made the Olympus soccer team in the 50 and his little court here in front. There were the Diablos Rojos clubs, Freedom, Villa Real, Villa Luro. It was all pasture, one court next to the other. They were walking to play against each other.

– We can say that Bar Olimpo was a center of Buenos Aires customs
– What if, of all that was lost. Today you no longer have a pasture, it was all free, now you have to pay. Before there were few bus lines, the boys played in the street. And that still here, despite the changes, we have neighborhood.

– They also had billiards
– Yes, was until 2012. Billiards inaugurated it in the 50 the master Navarre, the table was Barrientos. The house had an agreement that every time a table was opened they had to go to open it Navarra. It was a professional table, heated in the bands so that it does not deform with humidity.

– Were there famous regulars?
– From the soccer environment came several. Carlitos Bianchi, falcioni, the father had a business here on the corner.

WAITING FOR THE CARRIAGE
Gustavo De Giorgi joins the talk, Horacio's current partner in the bar in the west of Buenos Aires. Gustavo, who has been in charge of the Olympus kitchen for about four years adds that when the movie Waiting for the Carroza was being filmed nearby, the cast of the emblematic film, among which Antonio Gasalla and China Zorrilla stood out, he used to come to have a drink at their tables.

Gustavo says that coming to the Olimpo bar to work was fulfilling a dream.“I was doing something else, I had an electrical installation company and I was tired, and I said ok when I get to the 50 long and I dedicate myself to something else. And I always liked to cook. First we had a barbecue in Las Heras with my wife, my sister and my brother in law. And the latter was the one who knew Horacio, and we entered the bar to make our contribution. We took out the billiards and put together a kitchen”

– Do you offer traditional food?
Gustavo:- Yes, we put together a grill and we also offer snacks. We make good pot dishes, stew in winter and we have a daily menu for working people at noon. On weekends we open at night when we have a tango event or shows. Once a month a move is made.
Horacio:- before in the bars they sold sandwiches nothing more. Now everything is merged because it helps to add

– What about the objects that are seen on the walls?, on shelves, What can you say to me?
Horacio:- In addition to the first TV in the neighborhood, there is the old coffee maker that was used with gas, previously there was another kerosene. There are family things and people who bring their parents, the grandparents who, in order not to lose it, prefer to leave it here, expose it.

THE GOOD ATTENTION
– What's nice about being in front of a bar?
Horacio:- one begins to love it, it gets you. I did not understand much of the subject when I took it. But they were about to sell everything so I talked to the family and I took charge, he was a taxi driver and knew how to stop anywhere, drink coffee, chat with a friend. And today when I attend I do it remembering the good attention of the places I went to. I think I inherited it from my old man, he had a kiosk, he liked to serve people. There are people who need you to listen to them, you put your ear. The same thing happened in the taxi., many got on and told their problems. And maybe if they want you can give them your opinion, you are a kind of psychologist.
Gustavo:- I also wanted to be with people, cook, It is a great satisfaction every day to come here.

Source: Sergio Limiroski – newspaper to press – 6 November 2019