The new guard of Mexico City
The land of Tenochtitlan that now makes-up modern day Mexico City has been an anomaly for overseas visitors ever since its very first, Hernán Cortés, arrived to the Aztec capital with its “great towers and cues and buildings rising from the water.” Nearly five centuries later the city can still bewilder the foreign explorer with its urban gravitas and vertical swagger that glistens anew with showy architectural statements from the Soumaya Museum to stunning hotel and residential developments forging a grand new era in the city.
Modern-day industrialists like Carlos Couturier, founder of Grupo Habita, has reclaimed the city’s hospitality market back into native hands with his expanding empire of design hotels across the city like Habita Hotel in Polanco, the ever-trendy Condesa df or newer Distrito Capital in the Santa Fe neighborhood. Last year the hotelier expanded to the US with the Hotel Americano in New York City and next month opens Downtown Hotel inside a 17th Century colonial compound with an industrial-modern edge in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico district.
Contemporary art has long been a cornerstone of Mexico City even before the days of Kahlo and Rivera, today its defined by renegade artists and elite galleries like Kurimanzutto, Proyectos Monclova and Galería OMR. That arty touch also extends to the city’s dining scene throughout its 16 districts with Polanco being home to far fancier eateries like epicurean Pujol, latest installment of Paris’s Buddha Bar and new Porfirio’s for an expat Cinco de Mayo feast. A cooler crowd aims for Condesa where you’re you’ll find a bit more action at tasty new Azul or uber-hip Bonito offering inventive cuisine in a pop art scene that embodies modern-day Mexico City.
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