Bar El Cairo, Historic bar building in Rosario, Argentina
Bar El Cairo is a traditional bar occupying the ground floor of a residential building at the corner of Sarmiento and Santa Fe streets in downtown Rosario. The interior features wooden tables, old chairs, and a long counter that give the room its particular look.
The bar opened in 1943 on the ground floor of the building it still occupies today. Some structural work was done in the 1970s, but the layout and overall feel of the interior were kept as they were.
Roberto Fontanarrosa, the Rosario-born writer and cartoonist, was a regular here and wove the place into his stories, which gave it a lasting place in Argentine literary life. Today, readers and fans of his work come to sit at the same tables he used, treating the bar as a kind of informal tribute to him.
The bar sits at a visible street corner in the heart of downtown Rosario, easy to reach on foot from most central points. Going during quieter hours of the day is a good idea, as the space is not large and can fill up quickly.
The original furniture from the 1940s is still in place and has never been swapped out for newer pieces. Looking closely at the tables and chairs, you can see the marks left by decades of daily use, which gives the place a kind of authenticity that cannot be staged.
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