06 · 05 · 25

Salón Los Ángeles on Screen

Rafael Aviña

In the early 20th century, families relied on wood and coal as primary fuel sources. However, by the early 1930s, oil began to replace these traditional sources. At that time, Miguel Nieto Alcántara owned an old coal storage warehouse in the heart of Colonia Guerrero, located at Lerdo 206 Street. The warehouse shut down with the arrival of the petroleum “revolution,” soon followed by the gas revolution. One of his friends, Alberto Rojas, urged him to transform the space into a dance hall. Thus, Salón Los Ángeles was established on July 29, 1937. The name was inspired by its proximity to the temple of Nuestra Señora, Reina de los Ángeles, also situated on Lerdo Street. The venue opened with performances by the Danzonera de Toto and the Orquesta de Gonzalo Curiel.

Just 11 years later, Mexican cinema took over this place, adopting the motto: “Who does not know Los Ángeles, does not know México.” Corner Stop (1948) by Alejandro Galindo was the first movie filmed at Los Ángeles, which follows the urban adventures of the bus driver on the “Zócalo-Xochicalco-Anexas” route, Gregorio Del Prado, and his fare collector, Regalito (Fernando Soto Mantequilla). Obsessive and quarrelsome, Del Prado, played by David Silva, becomes enchanted by Cholita (Olga Jiménez), an attractive passenger whom he invites to “raspar la suela”¹ to the swing beat at Salón Los Ángeles. 

Dance and social life transformed the inhabitants of an ever-expanding city. The revival of everyday life, which oscillates between daydreaming, nostalgia, and forgetfulness, is largely attributed to cinema. In the late 1940s, Dámaso Pérez Prado introduced the mambo to dance halls and, naturally, to screens. This is how the mambo found its way to Salón Los Ángeles. During the climactic scene from The Galician Girl Dances the Mambo (1950) by Emilio Gómez Muriel, Niní Marshall Catita as Cándida and her daughter Carmina (a very young Silvia Pinal) arrive at the dance hall to fight for their respective love interests: El Bofes, embodied by Joaquín Pardavé, and Gilberto (Pepe del Río), both bus drivers on the “Peralvillo-Cozumel” route. 

In 1974, Alberto Isaac’s prominent film Tívoli catapulted one of the stars of Mexican sex comedies and erotic comedies of that moment into the limelight: Lyn May. She looks spectacular dancing alongside Alfonso Arau on the stage of Salón Los Ángeles, with Pérez Prado and his orchestra playing the “Ruletero” mambo, who had previously played Mambo “No. 8”, featuring numerous dance couples showing off their best moves. María Novaro's film Danzón (1991) also captured various sections of Los Ángeles venue, from the dance floor and stage to the hallways and even the women’s restroom. The movie featured beautiful and talented actresses such as: María Rojo, Margarita Isabel, and Blanca Guerra. 

In 2003, German director Cordelia Dvorak’s docufiction, Bailar para vivir [Dancing to be Alive], captured 11 dance couples of different ages ranging from 16 to 85 years old, documenting their dance evolutions within the walls of this legendary dance hall. The 2009 teen comedy Paradas continuas, directed by Gustavo Loza, showcased various areas of Salón Los Ángeles, from its outdoor facade to its interior spaces, and the candy shop. Starring Cassandra Ciangherotti, Luis Arrieta, and Germán Valdés III—Tin Tan's grandson—the film included a theme song by Susie Q, performed by Javier Gurruchaga and Orquesta Mondragón. Gurruchaga himself later appeared in Sebastián del Amo’s biography movie Cantinflas (2014), which starred the magnificent Óscar Jaenada as the “mime of México”², and included a sequence at Los Ángeles. Similarly, Hugo Lara’s comedy The Kids Are Back (2017) included scenes at the venue, depicting a dance competition with Fernando Luján and Carmen Maura, and film researcher Elisa Lozano among the judges. 

 Finally, Emilio Maillé's film Mambo Dreams (2022) features a brilliant 20-minute choreographic musical sequence that showcases various spaces of Salón Los Ángeles—its corners, halls, stairs, and dance floor. The film presents an unusual blend of genres: a fantasy tale, a love story between sleep and wakefulness, a biographical-musical fantasy, and a delirious tribute to Golden Age cinema. Above all, it pays homage to the outstanding Cuban musician who revolutionized tropical rhythms: Dámaso Pérez Prado. In the narrative, Pérez Prado, portrayed by Café Tacuba's vocalist Rubén Albarrán, came back from the dead 30 years later to search for the woman he loved and lost.

Translated by Abigail Puebla

Translator's Notes

1. TN: “Raspar la suela” is a Mexican slang expression that means "to dance in an energetic way".
2. TN: One of the pseudonyms used to refer to Cantinflas.