The neighbourhood
Boedo: the barrio of Manzi
A short guide to Boedo, the working-class Buenos Aires neighbourhood with a literary group, a football club and a tango corner named for Homero Manzi.
Reserve the Boedo tango show ↗Quick answer
Boedo is a working-class neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, named after the independence figure Mariano Boedo. It is known for the Boedo group of left-leaning writers in the 1920s, for the San Lorenzo football club and for its tango tradition, whose best-known address is the corner of San Juan and Boedo, now called Esquina Homero Manzi.
Where Boedo is
Boedo is a working-class neighbourhood in Comuna 5 of Buenos Aires. Wikipedia says the neighbourhood and one of its principal streets were named after Mariano Boedo, an Argentine independence figure. For most visitors, the reason to come is the tango show on the corner of Avenida San Juan and Avenida Boedo.
The football club
Boedo is the home of the San Lorenzo de Almagro football club, a fact Wikipedia gives in its first lines on the neighbourhood. The club is a reminder that this is a neighbourhood with its own loyalties, as much as a stop on a tango map.
The Boedo group
In the 1920s Boedo gave its name to a group of left-leaning Argentine and Uruguayan writers. Spanish Wikipedia says the group took shape in 1922 around a literary contest run by a newspaper and from about 1924 gathered around the publishing house Editorial Claridad, which stood at Boedo 837, with Café El Japonés at Boedo 873. The name refers to Avenida Boedo rather than to the neighbourhood as a whole. Leónidas Barletta, Nicolás Olivari and Elías Castelnuovo are counted among its founders.
Boedo against Florida
Historians traditionally set the Boedo group against the Florida group. Spanish Wikipedia says Florida was linked to the elites and the city centre and focused on renewing artistic form, while Boedo was linked to working-class and suburban sectors and focused on social content. It adds that the boundary between the two was never firmly fixed, and Wikipedia notes that Roberto Arlt was associated with both. The contrast is a useful way to read the neighbourhood’s character.
A tango neighbourhood
Wikipedia says Julio De Caro wrote a tango called Boedo in 1928, presenting the suburb as a working-class home of tango. In 2013 Buenos Aires city published a tango route for the barrio, describing Boedo as an unavoidable reference thanks to its literary tradition and its historic cafés and bars. The route lists the Café Notable Margot, where the poets of Boedo meet, and the corner of San Juan and Boedo, immortalised by Manzi in Sur.
The corner of San Juan and Boedo
The corner is the centre of the tango map. Buenos Aires city tourism places the café on the north-west corner and says Manzi wrote Sur at one of its tables in 1948. The café now stages tango dinner shows, and the walls outside carry plaques and painted signs. The guide to the corner tells the history, and the guide to tickets explains how to book an evening.
Read next: Esquina Homero Manzi and Sur
Planning a night here
A show night is built around one address, so a visitor can keep the rest of the day free. If you take the pickup, the transport is arranged for you; if you choose the meeting point, a map app finds the corner from its address. Reviewers describe a late start, so a daytime walk along Avenida Boedo, with its cafés and bars, makes a sensible prelude to the evening.
Read next: Pickup or meeting point
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called Boedo?
The neighbourhood and one of its main streets are named after Mariano Boedo, an Argentine independence figure.
What was the Boedo group?
A group of left-leaning writers in the 1920s, named after Avenida Boedo, where their publisher was based.
Which football club is based in Boedo?
San Lorenzo de Almagro.
Is Boedo a tourist area?
It is a working-class residential neighbourhood, and most visitors come for one address, the tango corner.
What is the corner of San Juan and Boedo?
The site of Esquina Homero Manzi, named after the lyricist of the tango Sur.
Sources