Amazing historical photos of Mexico City

The Estadio Azteca was designed by architects Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca and broke ground in 1961. The inaugural match was between Club América and Torino F.C. on 29 May 1966, with a capacity for 107,494 spectators.

Mexico’s capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Amerindians (Native Americans), the other being Quito. The city was originally built on an island of Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs in 1325 as Tenochtitlan, which was almost completely destroyed in the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan, and subsequently redesigned and rebuilt in accordance with the Spanish urban standards. After independence from Spain was achieved, the federal district was created in 1824.

Matching with the era and the Zona Rosa, it was this Gucci store in the late 1960s. This property is still preserved a few meters from the famous Plaza del Ángel.

 

Juarez Avenue, captured from the Alameda Central in the seventies. In the center it's the old temple of Corpus Christi, and around can see the buildings of the so-called Conjunto Alameda, with the hotel of the same name on the right side. These properties were affected by the earthquakes in 1985 and were later demolished; Today we found the Plaza Juárez there.

The view from the old Chapultepec Restaurant towards the Castle, captured by photographer Charles B. Waite at the beginning of the last century. Nowadays this space is part of the Museum of Modern Art.

Here we can see a lot of people making a line to enter the Olimpia cinema, in the street of September 16, in the mid-eighties. This place was inaugurated in 1921, and currently the structure was transformed into commercial.

This was the entrance of Ajusco cinema during a flood in the fifties. This place was on the eastern sidewalk of the Calzada de Tlalpan, very close to the current Metro Portales.

Celaya is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413.

Constructed in 1952, it was used for volleyball and basketball matches of the 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games and had seen performances of the San Francisco Ballet and New York Philharmonic in 1958. The National Auditorium is considered among the world's best venues by specialized media. It was designed by Mexican architects Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Gonzalo Ramírez del Sordo, and remodeled by Abraham Zabludovsky and Teodoro González de León.

The Zócalo is the common name of the main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza used to be known simply as the "Main Square" or "Arms Square," and today its formal name is Plaza de la Constitución

This is the view of the Plaza hotel back in the 70s. It was design in 1945 by  Mario Pani.

Estadio Olímpico Universitario is a multi-purpose stadium located in Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City. It was built in 1952 and at that time was the largest stadium in Mexico. This stadium has a capacity of 48,297.

Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig in the 1860s and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as the Ringstrasse in Vienna and the Champs-Élysées in Paris. After the French intervention in Mexico overthrew the constitutional President Benito Juárez, the newly crowned Emperor Maximilian made his mark on the conquered city.

The project was originally named Paseo de la Emperatriz in honor of Maximilian's consort and second cousin Empress Carlota. After her return to Europe and Maximilian's subsequent execution, the restored Juárez government renamed the Paseo in honor of the Reform War.

The huge El Cines Teatro Orfeon opened on 30th June 1938. Originally proposed to have a seating capacity of 6,000, it was listed as having 4,628 seats in 1945. In late-1947 it was closed for a re-modelling to the plans of American architect John Eberson & Drew Eberson, and it re-opened on 12th February 1948 with 3,165 seats. After closing as a full time cinema it stood empty for many years falling into a state of decay and delapidation.

Apart from being the seat of the political, economical and religious powers in Mexico, as well as a space where the indigenous and viceroyal past come together with more than 4 centuries of history, it’s also a rallying point in which the people of Mexico come together to celebrate parties or participate in manifestations. It’s the place in which Mexicans take part in history; in the time of Independence with the celebrations of Independence Day, the welcoming of governors, protests or cultural events. Mexico City’s Zocalo is the heart of a culture and every beat a day in its history.