Bars in BA.

[Dennis McGuckin]

it it just me.
The only bar I remember in BA was the Texas Bar.
Was that the hang out of most of us?
I know that Kong was a regular.
I do recall one near the docks that did not have the same 'attraction's.

[Doc Vernon]

Mat Sullivans, The New Inn , The Lighthouse!
Cheers

[Graham Shaw]

I wish that this could have been a happier post in this thread. I only wish I could have had memories of a beautiful city ,and perhaps have had memories of a vibrant nightlife ,especially for visiting seamen...
But it was not to be. Yes,I was lucky in not having to work cargo in the evenings during one weekend visit to BA,during a hectic schedule,BA being sandwiched between calls in Montevideo(Uruguay) and Santos(Brazil. So in theory I should have gone ashore and enjoyed myself on those precious evenings ashore.

But this was in 1977,right in the middle of what they call the Years of the 'Disappeared'(los Desaparecidos ) I will copy one description of those years here;
It was published in 2010.


*Here are a couple paragraphs about what was going on in Argentina in the ’70s:*
Anyone suspected of favoring these groups (revolutionaries against the gov) or their ideas was subject to arbitrary arrest. All cultural life was now subjected to strict censorship. The government took control of all labor unions. People were kidnapped on the streets and never seen again. The prisons overflowed with political prisoners and torture was common. There were no trials or pretense of legal process. An estimated 11,000 Argentines disappeared between 1976 and 1982, called *los desaparecidos* or “the disappeared.” More than 30,000 people died during this period, many in Argentine concentration camps modeled after the Nazi camps. At the height of the horror, only the mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared had the courage to stand up to the government. Every Thursday, they began assembling in the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Presidential Palace, demanding information on their missing children. Conditions in the prisons were unfathomable. Prisoners were not allowed to lie down on their cots during the day, and the strain of this sometimes caused paralysis or atrophy of the legs. They were allowed no contact with family or friends, and most prisoners were afraid to write to loved ones, for fear they too would be targeted. Almost all letters were seized by the censors. The prisons would play sad songs by Julio Iglesias to deepen prisoners’ depression (no kidding). Prison guards would stage fake escapes and executions with mannequins to scare the prisoners. When a prisoner was moved out of his cell, he had to keep his eyes straight ahead; one glance over his shoulder meant loss of all privileges and possible torture. Newspapers and radios were banned insider the prison. Only books written before the French Revolution were in prison libraries.
Prisoners were experimented on with tranquilizer darts, were tortured with cattle prods, had the soles of their feet beaten with batons, had metal buckets placed on their heads and then the buckets hammered, had electrical wires applied to breasts, vaginas, anuses, penises, tongues, and other body parts. In some cases, prisoners’ bellies were slit open and they were dropped in a river as “fish food.” Some were thrown out of airplanes fully conscious. The length of sentences was completely arbitrary and had nothing to do with the “crime” committed, and at the end of the prison term, the prisoner or his family had to pay the state back for the cost of his imprisonment or he would not be released.
*And here is what was declassified in 2003 about America’s opinions of what the Argentine Gov was doing:* In 2003, the *Miami Herald* published proof that America and the Ford administration had approved of this brutal military regime. According to a recently declassified U.S. government document, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the Argentine foreign minister in 1976, at the height of the Dirty War, that America supported the Argentine government. The transcript of the meeting between Kissinger and Argentine Navy Admiral César Augusto Guzzetti in New York is the first documentary evidence that the Ford administration approved of the junta’s harsh tactics. “Look, our basic attitude is that we would like you to succeed,” Kissinger reassured Guzzetti in the seven-page transcript, marked *SECRET*. “I have an old-fashioned view that friends ought to be supported. What is not understood in the United States is that you have a civil war. We read about human rights problems but not the context. The quicker you succeed, the better.” The Argentine military regime was delighted.

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My memories of those walks ashore into the city during that weekend in 1977: The time of year was in the southern winter,so probably June,and was dark early.The weather didn't help either being cool and rainy.Many street lights were out,public squares empty,not one bar or restaurant had bright lights on ,no music blaring out.Any place that was open only had dim lights on.I was aware of the military presence on most of the streets,and very few civilians. I wasn't stopped by any,and the few civilians I encountered hurried by .In one almost empty bar I went to ,after serving me,I noticed he kept looking at me,then the door,all rather suspiciously.After a while,he spoke to me and after I bought him a drink he opened up a little and in a good mixture of Spanish and English told me how the situation was in the city-and even thought I might have been a spy!
What a terrible time for Argentina and it's people-frightened and subdued.I know now things are more 'normal today- but many thousands of the 'disappeared' are a sad indictment of that decade in the seventies.

[j.sabourn]

The argentine always reminded me of the stories I had read and heard about of the deeds of the Nazis in Germany. They were mostly all strong followers of Hitler during the war , and for those who visited there after the war could see that resemblance in the police and army uniforms . A hotch potch of different nationality’s ,which most of the rest of the world consists of also today. The world today has not changed over the years since 1945 , dictators still rule most of it. Cheers JS.

[happy daze john in oz]

Dictators, we have at least one here in Oz, the premier of Victoria, closely followed by the queen of Queensland f and the Monarch of WA.
But Victoria takes the crown280 days of lock down and counting.

This guy would not be out of place in China or some South American dictatorship.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Havana and Valparaiso in the 1950's will always be remembered fondly for teaching me about life and friendliness of people and I don't mean just the bar girls. Also the casino in Vina del Mar (near Valpo and the Cannes of WCSA), we were too young to be allowed on the gaming floor, but upstairs on the vast balconies where families dined and danced and we very young blue eyed, blond gringos were made very welcome and where I learned to dance latin style and not bar style, happy days

[j.sabourn]

#6 My first trip to Cuba was July 1953 Ivan but on the other side of the Island to you. The girls in the bars there were too lazy to dance all they could think of was going to bed , but I was never tired enough to do so . If nothing else I practiced my Spanish , uno Cuba libre when I could afford it , or if really flush , uno cerveza , until I learned to say Capitano passey de platta manyana . I was saving up for a pair of civvy trousers that fitted . Cheers JS.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Yes John Dinero was a problem, my first visit to Havana was 1954 and a US$ was only worth a US$, Valpo had the advantage as US$ was worth 100 Peso official rate, but in the bars you could get 1000 to 1200 peso to the US$, so we became pseudo rich for a very short time (forgive the pun) , not all spent in the bars, as bought some nice white shirts which otherwise couldn't have afforded. We soon learnt the ins and outs of world currency only having only experienced £ s d previously ( and not a lot of that, £6 per month)

[Doc Vernon]

Went to Havana at one time , and the thing that i wont forget is the one Pub, i think it may have been Sloppy Joe's (Not sure ) but it had the longest Bar i have ever seen. But the People there were great and i found most all very friendly indeed! Some great Gals!

[j.sabourn]

#8 The first time in B.A .,in 1954 the official rate was 39 pesos or whatever they were to the pound .ashore with a pound note could get over 100 . Slightly less of course for the Linen Bank of Scotland
Even in England most. Shops would only give you 19/6d. Maybe that’s why Cappy is always trying to recoup his 3/6d , when all monetary transactions were done in a legal manner ? He failed to look in the Financial times that morning .cheers JS.