Showing posts with label Ciudad Juarez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ciudad Juarez. Show all posts

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Horse Racing Venues, II


According to the back of this postcard, Juarez Race Track is "the most beautiful track in North America...(and) boasts an annual horse racing season, year-round greyhound racing, and a public golf course in the infield."  However, this postcard is from 1968 (the back references that Juarez-El Paso is the gateway to the Mexico City 1968 Olympics.  It's not clear, from a quick search, that this race track still exists.  I did find a reference to grey hound racing starting up again in 2005, but there was also a news report of a fire at the track in 2009.  It is still listed on the "Casino City" website.

Whether it's open or not, I'm not inclined to visit Juarez and its racetrack in the near future.  According to the Wiki, Juarez is situated on "the Rio Grande across from El Paso, Texas. El Paso and Ciudad Juárez comprise one of the largest bi-national metropolitan areas in the world with a combined population of 2.4 million people. In fact, Ciudad Juárez is one of the fastest growing cities in the world in spite of the fact that it is 'the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones.'"  In fact, when a Google search is run on Juarez, the first thing that comes up is a reference to the 22 murders committed last week, and the five committed on Wednesday.  Yikes.  Postcards of Juarez have appeared in this blog before (here), also reflecting a more innocent, less violent past.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Clockwise, from the upper left:  the post office and downtown view, the train station and the Hotel Rio Bravo, the Cruz Blanca "cerveceria" (I know you all know what that means even if you don't speak Spanish), and the race track, from a series of photographs by Roberto Lopez Diaz of Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico probably from late 1950s/early 1960s. 

If you search Ciudad Juarez now, it is defined as both one of the fastest growing cities in the world and "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones."  These postcards reflect a more innocent time.