Taxco ~ Mexico ~ Tourist Camera Circa 1950
Take a stroll through Taxco Mexico fifty years ago through a tourist with camera, narrated by Stephen Dyer Wells.


A friend arrived the other day with a surprise. "Look she said, what my friend found at a yard sale." Wow, she produced an envelope with eleven superb snapshots taken some sunny day around 1950 or so. She would only leave them with me until I scanned them since her friend was anxious to get them back. Then I thought, why not narrate this Taxco stroll that an anonymous tourist photographer took a half century ago.

The painting at the right was done by the American painter, Oscar Edmund Berninghaus [1874-1952] in 1949 about the same time these photos were taken.

Click on a thumbnail to enlarge an old Taxco photo snapshot. Home
Photography .::. by Anonymous .::. found at a San Francisco yard sale.

We are at the Spratling retail store, on the only straight and level street in town, Oh yes, the jail was just over that wall, now it's the 'Passaje' of the silver merchants.

In front of the old Palacio Municipal lies what was once called 'Plazuela de las Carnicerias'. To the right is the stairway Callejon Ex-Rastro (slaughterhouse) which leads down to plazuela Las Estacas.
La Discordia shrine is just behind us, that's Calle Escobar leading off to the right. This watercolor by Vladamir Bobri was drawn in 1947, and is the same view.
Paco's Bar has been a fixture of the zocalco for many years. Looks really quiet back then. Here it is during a recent busy Easter Sunday afternoon.
The communal laundry view may be the most photographed Taxco postcard, next to the Santa Prisca. Here it is today.
This fountain on the zocalo faces the Santa Prisca. Here it is today on an incredible quiet morning the day after Christmas.

The lavaderos on Calle Guadalupe were a fascinating sight for a camera totin' tourist, too bad they are dry and abandoned today.

Water has always been a problem and remains so today, you will see drinking water being carried all over town, in pick-up trucks today. We are now near the Chavarrietta Church.
Looking east on Callejon de los Arcos alongside the Santa Prisca. We are about to enter the old newspaper stand that is still there today!
 Looking east through a window towards the Veracruz, off in the distance is the Capilla at the Hotel Mision property
Callejon de los Arcos and the Passaje del Toril, at left, with wide, long stairs to accommodate a donkey's decent. We are standing above Los Arcos. Ojeda is on the hillside.
DigThatCrazyFarOutPlanetMan!