Since moving to Buenos Aires three years ago, I have made a point of getting to know her different neighborhoods. Of little interest to me were the typical expat favorites — Recoleta, San Telmo, Palermo, and Colegiales.
I wound up calling Buenos Aires home because I was captivated by her energy and charm. Seeing as she made me change course in life, I obviously wanted to immerse myself among porteños.
It wasn’t until my third year, though, that I summoned the courage to rent southwest of the Chacarita cemetery in La Paternal, a neighborhood even fewer expats or transplants call home — for now?
I discovered that the neighborhood got its name in 1904 from a paternalistic gesture: the “La Paternal” Insurance Company owned land there and built workers’ housing on it. The formerly named Chacarita train station in the neighborhood was also renamed to La Paternal at the time.
A quick stroll through La Paternal leaves little doubt: it is a working-class neighborhood. Home to the folks behind the scenes making Buenos Aires function. Warehouses storing construction materials, auto parts, fire extinguishers, and textiles dot the area. Metalsmiths can be seen hard at work, the smell of solder hanging in the air. La Paternal is also unique in that many of its residents live above or next to their workplaces, and they like to grill their meat on parrillas they set up on the sidewalks.
