Everything in its Right Place? Drinking Places and Social Spaces in Mexico City, c. 1780–1900

Deborah Toner

doi:10.1086/shad25010026

Abstract

This article examines how various drinking establishments figured in the delineation of social boundaries within Mexico City's urban space in the long nineteenth century. It explores the different spatial and social regulation to which pulquerias (taverns primarily selling pulque, a traditional fermented alcoholic beverage), vinaterias (taverns primarily selling distilled spirits) and cafes (establishments for the sale and consumption of liqueurs, wines, non-alcoholic beverages and food) were subject, within the context of broader processes of urban change and political change. The increasing segregation of more popular drinking places such as pulquerias and vinaterias into poorer, more peripheral parts of Mexico City and of cafes, as more elite social spaces, into wealthier, more central parts of the city contributed to the demarcation of social boundaries within Mexico City and conceptual boundaries of class within the imagined Mexican nation. Moreover, this article shows how various social actors, including proprietors and customers of popular drinking places, reacted to and negotiated with the increasing regulation of Mexico City's social space in the nineteenth century.

Highlights

This article examines how various drinking establishments figured in the delineation of social boundaries within Mexico City’s urban space in the long nineteenth century
The increasing segregation of more popular drinking places such as pulquerías and vinaterías into poorer, more peripheral parts of Mexico City and of cafés, as more elite social spaces, into wealthier, more central parts of the city contributed to the demarcation of social boundaries within Mexico City and conceptual boundaries of class within the imagined Mexican nation
Unlike popular drinking places, such as pulquerías and vinaterías, which were repeatedly targeted with successive waves of regulation in an effort to control their patrons’ behavior and to restrict their location to the poorer areas and peripheries of Mexico City, cafés became increasingly important as drinking places and social spaces for the elites

Summary

Introduction

This article examines how various drinking establishments figured in the delineation of social boundaries within Mexico City’s urban space in the long nineteenth century.

Results

Conclusion