El Federal - The oldest functioning bar in the city of buenos aires

The Federal opened its doors in 1864, when San Telmo was a labyrinth of tenements and rented houses where blacks and poor immigrants, especially those from Italy, found shelter.
The Federal At the end of the 19th century, it was a brothel and then a warehouse with a liquor store until the early years of the 20th century, when it became the bar-café that has survived to the present day.

It was born as a pulpería in 1864 on two dirt streets, the same corner of Peru and Carlos CalvoThe road, which at the time was used for carts and horses.

Years later, the pulpería was a warehouse and it was common knowledge that on the upper floor of the building, where the drinks warehouse is now, there was a clandestine brothel, then called "house of tolerance o "of public women"..

They say that in the old days in The Federal There was a "grocer's shop", where you could get good Spanish sardines, original figs from Smyrna and excellent Italian olive oil. Today they would be called delicatessen.

In the early years of the twentieth century it was remodelled to its present appearance and functions as it does today. When digging the well to place the current bar, buried corpses were found, probably victims of the terrible yellow fever epidemic that affected Buenos Aires in 1871. Another dramatic event occurred on the site when the owner's daughter was murdered by her boyfriend when he found out that his fiancée was unfaithful.

Several films have been shot in its facilities, such as "Cafetín de Buenos Aires", "El Tango cuenta su historia", "Custodio de señoras" and "Desde el Abismo".

Today The Federal is part of the declared Notable Bars in the City of Buenos Aires.