In Search of Tijuana’s Golden Days

by Neil Woodburn on

For as long as I remember, Tijuana has been an absolute joke.

This Mexican border town, just south of San Diego is the armpit of Mexico where under-aged American high school students go to drink beer and frat boys go to watch donkey shows. The place is smelly, rundown, dangerous, and nothing like the rest of Mexico. Its name alone has become synonymous with cheap dives and armpits in general.

This wasn’t always the case, however.

I had no idea, but smelly little Tijuana was once the playground of the rich and famous long before the days of Las Vegas. During the 1920s and 1930s, the border town offered up cheap alcohol, casinos, prostitution and horse racing–all of which were impossible to find in California at the time. As a result, a bustling Vegas-style metropolis exploded (and along the way, gave birth to the Caesar salad and the margarita).
Baja’s Atlantis, a very cool West Magazine article by Christopher Reynolds explores this fascinating history of Tijuana and takes the reader along in search of architectural relics of this era, such as the opulent Agua Caliente casino, reputed to be the finest in the world outside of Monte Carlo.

Wow, I had no idea. Talk about a boom-to-bust! Once Vegas opened and prohibition ended, Tijuana withered away to the miserable excuse for a city it is now. I will, however, look upon it with fresh eyes the next time I pass through–thanks to Reynolds’ quest to unearth this fascinating history and teach us something so many of us didn’t know.

Ten National Parks and Three Countries

by Jamie Rhein on

Mike and Courtney Hnatt traveled 10,000 miles through 10 national parks in the United States, Mexico and Canada. That’s a trip I feel a bit envious of, particularly after watching their video. Mike’s comment, “Wait, just a few more minutes,” in the comment section made me laugh. It sounded familiar and I have to say, I’m the one who usually says it when I want to see every last possible thing I can see past my family’s tolerance level.

This is a two minute trailer of the longer video. I love that they’ve included shots of themselves. Both look like they are having a blast, and are totally into whatever they are doing. For anyone wanting to sum up one of your trips in a video, I think this is a good example. There’s movement, emotion and a mix of angles and subject matter. Subjects are focused on long enough so that viewers know what they’re seeing, but not so long that the footage gets boring. The shots are also during different times of day which alters the lighting and adds visual interest.

Photo of the Day (9/29/07)

by Justin Glow on

One day my dog will ask me, “Daddy, where did I come from?” And I would be forced to reply, “Son, you were purchased out of a bag from a man wearing stone-washed jeans on the side of the road. I pulled over to pay a toll in Mexico, and there you were.”

Gadling reader Sir Isaac Lime snapped this shot outside Puebla, Mexico. I wonder if he took one home?

If you’d like to contribute a Photo of the Day shot for consideration, please visit our Gadling Flickr pool and upload your favorites.

Mexico Named Best Place To Retire

by Martha Edwards on
Been to Mexico? I have a few times and I love it. It’s not just the hot weather and the gorgeous beaches — Mexico is a really friendly, vibrant place with a lot of energy and culture. At least what I’ve seen of it. Anyway, I digress. The point of this post is to write about how Mexico was named the best place to retire by an annual retirement index in International Living magazine. It used to be that Panama held this coveted title, but housing prices have since sky-rocketed — I hope this doesn’t happen to Mexico too!


Want to see what all the fuss is about? Check out our Travel Guide for Mexico. Not interested in Mexico? Learn more about Australia or South Africa.

What are some other great places to retire? Ecuador, Italy, Australia, Malta, Spain, South Africa, Malaysia, France and Thailand all made the list. The US came in at #19, while the UK ranked at the very bottom.

I couldn’t find a copy of the whole list — I wonder if my native Canada made the cut? There are definitely some retirement-worthy places here too. But given the choice between Mexico and the prairie winters, you know which one I’m going with.

(Of course, there are plenty of great places in the U.S. to retire. Check out Money & Finance’s great retirement spots in the U.S. and decide if any of them are for you.)

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The Skyscraper Museum Pays Tribute to the Tall and Taller

by Jamie Rhein on

We’ve posted about a few of the tallest buildings in the world. The latest, Mexico’s Torre Bicentenerio is still in the planning stage. In New York City, the place where skyscrapers first defined the magnificence of a city’s architectural skyline, The Skyscraper Museum is where to find out details about Manhattan’s skyscraper history, as well as the tallest wonders of other countries.

Through October 14 there is an exhibit about the Burj Dubai. In addition to presenting the facts about the building, such as, when it’s completed it will be twice as tall as the Empire State Building, the exhibit covers the sociological, economic and psychological reasons for such a structure–a sort of what this building means and how it represents a shift in skyscraper development and purpose. The modern day skyscraper is made of concrete or composite while the ones predominately made in the U.S. are made of reinforced steel. The U.S.’s skyscrapers were built as office complexes, while the ones in Asia are mostly residential.

The exhibits at the museum are a chance to learn about skyscraper physics as well. Along with the exhibits, The Skyscraper Museum has programs that get people out into the city on building tours. One focus is to point out the buildings that are green. There are also programs geared toward having participants design buildings themselves. The photo shows the location of the museum near NYC’s Battery Park.