La Boca

La Boca
La Boca
	Barrio
	Clockwise from top: the Puente Transbordador, La Bombonera stadium, the Vuelta de Rocha meander of the Riachuelo and Caminito.
	; Emblem
	; Emblem
	; Location of La Boca within Buenos Aires
Country	Argentina
Autonomous City	Buenos Aires
Comuna	C4
Important sites	Caminito,; La Bombonera
Area
• Total	3.3 km2 (1.3 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	46,494
• Density	14,000/km2 (36,000/sq mi)
Time zone	ART (UTC-3)

La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa.

Name

In fact the name has a strong assonance with the Genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse (or Bocadaze in Genoese dialect), and some people believe^[who?] that the Buenos Aires barrio was indeed named after it. The conventional explanation is that the neighborhood sits at the mouth ("boca" in Spanish) of the Riachuelo.

Geography

As one of Buenos Aires's 48 barrios, La Boca is located in the city's south-east near its old port. The barrio of Barracas is to the west; San Telmo and Puerto Madero are to the north.

History

In 1882, after a lengthy general strike, La Boca seceded from Argentina, and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President Julio Argentino Roca.

Among sports fans, Boca is best known for being the home of world-renowned football club Boca Juniors. The club plays their home matches in the Estadio Alberto J. Armando, popularly known as La Bombonera (The chocolate box in Spanish)

La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Argentina, with its colourful houses and pedestrian street, the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold. Other attractions include the La Ribera theatre, many tango clubs and Italian taverns. The actual area visited by tourists is only a few blocks long and has been built up for tourism very actively over the last few years. Outside this tourist area, it is a fairly poor neighborhood that has had many regular occurrences of petty crimes reported.

It has also been a centre for radical politics, having elected the first socialist member of the Argentine Congress (Alfredo Palacios in 1935) and was home to many demonstrations during the crisis of 2001.

Gallery

Nineteenth century Ghost Tower, on Wenceslao Villafañe Street
The Caminito of tango lore, an example of the colour of La Boca attributable to local artist Benito Quinquela Martín
Brightly painted houses in Caminito
The riverwalk at the Rocha Bend of the Riachuelo
La Bombonera Stadium
The former Canale Biscuit Co. factory, now upscale lofts, La Boca.
Boca Juniors themed street vendor
Typical local street