Sanborns Dining Room, Casa de los Azulejos

I highly doubt I could get such a great image from a Lomo! My hat's off to you, señor

Colin Corneau said:

I highly doubt I could get such a great image from a Lomo! My hat's off to you, señor

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You should try the LCA 120. It is a super-wide, zone focusing, fully automatic exposure camera that uses an extinction meter (so it doesn't pre-determine the exposure and then set the time, it just shuts off the exposure once it has enough - I get really good long exposure shots with it). It's a little pricey for a Lomo, but when you compare it to the next closest equivalent in focal length, it's a bargain - the comp being a Hasselblad Superwide. And you can use it in places and ways you could never use a Superwide.

Has this restaurant been in business for a long time? I seem to recall Edward Weston mentioning it in his Daybooks.

MarkS said:

Has this restaurant been in business for a long time? I seem to recall Edward Weston mentioning it in his Daybooks.

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I'm not sure about the Sanborns at that location- Weston may have been talking about Cafe Tacuba, which is only a couple blocks away, and in a similarly architected former 18th century palace. He might also have been talking about El Cardenal or Bar La Opera where allegedly Pancho Villa put a bullet in the ceiling.

MarkS said:

Has this restaurant been in business for a long time? I seem to recall Edward Weston mentioning it in his Daybooks.

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I went and read more of the Mexico Daybooks - he was talking about that very Sanborns. He was a bit of a snob about it! I don't think it looks like an American restaurant inside, do you? Although there is a cafeteria in the back that has a very 1940s diner feel to it. I don't know if it was there at that time or not.

Well, Weston was a vegetarian, and didn't like restaurants in general (if I read the Daybooks correctly). The odd part is that that bit of trivia popped into my mind. Nice photo of what must be a good place to eat!

MarkS said:

Well, Weston was a vegetarian, and didn't like restaurants in general (if I read the Daybooks correctly). The odd part is that that bit of trivia popped into my mind. Nice photo of what must be a good place to eat!

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Well, Sanborns is the equivalent of a Dennys - so it's a tolerable place to eat In this specific instance, you're paying to eat ordinary food in a glorious space. He must have gone vegetarian after Mexico, because I'm reading the Mexico daybooks now and he's talking about food in there that's NOT vegetarian without any disdain. Mexico even today is a challenge to be vegetarian, and I can only imagine how it would have been in the 1920s.