The commercial galleries of Curitiba: Tijucas Gallery

The Tijucas Gallery (Luiz Xavier Avenue, 68) is the best known and frequented gallery in Curitiba not only by the notary Marques (opened in the 60s) or to be the access to the the commercial and residential building which gives its name to the gallery, but also because it is the Boca Maldita’s gallery and offer its official coffee at “Cafe da Boca”, which was opened in 1965.

Who lives in Curitiba long, must remember that every day at dusk, a lawyer at the window of his office, used to offer to the city a trumpet presentation. Those who lived close by have become accustomed to that sound and it was very common to see people standing under Tijucas, looking for the musician.

The gallery offers lawyers office, medical clinic, dental, pharmacy, real estate, cafeteria, lottery, shop for perfume, cosmetic, seamstress and tailor, in fact, the only tailor I ever visited in Curitiba used to work in this building. The Tijucas since the 70’s as a bastion of tailors. Among them we will still find Mr. Ferdinando Nardelli, a 74 years old tailor, working at Tijucas since 1958. There are only 18 taylors still working at Tijucas.

The last grocery store in downtown

In Curitiba, the big supermarket chains (national and international) have suffocated the small groceries, forcing them to shut their doors forever. Rare are those who resist and persist in their small business. Those brave ones are special because their grocery stores are humanized, personal, where you and the owner of the establishment are know each other by name.

The fruit stand of the photo is probably the only one I know in downtown. It is located at Alameda Dr. Carlos de Carvalho, between the Voluntários da Pátria and Ermelino de Leão Streets. I was passing by car at Carlos de Carvalho and I saw the girl shooting the grocery store and I believe, its owner. So, I photographed the photographer and the object of her interest. The colorful fruit stall always made it a little nicer this stretch of street.

Southeast view of Curitiba from the observatory

The view of Curitiba from the observatory is very beautiful and from the top of its 110 meters, you can enjoy Curitiba in 306 degrees. Shooting from up there is a little tricky because it is impossible to avoid the reflection of glass. So, I ask your understanding for this difficulty.

I'll post from today, a series of pictures taken from the observatory in the direction of 8 cardinal points.

The southeast picture shows the following districts: Downtown, Jardim Botânico, Prado Velho and Rebouças. Here some information of these neighborhoods.

Downtown: Around the small chapel of Nossa Senhora da Luz e Bom Jesus dos Pinhais a village was founded which is now called Curitiba. There are 105 bank agencies, 4848 commercial houses, 12 flats, 68 hotels, 669 industries, 555 restaurants, 4 shopping malls and the total population is 32,623 inhabitants.

Jardim Botanico: Its main attraction, as you can tell by the name, is the Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden), one of the most visited tourist attractions of Curitiba. It is also houses one of the campuses of the Federal University of Parana and the Stadium Durival Britto e Silva.

Prado Velho is the neighborhood in which the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná is located and also a large slum called Vila das Torres. The word comes from the Latin meadow pratum and means a flat, plain or plain.

Rebouças is a middle-class neighborhood of Curitiba. The name is a tribute to the brothers and engineers Rebouças Antônio Pereira Filho and André Rebouças who built the railroad that connects Curitiba to Paranagua. At this district we will find the old mill that was purchased by the Municipality of Curitiba and transformed into the headquarters of the Cultural Foundation of Curitiba.