Nice Corrientes street. You belong to everyone and to no one. You are crossing Buenos Aires with your indifferent rhythm . The dreamy drumming of the poet Héctor Gagliardi lives now remixed in a mixture that compresses nostalgia and also renewal. And in the most intimate nerve of it, with its convoy of taxi drivers, the unfading neon signs and the line of hungry people for greasy pizza , there is also a reverse side in which nerdity still lives .
On the fold of the theater of magazines and the last breath of office workers, Av. Corrientes hides a corridor of flimsy clues that is well worth bringing to the surface. It is an imaginary corridor that goes from Florida to Av. Callao and anchors remnants of old glories, sites with their own epics and places that offer hot opportunities that make collecting wet. But first you have to know how to suffer, then love, and then go in search of the nerdy treasures of Calle Corrientes , the city's pennant.
► Beautiful narrowness
A few steps from the Florida pedestrian street, in the same Corrientes Angosta Gallery (in honor of the old Corrientes, prior to 1931) where the Mondo Macabro (bis) was hidden and today there is a record store specializing in Luis Alberto Spinetta (Mondo Rabioso), Capricornio 22 (Av. Corrientes 753) is located, a comic shop with a lot of North American material, retro figures in their original packaging and a few loose . In their windows there are Toy Biz dolls from X-Men and Spider-Man -how difficult it is to get them, right?- from $15,000, others from the saga of The Lord of the Rings, many gringo comics from the golden age '80- '90 and even some Dragon Ball GT stuff.
Crossing the Obelisk, omnipotent totem of CABA, the right hand in the opposite direction to the cars has Kafka (Av. Corrientes 1117), one of the most glorious used bookstores on the avenue , with exquisite titles such as Titanes del Coco, by Fabián Casas , with a cover by Santiago Motorizado; How to Make Love to a Porn Star, by XXX actress Jenna Jameson ; or Sex, by Madonna , metallic limited edition.
There are also copies of cinema and music (a lot of classic Hollywood and biographies ), a good stock of European and national comics (from Asterix to Skorpio), naziexploitaitions, occultism, architecture, design, gastronomy, BDSM literature and, if you ask, only if you ask, they can get to get some dosmilero hentai manga in Spanish edition .
Just a few meters away is Todo el cine del mundo (Av. Corrientes 1131) , a movie theater that lives up to its claims. And right there, within the Nueva Calle Corrientes Gallery, which combines sex shops with candy kiosks, is the mythical Libro Film (Av. Corrientes 1145 local 13), the bookstore specializing in cinema that is somewhat expensive but has some of the best gems in the universe.
Passing Libertad and its gypsies, hand in hand in front are some record stores of the Optical Gallery (Av. Corrientes 1246) although the incomparable absence of the Mondo Macabro video store is felt in the flesh. However, there the huge concrete Godzilla that invited delirium remained for history. At this point, impossible to move, Godzilla is now part of the ecosystem of the place and stands as a museum piece from a time that will never return. And which, obviously, they can't get rid of either. Flash, selfie, photo: right to social networks .
At that same height, avoiding the young crowd of birrita-en-la-vereda- of the brand new pizzeria Sbarro (Av. Corrientes 1267) and the baiting of its DJs, Librería Lucas (Av. Corrientes 1247) offers a good selection of books in English (there are always sci-fi things). Popularly known as "La Amarilla", it used to have an interesting section of movie and theater books (they haven't had anything too good for a long time), but here lies the interesting thing: you have to look carefully at the children's and comics sectors. They usually offer rare titles at reasonable prices . There is a lot of out-of-print material from the OVNI Press label, some figures from The Simpsons, Frozen and Star Wars (those from the newsstand, cheap) and quite a few Disney booklets for kiddies.
► Pizza, myth and funkos
The smell of pizza invites you to stop strategically to gobble up a portion of mozzarella or, directly, drop a whole one in the new Patio Napolitano de Güerrin (Av. Corrientes 1368) . You have to refuel and keep going, because right away a wound opens that is still bleeding: there are the ruins of Camelot Comics Store (Av. Corrientes 1388), the best comic book store in the nation's history .
At that time, Güerrin and Camelot were the Romario and Bebeto, the Diego and Cani, the Messi and Mbappé of the Buenos Aires outings . The place closed in 2010, and was later occupied by La Revistaría, but in that finite space still floats the ghost of Gerardo Busto, its owner, the great nerd myth about whom little is known and for whom the entire palo community goes out of its way. in questions. Where is the? Why did it really close? What of everything is real? To return to? What happened to all that material accumulated over the years?
For example, La Revistaría now occupies the entrance of the Apolo Gallery (Av. Corrientes 1384) and welcomes its visitors with a huge statue of Wonder Woman wearing a chinstrap , taking care of the ravages of COVID-19. Inside, small shops that keep the nerd flame alive. Among them, Robot Negro (loc. 36), one of the comic stores with the best stock of imported figures , with dolls ranging from the Marvel team, passing through Street Fighter and reaching the prestigious firms NECA, MEGO, Banpresto, Funko, Kotobukiya and, fundamentally, Hot Toys. A few mentions go to Nortoys (loc.25), Kawaii Atelier (loc. 43), Proxyworld (loc. 14) and all the comic stores that have opened recently .
Between Uruguay and Paraná, some used bookstore, the opening of La Giralda (Av. Corrientes 1453) , the fluorescent green marquee of the Lorca cinema (Av. Corrientes 1428) that shows European and auteur films and, opposite, Safari Market (Av . Corrientes 1469) , a supermarket with products imported from Asia such as ramen, preserves, soft drinks and Korean and miscellaneous giladitas. Around there, a few squares away, is Entelequia (Uruguay 341) and others, Club del Comic (Montevideo 255) , the perfect complement to the Corrientes comic route.
Glancingly, the billboard of the Teatro San Martín (Av. Corrientes 1530) is reviewed, the return of the Sala Lugones is expected and the closure of the Librería Lorraine (Av. Corrientes 1513) is lamented. An ice cream of dulce de leche, pistachio or chocolate with almonds is coming soon in Cadore (and here's a tip: if it's 1/4, ask for additional cream) and, without slowing down, it's necessary to stop at the corner of Rodríguez Peña to 402 to get lost in the window of Solo Cine , one of the last refuges of original material in the Federal Capital. DVDs of XXY, Dead Zone, Dirty Sexy Money, the Bourne trilogy, 24, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso and countless other titles. A geographical leap: Los Unos y los otros (Av. Corrientes 1957) and El Ciudadano (Junín 611) also follow. Let's go back.
Here, in front of a huge newsstand, Librería La Cátedra (Av. Corrientes 1620) offers endless permanent offers (there is usually a stock of Fierro magazines and Rolling Stone bookazines) but, once inside, you have to have two data: one from movies, the other from manga and rare material.
First, under one of the last racks on the left, there are boxes with hundreds of $150 original DVDs (there's the little brown The Simpsons specials that Page|12 edited!). And, second, to the right, next to the box, there is a small annex room with magazines, crossword puzzles and blá, blé, blí, bló, blú, but also a lot of comics from ECC Comics (which published DC, Watchmen and Vertigo), Game of Thrones comics, Spanish anime publications and (almost) complete manga such as Macross 7 Trash.
► Indestructible Culture
On the same block, passing Paseo La Plaza -which used to house comic stores and today has half of its premises closed- and, getting rid of stand-up card holders, exactly 100 meters from where the video game house was above the Farándula restaurant (Av. Corrientes 1601), there is Librería Jeckyll (Av. Corrientes 1696) , which sometimes surprises with its used material. You always have to peek at its entrance, top left, as it offers entire comic book sagas and manga at good prices .
And after the last death rattle of the avenue, in one of the blocks hardest hit by the pandemic, El Perseguidor (Av. Corrientes 1718) combines books, records, posters and… wines! Why not? Discontinued editions of Andrés Calamaro, CDs with movie soundtracks , images of Diego Armando Maradona and Star Wars: The Force Awakens and even Never Gone by Backstreet Boys are available. Glory and honor.
For the rest, the Celta Bar (Sarmiento 1702) , one of the notable ones that preserves architecture, spirit and mysticism, which knew how to shelter bands and artists , offers refreshments and snacks (with leberwurst, sopresatta, cantimpalo and various sausages) to put a caloric bun to the matter. El Celta is the perfect stop to base yourself for a while and anxiously watch the purchase of the day . Ideal for reading in peace -it doesn't usually have noise and the boys are cool- and see the cartoonist Gustavo Sala work on it. He morphs cute, walks that little square and returns to the final destination .
Passing Zivals (Av. Callao 395) , with its novelties and imported titles, it remains to visit Librería Libertador (Av. Corrientes 1851), which knew how to give custody to kilometers of balances provided by the closure of Camelot . Currently, in addition to its used universe, at the bottom-bottom you can find many national comics from Ediciones de la Urraca , an interesting stock of Lazer magazines (ideal for completists: they have "rare" numbers, those that you should not keep nor Leandro Oberto) and even offer a selection of series and movies on DVD and Blu-Ray . The one who goes with a ticket, loots his coffers with the winning loot.
And so, the history of Corrientes Avenue continues to Chacarita, where a choir of florists sing funerals. But in this section, in these ten blocks and coins, coordinates shine that are worth going over and over again . Source of inspiration, infinite basin and XXL that has it all, the mystery of Buenos Aires, indestructible city, is also anointed on the myth of researchers, collectors and nerds .
