Casa Mexicana Question

[ggunn]

That's the Catch 22. If it's super busy, then it's a huge disruption to the customers to tear out escalators and put in elevators. Closed down is the perfect time, but there's no revenue to help with the cash flow. Now, they don't know when things might return to anything close to normal.

I don't think they can put in elevators; the ground floor isn't part of the hotel.

 

[Snoweman]

I don't think they can put in elevators; the ground floor isn't part of the hotel.

How did they get the escalators in there?

 

[ReefHound]

It's a cool place to see and shop at as are all of the stores around there. The last few trips there we've actually seen tour groups from cruise ships being led around the market by a tour guide! Go figure... cruise passengers PAYING to be driven to and escorted around a market! Maybe I need to buy a bus and charge Mexicans for tours into San Diego and escort them around a mall somewhere. Oh, I forgot, most U.S. malls are vacant these days with pigeons flying around and roosting in them.

That's bad news. If mercado gets accustomed to large numbers of tourists it will soon become Melgar. Going "off the beaten path" or "where the locals go" only works so long as relatively few tourists are doing it.

 

[gopbroek]

Pretty sure there is another Mercardo in the Zapata neighborhood around 80th av. It should be safe from tourists for awhile.

 

[deepsea21]

That's bad news. If mercado gets accustomed to large numbers of tourists it will soon become Melgar. Going "off the beaten path" or "where the locals go" only works so long as relatively few tourists are doing it.

When you do go to the Mercado, walk an extra street back and turn south a block for awesome Huaraches!

 

[deepsea21]

I don't think they can put in elevators; the ground floor isn't part of the hotel.

Someone told me Pepe pretty much owns the entire block. Not sure about that but makes sense The reason he built the CM the way it is was to get prominent frontage on the main street with minimal impact to all of his other tenants in place so he can keep collecting all that prime rent. He even built it to keep 2 prime rental storefronts on the main street underneath it. It always spooked me to walk into those 2 stores underneath knowing there was about a million lbs of concrete and a full dipping pool over my head supported by Mexican concrete. I've joked in that dipping pool not to jump up and down or we may all end up in the stores below. Got to give credit where credit is due, the usage of land for that hotel is pretty impressive. The only prime retail revenue lost is where the infamous escalators are located.

 

[neehooya]

Do you mean Huaraches, as the Mexican sandals?

 

[JaminBrown]

If you can't climb a flight of stairs, you probably can't climb a boat ladder. (Putting on flame-proof suit).

Sometimes it's a matter of how many stairs. My wife has MS, and she can absolutely climb stairs or a boat ladder. But if she has to go up and down normal stairs a bunch before diving, she might not be able to climb the ladder.