Parque Salvador Allende

The Parque Salvador Allende is a small neighborhood park just to the south of the much-larger Alameda del Sur. The park is in the Girasole neighborhood in the very southeast of Coyoacán. For that, it’s sometimes called Parque Girasoles, too. The neighborhoods here are on the territory of the old Coapa Haciendas, and even today are important parts of the broader Coapa Area.

The park features a rather extraordinary monument to Augustin Lara (1897-1970), the singer from Tlacotalpan Veracruz. He later moved to Coyoacán with his family. The park is named for the former president of Chile.

• Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (1908-1973) is remembered as the Chilean president and social reformer. He had been a Senator in Chile since 1945 when he was elected to the presidency. A military coup toppled him from power in 1973 and he died soon after. He’s remember in Mexico City especially for having visited the Unidad Habitacional Vicente Guerrero when it opened in 1972.

Today, the Parque Salvador Allende has been rehabbed to better suit the needs of area residents. There’s a kids’ play area and outdoor fitness center. And renovations put in new benches and lighting. Arts and crafts are a near constant in some areas. The park stands almost across the street from the Super Plaza Miramontes shopping center and so provides welcome relief from the area’s more developed main avenues.