Centro Cultural Teatro 1 & 2

The Centro Cultural Teatro is a giant performing arts complex on the Avenida Chapultpec almost at the intesection with Bucareli. The part on the avenue brushes right up against the building housing parts of Metro Cuauhtémoc. The complex is well-known to Mexico City residents as it was long sponsored by the local telephone company, Telmex.

On the site, a complex called Televiteatros stood until it was entirely destroyed in the earthquake of 1985. This was significant because it was owned, at the time, by the giant television network, Televisa. Their news reporters covered the damage extensively.

The theaters we see today were begun only in 1994. They opened two years later as the Teatros Alameda. Teatro 2 was officially open in 1998. Four years later, the Telmex sponsorship began and the operating name became the Centro Cultural Telmex. Although that sponsorship ended in 2014, many City residents still refer to the space by the old name. Since 2014, the complex has been operated by Alejandro Gou’s Gou Producciones. The Gou productions team continues to set the stage for some of the most important events in Mexican musical theater.

Gou operates the two theaters entirely separately so they’re often even hosting competing events. Many guests will take in both shows in the same week. With kids events taking up some of the stage space, today the complex is still wildly busy. Parts of the street level are occupied by a mini-shopping complex, but that only adds to customers’ convenience.

The Centro Cultural Teatro complex is also famously a last-minute stop on the Capital Bus Center-South Circuit. From here it continues to the side of the Zócalo. It might be especially important for guests staying in La Romita, Roma Norte or the east of the Colonia Juárez. This was true also of the previous stop at Fuente de Cibeles, on the other side of Roma Nte.