Casa de Cultura Las Jarillas

All photos from the Las Jarillas Facebook page.

The Casa de Cultura Las Jarillas is an important cultural and community center just east of Iztacalco’s much older Historic Center. The center takes its name from the Spanish translation of “tlacotal,” that is, the place of the creosote-like bushes. The Nahuatl name was preserved by the Rancho Tlacotal through the 19th century and now survives in the neighborhood name, Colonia Tlacotal Ramos Millan.

The Casa de Cultura occupies a collection of curious buildings in an otherwise forgotten corner of the neighborhood. Importantly, it also operates as a cooperative, with support from Mexico City’s Secretary of Labor and Employment Support. The Casa is probably best known for its theater productions. But beneath the broader recognition, neighbors also rely on the center for extensive education and recreation programs for kids. These frequently mix with the center’s gardens and agricultural pursuits. And everything associated with the capoeira Angola programs–music, training, competitions–seems to keep growing. 

Las Jarillas counts with more than 20 years of successes and still credits local neighborhood people with having come together time and again to keep it going. The cultural center also operates as something of punctuation mark to the rather linear Parque Tlacotal which lines the north of most of the neighborhood. There, many of the Casa’s projects get carried out. And some outings in the park will circle back to meet again in the familiar confines of the neighborhood cultural center.

Hours: Daily, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.