Metro La Viga

Metro La Viga sits south of the City Center near the site of a fish market once considered the most important in Mexico City. This explains the station logo.

Today, a few remaining fish merchants remain at the site north along the former canal. The former Canal de la Viga was renamed Calzada when the still-flowing water was sealed within a cement channel in 1903. Most of the major fish dealers left the area with the opening of the Centro de Abastos in Iztapalapa. The new fish market there is called La Nueva Viga.

The original name was adapted from a short-lived ranch in the area. But as fish and related products were increasingly sold along this stretch of canal, the area’s importance only grew. “La Viga”  is still the name of the broader area, though it’s technically the Colonia Asturias today. The neighborhood is named for a football team and their park which stood in the neighborhood from 1936 until the 1970s.

The La Viga canal continued the Canal Nacional and thus connected Mexico City with Xochimilco, and even more distant Chalco and Texcoco. Something of this commercial canal and lakeside culture can still be glimpsed as far south as Santa Anita. Even closer, the Jamaica Markets are remnants of the same heavily travelled canal system.

It was a very important area, and La Viga still means “fish” to Mexico City residents.