Plaza Garibaldi

This guide to Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City follows how a Jalisco merchant named Juan Hernández turned his cantina, Salón Tenampa, into the birthplace of mariachi in the capital by inviting bands from Cocula and Tecalitlán to play there. You'll hear about songwriter José Alfredo Jiménez, a regular who wrote the cantina its own tribute song, and the bronze statues of singers along the nearby Paseo de las Luminarias. Listen for how the plaza's musician count still swings wildly by the hour.