Acapulco Today

Acapulco can handle 100 heavy passenger vessels and 225 lighter ships, so by sea as well as by land, still with a certain reticence, tourists began trickling into the now-reknowned beauty spot. By 1933 there were budding hotel facilities. The first modern hotel was El Mirador, set on the rocky outcroppings of La Quebrada, the dream come true of Carlos Barnard of Puebla (1896-1961), created when he left his job as an accountant in Tampico. Don Carlos, an active and enthusiastic explorer, found thermal springs, caves and archeologicat ruins along the Guerrero coast.

By that time other hotels were opening for business: the Marina, the Papagayo, the America, the Villa del Mar. During Lazaro Cardenas’ presidential regime the original Federal Palace was erected. The present Town Hall was a product of the Miguel Aleman administration. Telephone service dates from April 16, 1936. Acapulco experienced a real period of expansion beginning in 1940, with the addition of housing developments and yachting, golf and tennis clubs.

Acapulco experienced its most dramatic impetus with the dedication of the Coastline Drive, inaugurated by President Aleman as he lit the street lamps facing the bay on the night of February 28, 1949. To Don Miguel is owed as well the Gran Via Tropical and the termo-electric plant at Los Amates.

The Fort of San Diego was revived in modern dress in 1959 on the occasion of the first World Film Review, and there, during the Christmas season the following year, under a magical sky and a balmy night, Pablo Casals offered the world premiere of his masterpiece, “The Manger.”

Acapulco was the last stop for the majestic Queen Mary, after the great and noble vessel had completed over three million nautical miles of service over a period of thirty-three years. She anchored in the harbor with 1100 passengers on board, on December 5, 1967, before being retired as a floating’museum, hotel and restaurant in Long Beach, California.

The Convention Center, a product of the ‘70’s in esthetic and technology, offers a further dimension for this ever-burgeoning resort and international meeting place.