Mar del Plata`s Nightlife

The High Season Never Ends

If there is any tourist spot where nightlife becomes the main attraction to tourists, it is Mar del Plata. The most interesting thing is that this city offers a wide variety of tastes, priorities and expectations fir different generations and everyone may satisfy their needs.

For decades, the “happy city” was the ideal setting for entertainment industry stars to show their remarkable performances, which had resulted in successful hits on theatres and on the big screen during the rest of the year in the big cities. The 60’s and 70’s created and took possession of a tourist and popular city, which started to outline its own codes, such as the relationship between celebrities and the audience, rarely seen in other latitudes.

Today, in the 2000s, Mar del Plata keeps an intact mysticism, which makes it still popular. As people from show business know how to become popular in Argentina, not in vain, they want to increase their public exposure in the “happy city”.

El Negro

18-year-old Alberto Olmedo (nicknamed “el Negro, Spanish words for “the Black Man”) moved to the City of Buenos Aires to work as a technician in the old Channel 7 (the national television station). However, his talent gave a U-turn in his life and in a few weeks he began acting in front of the camera instead of working behind it. His incredible improvisation skills and spontaneity when the camera switched on led to play a children hit in Argentinian television as el Capitán Piluso (“Piluso Captain”), a character that still remains in the memory of all Argentinians.

His later relationship with theatre and TV producers, such as the Sofovich brothers -Hugo and Gerardo-, helped him to become a living legend of Mar del Plata. He was part of the cast of the most famous star performers (vedettes) by that time, Susana Gimenez and Moria Casan. From the 70’s, he rose to prominence with the creation of popular characters, such as Yeneral Gonzáles , Rucucú, his performance in the TV show called Operación Ja Ja and others like El dictador de Costa Pobre (“The dictator of Poor Coast, a parody of a banana republic ruler”) and El Manosanta (“The miracle healer”), two eternal jewels.

Expertos en pinchazos (“Experts in pin pricks”), Rambito y Rambón, Primera Misión (“Little Rambo and Big Rambo, first mission”), Los colimbas se divierten (“Young soldiers have fun”) and Los caballeros de la cama redonda (“The Knights of the Round Bed”) were the films which made him popular.


Synonym for “Mardel”

These productions included night, women, casino, beach, season and other things which have turned the city of Mar del Plata and “Negro” Olmedo into a legend that, even after his death, can be felt on every corner by tourists who visit this site every year.

The memory of the unforgettable prize called “Sea Star” awarded to the performance entitled The “Negro” cannot do it in 1987 and its unforgettable hands printed on the famous hotel Hermitage are signs of the popular devotion to this man from Rosario, who will live in this “happy city” for ever.