Dear Community,

15 years ago we had a dream to open Bolero Café. For 15 years Bolero has been bringing together members of our community, our neighborhood, and our friends. Through poetry, literature, and music from all regions of Mexico and the rest of the Americas, we’ve created a space of love, of cultural exchange, of respect for others. Bolero was a dream and we refuse to allow it to just disappear.

For 15 years since we opened we have tried to ensure that all the cafe’s paperwork in terms of zoning and permits have been up to date and in order. It’s been an impossible endeavor due to the complexity of the laws and bureaucratic system in Mexico City. Each new city administration has adjusted and changed the laws that affect us as a business. On June 21st the city shut Bolero down until further notice. In reviewing our case with lawyers that specialize in commerce and through meetings with the pertinent governmental bodies we hope we have encountered at last a way to open Bolero so that our business is legally recognized and protected from further closures.

That’s why we are asking for your help: to recoup the losses that we have incurred because of our closure, second, to pay the legal fees necessary to move forward in this process, and third, to resupply the cafe with what we need to provide services to our clients.

In the link on this page you can donate to help Bolero come back to life after this difficult hiatus. We hope that Bolero has been as important to you as it has been to us and that we can join together as a community to reopen this space that has come to mean so much for so many. This is important not only for our own livelihood but also for all the small businesses – coffee producers, mezcaleras, craft brewers, local farms, pasta producers, Mexican wineries, local and international musicians, authors, and poets – that our business supports. We hope you will join us.

With love,

Bolero Crew ( Valentin, Jaime, Hernan, Sergio, Nelson).