A single barred window gives passersby a glimpse into its interior. The store offers an unassuming narrow door to the street. Just inside Canal 112, Carlos Teniente presides over his stone-arched, wood-beamed emporium, a place he designed himself, even laying the stone floor in 2017 when he opened Vinos y Licores Mexicanos.
His stock is plentiful: wines of seemingly every variety and origin, and liquors known and obscure, are shelved from floor to ceiling. More brands, sizes, and gaudy labels crowd tabletops. They fill ledges, corners, and niches. But also, equally on display, are myriad non-alcoholic items that compose Carlos' vast collection of – well, what to call these heterogeneous objects - tchotchkes? curios? nicknacks? kitsch? No overarching label seems quite to fit. And, although it's not true, the store claims to sell only vinos y licores, and not the... what-have-you.
So, entering in innocent search of alcohol, as I did, one stands amidst evocative, sometimes imposing, non-alcoholic items. These include: a carved stone lion, an elegant bakelite wood-trimmed radio, a rocking horse with a coin-slot, a church bell, gilded religious engravings, framed displays of decades-old cigarette packs, and brightly colored beer trays. In the entry hangs a lovely chandelier, each glass lampshade unique. Farther on a fabulous art deco piece is nominally a mirror, but must really be called bas relief, since the encroaching golden tendrils from a central bejeweled figure cover half the mirror's surface. A mechanical red bird, German-made, can sing inside its golden cage, if Carlos sets it going.
Arrays of colorful miniature bottles and decanters decorate ledges high and low. Antique toys from various countries are strategically placed. Stacks of vintage movie posters await your perusal in a comfy chair. Toward the back, a male figurine, province unknown, turns out to be a decanter with an amusing spout.
You'll realize right away that this is hardly your run of the mill liquor store. And if you're not in a big hurry and ask, Carlos will tell you that everything, though unadvertised, is indeed for sale.
During many visits and warm exchanges over my four winters in San Miguel, I began to find my way among the visual cornucopia crowding this fascinating store, and to begin asking Carlos about his unexpectedly extensive stock.
Over time (and generously offered mezcal), he told me that, now forty-seven years old, he began collecting in his teens. He grew up in San Miguel. His father and grandfather, skilled mechanics, long ran a vehicle repair business which still flourishes on two acres in San Rafael, now owned by his brother.
Always fascinated by engines, his father diversified and internationalized the property's inevitable collection of vehicles and vehicle parts. Carlos learned mechanics, welding, and other skills from his family. He recalls the intricacies of an English tractor, various Caterpillar models, and unnamed others that may still be on the property.
Carlos absorbed the respect and delight felt there for the hand or mechanical craftsmanship and the innovation of previous decades, and began his collecting career. He found himself at estate sales and home clearances, traveling throughout Guanajuato to visit them. It seems likely that twenty or thirty years ago more families were selling their homes, land, and perhaps generations of possessions, rewarding Carlos' interest in craft and style.
Carlos bought the century-old building on Calle Canal, previously an ice cream shop, with an eye to displaying his growing collection there. His somewhat whimsical renovation installed a massive wooden ceiling beam carved by a friend to represent a sleeping dog, as well as stone floors, reed-covered ceilings, and endless shelving. Though he'd once hoped to sell antiques, he settled on a liquor store.
Today, despite the store's big space, Carlos keeps some items elsewhere, including this under-construction full-sized welded iron lion currently in San Rafael. And from there he sourced the Caterpillar transmission wheel now welded into his store's decorative interior doors.
My slow take on Vinos y Liquores Mexicanos is surely not unique. And I can't be more grateful to Carlos for filling me in. Seeing things come into focus as Carlos explains them and recounts their acquisition is huge fun.
video: Carlos Teniente *
The items were produced in the urbanizing 19th and 20th centuries. They're not antique, at least not in the sense of paying homage to obsolete ways of life. The radio, the mirror, the chandelier, the children's toys, the pictures, and the more recent wooden beam and steel gate, were produced with style and craft by hand or machine. Their purposes include utility, decoration and amusement, sometimes all together. Although the modern world has replaced them with sleeker models, it's delightful to encounter these earlier versions.
Go see for yourself. Spend some time at Vinos y Liquores Mexicanos. Move physically and visually through its displays. Talk to Carlos, who lovingly brought the collection together for us to enjoy almost as much as he does. I'm sure you'll find some things I've yet to notice.
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Vinos y Licores Mexicanos, Canal 112 Carlos Teniente
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Maren Stange is a retired professor of American Studies and visual culture, the author of several books and many articles that explore photography in its cultural context. She and her dog Rosie regularly escape Brooklyn winters in San Miguel.
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