Agua Caliente is a historic entertainment center and present-day district of

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

, Baja California, Mexico, at the southeastern end of the ''Centro'' borough. The ''Agua Caliente Tourist Complex'' formed in the late 1920s along Agua Caliente Boulevard when a road was built that led from the historic Rio Zone to a natural hot springs two miles up the Tijuana River Valley. Paramount icons of Tijuana developed in Agua Caliente such as the Agua Caliente Casino and Hotel and the Agua Caliente Racetrack. Today Agua Caliente is one of Tijuana's paramount tourist centers, the location of some of the city's most affluent neighborhoods, and also contains commercial and other offices along Boulevard Agua Caliente.

History

The hot springs around which the Agua Caliente Tourist Complex grew was a well known location and prior to major development, was the site of small hotels and cabins. With the development of the casino and resort in 1928, Agua Caliente developed as a premier tourist attraction that drew the likes of

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered ...

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

, and

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

. The resort was designed in a Mexican and Californian colonial style, fitted with gardens, its own airstrip, bungalows, minarets, baths, and the casino and hotel itself. The Agua Caliente Club was a golf course adjacent to the city that later became the Tijuana Country Club. In 1930 the golf course had its first

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

event at the Agua Caliente Open, won by Gene Sarazen. The Agua Caliente Racetrack was constructed one year later in 1929 and was the site of the

Agua Caliente Handicap The Agua Caliente Handicap is a defunct thoroughbred horse race that was once the premier event at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and the richest race in North America. Inaugurated in 1917 as the Coffroth Handicap, ...

. The race attracted wealthy

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ns and was the richest race in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. In 1935, then Mexican President

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revo ...

outlawed gambling and the resort was closed. The resort was converted into a technical school and the site gradually fell into a state of disrepair as the resort furnishings were stripped away. Though the race track continued to operate, gambling was not legalized until 1938. In 1971 the original structure of the racetrack was destroyed in a fire. It was later repaired and continues operation today, though horse racing has been replaced with

Greyhound Racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

, as the Racetrack of Agua Caliente (). Plaza Aguacaliente & Grand Hotel Tijuana are a set of twin towers built adjacent to the Tijuana Country Club, constructed in 1982. It was the first major complex built in Agua Caliente after the original Tourist Complex. The early 2000s saw the establishment of Estadio Caliente on the grounds of the racetrack, though the stadium does not interfere with races. The development of the stadium brought

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, simply known as Tijuana or Xolos, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Tijuana, Baja California, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club ...

to the city, its first professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team.

Agua Caliente today

In the contemporary era Agua Caliente is one of Tijuana's most developed districts. Along with Avenida Revolucion, it is one of the city's tourist centers and is the site of luxury hotels and numerous shopping centers. It is the city's primary athletic center being home to the only golf course in the city, Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez Moreno, Estadio Caliente, and the Agua Caliente Race Track.

Commercial area / edge city

Part of Agua Caliente along Boulevard Agua Caliente functions as an extension of the city's main commercial district, the Zona Río. The Agua Caliente submarket had, in 2016, of class A and B office space, while the contiguous Zona Río submarket had , for a total of . As such, the contiguous Zona Río/Agua Caliente area can be considered an

edge city An edge city is a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban, residential or rural area. The term was popularized by the 1991 boo ...

, that is a primary commercial area outside of a traditional downtown.Chapter 11: "The List: Edge Cities Coast to Coast" in

Notable landmarks

* Agua Caliente Racetrack * Estadio Caliente * Agua Caliente Resort and Casino Tower * The Minaret () * Tijuana Country Club

Major buildings on or in Agua Caliente

* Centura Tower *

Grand Hotel Tijuana The Plaza Aguacaliente & Grand Hotel Tijuana (commonly known by locals as Las Torres) is a mixed-use high-rise building complex of twin skyscrapers in Tijuana, Mexico. With a height of 89.9 meters (295 feet) to the top floor, and 28 stories, th ...

* Green View Tower

Corporate presence

The following companies have corporate presence in the area: * AIG Mexico * Baker & McKenzie * Bancomext * Sony Mexico *

Zurich Financial Services Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. the group is the world's 98th largest public company according to ''Forbes'' Global 2000s list, and in 2011, it ranked 94th ...

References

{{Use mdy dates, date=August 2011 Tourist attractions in Baja California