Mercado Pino Suárez

The Mercado Municipal José María Pino Suárez is Mazatlán's oldest market and the everyday heart of the historic center, a few blocks from the cathedral. It fills a whole block between Aquiles Serdán, Leandro Valle, Benito Juárez and Melchor Ocampo streets, and locals still call it the Palacio de Hierro, the iron palace, for its metal structure. It belongs to the city, has two floors, and around 280 families make their living from the businesses inside.

The market was ordered in the 1890s, when the town's markets still worked in the open air in poor conditions. Designed by Alejandro Loubet, it was built from 1895 to 1899 in an Art Nouveau style with the same iron-frame techniques used on the Eiffel Tower: about 143 tonnes of cast iron, 113 tonnes of steel profiles, 28 tonnes of wrought iron and nearly 50 tonnes of corrugated iron sheeting for the roof went into it, on 584 m³ of masonry, at a cost of a little over 116,000 pesos. Governor Francisco Cañedo inaugurated it on May 5, 1899, as the Mercado Manuel Romero Rubio, named for Porfirio Díaz's interior minister, though the stalls were not yet installed and it opened to trade in 1900. The stall counters were made of marble brought from the United States. After the fall of Victoriano Huerta, on February 14, 1915, the city council renamed it for José María Pino Suárez, Madero's vice president, murdered in 1913; it was renovated in 1951, and May 5 is still celebrated as its anniversary.

Inside, under the high iron roof and strings of papel picado, the aisles are packed with fruit and vegetable stands, groceries, Mexican crafts, beachwear and jewelry, and small fondas serving regional food and antojitos. It is the place for a cheap breakfast or a snack while walking the historic center. On weekdays it opens very early, at 5:00, and keeps going into the evening.