In my long life, porteño night is inextricably associated with two famous places: Bar-Sur and Bar Unión, which doesn’t exist anymore. Mentioning them is mentioning the Montesino brothers and, especially, Ricardo Montesino, their relentless alma mater.

I’m not a few years older, but the difference of ages has not been an obstacle; from the first day or better said from the first night, we have formed an unshakeable friendship.

It’s difficult not to feel friend with Ricardo Montesino.

The warm, cosy and I dare to say familial atmosphere that reigns in Bar-Sur, Ricardo creates and spreads it, not as a strategy of a businessman but because of his personality’s natural energy.

The word “businessman”, applied to Ricardo Montesino, seems absolutely improper and even nonsensical. What kind of businessman is this one that instead of keeping an eye on profit and loss accounts, just spends his time, his energy and his money in preserving for Buenos Aires a place defended against the invasion of ephemeral fashions and against the implacable orders of utilitarian economy?

All of us who love the night, conversation, tango, thank Ricardo Montesino for not wanting to deprive us, no matter the cost, of this little great night temple, Bar-Sur, where we can hold our dearest rituals, most characteristic of our porteño condition.

But there is a trait, in Ricardo Montesino, that I want to highlight, because it’s unique and very special, and of particular interest to me as a writer.

It´s his determined and continuous purpose of linking Bar-Sur with cultural, literary and artistic forms or expressions to make it, more than one night, a paragon of those famous cafés in Europe that are related to literature or plastic.

I remember, at random from my memory, the unforgettable tribute to the writer Luisa Mercedes Levinson in Bar-Sur. I remember the actress Elsa Berenguer’s one-women show.

I remember the several book presentations and the painting exhibitions.

And I omit, because of (false) modesty, the shows Ricardo Montesino gave in my honour and for my honour.

Bar-Sur doesn´t have “clients.” There, this word doesn´t make any sense. Bar-Sur has friends, parishioners, comrades, congregants. Or, still better, let’s dust off the old word now disused: “worshippers”, a term which involves comradeship and communion.

“From the Academy of Letters”
Marco Denevi