Club Deportivo San Fernando (1933 - 2007)

If you’re going by the fifth, is my beautiful cali that you’re crossing, and there you would go by the old location of the San Fernando Sports Club.

If in the afternoons the palm trees happily move around, the night is waiting.

The Club San Fernando was an emblematic location in Cali, Colombia. It was the first of its kind in the city and hosted important social events for decades. Bernando Pinzón, a caleño businessperson lost control of the property during the economic downfall of the city.

The end of this iconic location came with an economic crisis that devastated the city.

Years went by while different owners would make plans that never came to be, the property started falling apart and it was eventually demolished.

The walls took away with them echoes from the top musicians of their times. La Billo´s Caracas Boys, Matecaña, Benny Moré, Agustín Lara o Xavier Cugat, Lucho” Bermúdez, Matilde Díaz,

In 1956, after a terrible tragedy in the city , the halls became hospital rooms to acomodate the sudden influx of patients being treated by members of the club who happened to be doctors.

San Fernando by Lucho Bermudez (youtube)

The massive installations included:

tennis and squash courts swimming pools diving platforms bowlling alley sauna and spa child care restaurant halls, office and meeting rooms gardens and scultptures

The location is now becoming a technological center that is going to house an observatory and multiple associations for economic and cultural development.

Triste paradoja la del San Fernando, un club como pocos, con un gran sentido de solidaridad social: con socios pero sin sede

Source:

• Infobae - Aug 8, 2021
• Icesi - Jan 24, 2011