We invite you to take a tour of the most important milestones in the history of Vallarta Port, from its origins to its consolidation as one of the most important tourist centers in the world.
1. What is the pre-Hispanic background of Puerto Vallarta?
The oldest remains found in the territory where PV is located today come from the current Lázaro Cárdenas colony and allow to locate settlers in the area as early as 300 BC. Around the year 700 AD, individuals belonging to the Aztatlán culture arrived in the area of present-day Puerto Vallarta and the inhabitants that the Spanish conquerors encountered were indigenous from the Late Post Classic.
2. When did the Spanish arrive in present-day Puerto Vallarta?
The first group of Spaniards to arrive in the Banderas Valley did so in 1525, under the command of Captain Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura, an explorer and soldier who was the nephew of Hernán Cortés. Cortés de San Buenaventura was the first Hispanic to arrive in the current state of Nayarit. He was also the first mayor of Colima and met his death in 1531 after his boat was shipwrecked, the survivors being shot by arrows by the Indians.
3. Where does the name "Flags" come from for the bay where Puerto Vallarta is?
The clearly Hispanic name was given by the first conquerors. According to the chronicle, when Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura arrived in the territory, he was received by about 20,000 armed and hostile Indians, who carried little feathered flags. Although the chronicler affirms that the natives were frightened by a glow that arose from the banner that the Spaniards carried, it is most likely that they were intimidated by the firearms and dogs of the conquerors. Apparently, the indigenous people surrendered, leaving their weapons and flags on the ground, from which the name of the bay arose.
4. What happened in the territory during the colonial era?
For most of the viceregal period, Puerto Vallarta was a small town with a port of passage, used to load silver and other precious metals mined from nearby mountain mining sites and to receive supplies needed by these scattered communities.
5. When was the current Puerto Vallarta born as a city?
The official founding date of PV was December 12, 1851, although it was neither a city nor was it called Puerto Vallarta. The name of the original nucleus of Puerto Vallarta was Las Peñas de Santa María de Guadalupe, a name given by Don Guadalupe Sánchez Torres, a merchant who traveled along the coast buying the salt used to refine silver. Sánchez Torres and a few families settled in the place and the village began to grow thanks to its port activity.
6. When did Puerto Vallarta's relationship with the rest of Mexico begin?
Until the 1880s, the town, which had come to be called, still unofficially, Puerto Las Peñas, had little contact with the rest of Mexico. In 1885 the port, which already had a thousand and a half inhabitants, was opened to national navigation, beginning a slow commercial and human exchange with the rest of the nation. In 1885, the first national office, the maritime customs, was opened and the town received its first legal name: Las Peñas.
7. When was the name Puerto Vallarta adopted and what does Vallarta mean?
The current name was adopted in 1918, in honor of Ignacio Luis Vallarta Ogazón, a politician and military man from Guadalajara who was Governor of Jalisco, Secretary of the Interior and Foreign Relations, and president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
8. What did the people of Puerto Vallarta live on at that time?
During the first quarter of the 20th century, Puerto Vallarta survived thanks to the maritime transport of precious metals and to the agricultural and livestock activity developed by the inhabitants who did not work in the shipping sector. However, mining activity collapsed due to the discovery of large deposits of gold and silver in the United States, losing Puerto Vallarta the main source of its economic support.
9. What happened then? Did the tourism boom begin?
The birth of Puerto Vallarta as a tourist pole would not come until the 1960s, so tourism could not compensate the city for its sudden economic depression due to the fall of metals. However, in 1925, the American multinational Montgomery Fruit Company bought almost 30,000 hectares of land to plant bananas in the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta and Puerto Vallarta recovered a certain economic boom. In November 1930 another momentous event occurred in the history of the city, with the inauguration of the public electricity service.
10. Bananas no longer support PV What happened to them?
The city lived for about 10 years mainly from the port activity derived from the production and transportation of the bananas demanded by the Americans on their tables, which were taken by rail from the plantations to the El Salado estuary in PV. However, in 1935 the Mexican government of President Lázaro Cárdenas promulgated an Agrarian Reform Law that nationalized the plantations, ending Montgomery's activities.
11. What came after the bananas?
Another stage of need arrived, although some years later the sharks, much to their regret, came to the aid of Puerto Vallarta. Shark fin and meat requirements had expanded in California, New York, and other North American states as a result of growing Asian immigration, especially from China. To this demand was added that of shark livers, used to make the oil that was given as a nutritional supplement to American soldiers during World War II.
12. Did the war end and the tourism solution finally arrived?
Not yet. Although Puerto Vallarta had already been developing a tourist trend, both national and foreign, since the 1940s, it was still very small and could not be otherwise, given the lack of infrastructure to serve more intense tourism.
13. So the first centenary of the city was very sad?
Despite the difficulties, in 1951 Puerto Vallarta celebrated its first 100 years with some pomp. To commemorate the century, Los Muertos was a landing strip for airplanes in which the first journalists interested in the city arrived, cannon volleys were fired and the "True Cross" arrived. In addition, a very close advisor to Mexican President Miguel Alemán had asked for the hand of Doña Margarita Mantecón, a lady belonging to a prestigious Vallarta family, and the couple held a very famous wedding on the centennial year.
14. When was the first commercial flight of a tourist nature to Puerto Vallarta?
Tourism to PV had continued to evolve slowly but steadily and in 1954, Mexicana de Aviación inaugurated the Guadalajara - Puerto Vallarta route, to compete in tourist destinations with AeroMéxico, a state line that enjoyed a monopoly towards the now famous Acapulco. In 1956, Mexicana also flew for the first time between Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta and on the maiden voyage one of the passengers was the engineer Guillermo Wulff, a citizen who would leave a huge mark in PV and the Bay of Banderas.
15. When was the first international flight?
In 1962, Mexicana de Aviación inaugurated the Puerto Vallarta-Mazatlán-Los Angeles route thanks to its alliance with the defunct US line PanAm.
16. When did the car arrive in Puerto Vallarta?
Engineer Guillermo Wulff liked Puerto Vallarta and its surroundings so much when he first arrived in 1956 that he no longer wanted to think of another place to live. He decided to settle in PV with his family, but he needed the car that he already enjoyed in his previous, more cosmopolitan residences. So he had his car put on a cargo plane in Guadalajara and the car arrived safely in Vallarta, Wulff being the first driver to suffer the then impassable roads of the town with city pretenses.
17. When did the first phone ring?
This other novelty in PV was also linked to the undeniably pioneering spirit of Guillermo Wulff. Already settled in Puerto Vallarta, Wulff missed his telephone and moved his influences to get the installation of the first telephone exchange. Wulff did not lack influential friends, since to his professional prestige he added some classmates such as future presidents Luis Echeverría and José López Portillo. Guillermo Wulff had the first telephone number of PV, to the anger of the municipal president of the moment, who believed that the honor should be reserved for him.
18. When did Puerto Vallarta detonate as a tourist destination?
The emergence of Puerto Vallarta as an internationally renowned tourist hub was due to a fortuitous event: the filming of a Hollywood movie in 1963. In the 1950s, John Huston, an already established director, had visited Puerto Vallarta in a small private plane , being delighted with the place, but had not thought of making movies in the beautiful places.
By chance, while in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, the talisman of Puerto Vallarta, Guillermo Wulff, learned that John Huston was looking for a location for a new movie and proposed that he shoot it in Puerto Vallarta, offering himself as a guide. to identify the best places.
19. And what happened next?
John Huston came to Puerto Vallarta and Guillermo Wulff took him to different places. The director fell in love with Mismaloya beach and selected it as the main location to film The night of the iguana, theatrical work by the American playwright Tennessee Williams, of which he was going to make the film version.
20. And how could a movie make Puerto Vallarta so well known?
Apart from famous director Huston, actresses Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner were great movie divas, while the male lead, Richard Burton, was the heartthrob for whom all the girls of the time yearned. But it was not the shooting with an all-star cast that most influenced the publicity of Puerto Vallarta. During the filming period, Burton was accompanied by Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he was part of the celebrity couple in love at the time.
Puerto Vallarta became known, not so much in the film chronicles of the newspapers, as in the pages and magazines of the heart. Everything Liz and Richard did was in the newspapers around the world and with them Puerto Vallarta. Visits to the sets of Tennessee Williams accompanied by her boyfriend and Gigi, her inseparable poodle dog, also contributed to increase the press centimeter.
21. Is it true that Guillermo Wulff had an important role in the film?
So is; The night of the iguana It almost did not financially ruin Engineer Wulff. He had signed a contract with Metro Goldwin Meyer to build the recording sets and living quarters on the unspoiled grounds and to provide a host of services, including boat transport, waitresses, supplies, cooks, bars, hiring extras , and even 100 donkeys. Wulff underestimated his budget and MGM refused to review the conditions.
22. Is it true that Wulff was about to abandon the project?
If Guillermo Wulff had left his participation in The night of the iguana, just as I had decided, perhaps the movie was not finished and Puerto Vallarta would not be what it is today. After MGM refused to renegotiate the contract, Wulff announced that he was leaving. The next day a plane arrived in Puerto Vallarta with the Governor of Jalisco and the Secretary of the Interior, who, alarmed, told Wulff that his abandonment would put Mexico on the US blacklist to make movies. Wulff agreed to continue in the film. Richard Burton gave him $ 10,000 to help cover the deficit.
23. What happened after the movie ended?
The night of the iguana it was released in 1964 and was a box office success, receiving 4 Oscar nominations and winning the coveted statuette for best costume design. Thousands of viewers in the United States and around the world met on the big screen the beauty of Puerto Vallarta, Mismaloya and other places in Mexico. Burton and Taylor bought Casa Kimberley; John Huston built his house in the cove of Las Caletas, where he lived until shortly before he died, and Puerto Vallarta was launched as the place of the great characters of the jet set.
24. When did Puerto Vallarta reach the category of city?
In May 1968, while Francisco Medina Ascencio was governor of Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta was elevated to the rank of a city, which prompted an investment program in roads, telephony and other services, including the bridge over the Ameca River that connected Puerto Vallarta with the State of Nayarit and the Puerto Vallarta - Barra Navidad coastal highway.
25. When was the international airport built?
The Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Licensed International Airport was inaugurated in August 1970, receiving the name of the Mexican president who built it and put it into service. Currently, this terminal is the main one to serve air traffic in Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit, moving more than 3.5 million passengers per year.
26. When did the first plane land in Puerto Vallarta?
The premiere of Puerto Vallarta in air navigation had occurred on December 3, 1931, almost 40 years before the opening of the international airport, when a small aircraft piloted by the American Charles Vaughan, who was known as Pancho Pistolas, arrived at the port. .
27. What was the first internationally renowned event in Puerto Vallarta?
On August 20, 1970, three months before the end of his term, Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz hosted a presidential summit in Puerto Vallarta, in which he received his American colleague Richard Nixon. At the meeting, border problems were discussed and binational agreements were signed, including one for cooperation against drug trafficking.
28. Where did the first European tourists come from?
The first European tourists to arrive in Puerto Vallarta on a commercial flight after the international airport came into service were French, by virtue of an agreement between the Mexican government and the Air France line, which established the Paris - Montreal - Guadalajara - Puerto route. Vallarta.
29. What was the first hotel built in Puerto Vallarta?
The Hotel Rosita continues to be an icon of the city. The current building, a jewel of 20th century commercial architecture, was built in 1948 at one end of the boardwalk, on the shore of the beach. During the filming of The night of the iguana the hotel was frequented by the celebrities involved in the movie.
30. When was the Puerto Vallarta boardwalk built?
The first promenade and breakwater in Puerto Vallarta along the seashore dates from 1936, being successively called Paseo de la Revolución and Paseo Díaz Ordaz. The modern boardwalk, the most emblematic and lively place in the city, is a fantastic open-air art gallery that has been taking shape over the years.
The first sculpture placed on the boardwalk was Nostalgia, by Mexican Ramiz Barquet, which was released in 1984. To carry out the work, the artist was inspired by his wife Nelly Barquet, capturing love in a couple sitting on a bench, looking at the vast horizon. Then they were placed The millennia (Mathis Lídice), Origin and destination (Pedro Tello), The Subtle Stone Eater (Jonás Gutiérrez), Unicorn of Good Fortune (Aníbal Riebeling), Triton and Mermaid (Carlos Espino), The Rotunda of the Sea (Alejandro Colunga), In search of reason (Sergio Bustamante), The Seahorse (Rafael Zamarripa Castañeda), Angel of Hope and Messenger of Peace (Héctor Manuel Montes García) and The Fountain of Friendship (James "Bud" Bottoms).
31. From what era is the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe?
The most important Catholic temple in Puerto Vallarta is the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, constituting an architectural and geographical reference in the city. It is located in front of the Plaza de Armas, near the Municipal Palace, and its construction began in 1918, with subsequent modifications and adjustments, such as its central tower with four sections, which dates from the 1950s. As a curious historical fact, during the earthquake of October 9, 1995, the crown of the Virgin fell. The current one is a replica made of fiberglass and is said to be similar to the one used by Empress Charlotte, wife of Maximilian of Habsburg.
32. What was the impact on Puerto Vallarta of the great devaluation of 1982?
On February 17, 1982, there was a brutal devaluation of the Mexican currency, whose price went from 22 to 70 pesos per dollar. What was a misfortune for most of the country, for Puerto Vallarta it was a blessing. The dollars paid by foreign visitors in hotels, restaurants, taxis, tours and other services, suddenly became mountains of Mexican pesos. The economic community of Puerto Vallarta had the good sense not to increase prices in dollars and PV was filled with tourists who were going to enjoy its beauties at free prices. It was a time of great expansion of the city in every way.
33. When were Los Arcos placed on the boardwalk?
Another of the symbols of Puerto Vallarta are Los Arcos, the architectural structure of 4 stone arches that is also a busy open-air amphitheater on the boardwalk, located near the Plaza de Armas and the Church of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The current arches were installed in 2002, after Hurricane Kenna knocked down the previous ones, which had been brought from a colonial hacienda in Guadalajara.
34. When was the Puerto Vallarta Marina built?
One of the most important facilities for tourism in Puerto Vallarta is its large marina, with 450 spaces for yachts and other vessels. The marina project was carried out between the 1980s and 1990s, and today it is an attraction in itself. It has golf courses, cafes, restaurants, shops and high-end hotels. Another of its attractions is a lighthouse that no longer provides navigation services, but that compensates for this lack with its beauty and with the bar that it has in the upper part, from where there are spectacular views of both the marina itself and PV .
35. What is the Romantic Zone?
El Viejo Vallarta, the oldest area of the city, is an area of narrow streets in front of which there are cozy cafes, restaurants, small hotels, jewelry stores, handicraft stores and other establishments for the enjoyment of tourists. A few years ago, the locals started calling this great space Romantic Zone and now the name is used interchangeably with Old Vallarta. The main beach in the Romantic Zone is Los Muertos, located in a sector of the Malecón, one of the most beautiful and lively places in PV.
What did you think of our historical tour of beautiful Puerto Vallarta? We hope you liked it and that you can write us a short note with your impressions. Until next time!
