There isn’t much left of El Cabo today.
The former fishing neighbourhood of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was once home to around 800 families. Today, the San Telmo chapel, dedicated to the patron saint of fishermen, is the most visible reminder of what was once a thriving community.
Every 15 April, the chapel still receives the traditional offering once made by the local fishermen’s brotherhood. But the neighbourhood around it has long since disappeared.
From fishing village to city development
El Cabo dates back to the 16th century, developing alongside Santa Cruz itself. Engineer Leonardo Torriani documented the area in 1588, describing around 200 homes close to the coast.
It was a proper community, built around fishing and the sea, although life wasn’t always particularly easy. The area had geographical and infrastructure problems, including the old wooden footbridge over the Barranco de Santos. That was eventually replaced by a more substantial bridge in 1941.
The big changes came in the second half of the 20th century.
The first General Urban Planning Plan in 1963 set the process in motion, with demolitions continuing for decades. Between 1963 and 1998, homes, shops and community spaces disappeared as the area was gradually dismantled.
Further demolition took place in 2003 to make way for the Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (TEA).
The transformation wasn’t finally complete until 2022, when the former San Carlos barracks reopened as government offices.
The people were displaced too
The story isn’t simply about old buildings being knocked down.
Around 800 families from El Cabo and nearby Los Llanos were affected by the redevelopment.
According to the study Architecture and Territory: The Dismantling of El Cabo (1957-2022) by Javier Francisco del Molino Almazán and Francisco Álvaro Ruiz Rodríguez, promises were made that residents would be relocated to new homes in the city centre.
Those promises didn’t materialise as intended.
Many families ended up being moved to the outskirts, where basic services and public transport were lacking. More importantly, the move broke apart a community that had developed over generations.
When you move people away from their homes, you don’t just move the buildings. You can lose the relationships, traditions and everyday connections that made the place a community in the first place.
Almost nothing remains
Only three historic structures from the old area survive today: the Hospital of Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados, dating from 1749, the San Carlos Barracks, built in 1875, and the San Telmo chapel.
The chapel has therefore taken on an importance that goes well beyond its religious role.
The old traditions haven’t completely disappeared either.
The Asociación Cultural Amigos de San Telmo and the Virgen del Buen Viaje continues to organise annual celebrations, with people returning for the procession each July.
For former residents and their families, these events provide a link to a neighbourhood that has largely vanished.
What El Cabo left behind
The remains of El Cabo raise an awkward question about how cities develop.
Santa Cruz has changed enormously over the past sixty years, and the former neighbourhood has been replaced by cultural, educational and government buildings.
But development comes with a cost when the people who already live somewhere are treated as an obstacle rather than part of the place.
Today, much of El Cabo exists in photographs, memories and the stories of the people who lived there.
The buildings may have gone, but the memory of the fishing neighbourhood hasn’t disappeared quite so easily.