LA PRIMERA CALLE ADOQUINADA DE BARCELONA: NOU DE LA RAMBLA

SUBSCRIBE:    / @barcelonamemory   BECOME A MEMBER:    / @barcelonamemory   WEB: http://barcelonamemory.com/ INSTAGRAM:   / barcelonamemory   FACEBOOK:   / barcelonamemory   CONTACT: [email protected] TIP FOR DONATIONS: https://es.tipeee.com/barcelona-memory SYNOPSIS: The Captain General of Catalonia, Francisco González de Bassecourt, Count of Asalto, decided to build a wide, straight street connecting La Rambla to the western wall, on the road to Montjuïc. Construction work began in 1783. The fields began to be transformed into streets: San Paciano, San Rafael, Tapies, Santa Elena, Reina Amalia, Lancaster, Om, Guardia, Lleialtat, Hort de la Bomba, Botella, and Marqués de Barberá. The work was completed in 1788. Locals called it "the new street of the boulevard." The street became a transit point for pedestrians arriving in the city via the port and a refuge for bohemians and romantic revolutionaries. It was then one of the city's liveliest streets. In 1823, the first establishment in Spain selling plaster figures of saints and the first water paper factory, which was used to cover the inside covers of books, opened on this street. That year, the street opened a public fountain. The Amorós billiard factory was the most advanced of its time. It even exported billiard tables to other countries! (1835). In 1833, the eccentric Lunardi offered a tethered balloon show in an empty lot. Everyone wanted to ascend in the apparatus to see their neighborhood from above. The street once housed 74 spinning mills. It also housed the headquarters of the Industrial Institute, a textile employers' association, and the Café de la Amnistía, where the first workers' association was founded when the weavers grouped together in the so-called Colla dels Ben Fets. Its headquarters were located on the nearby Calle de la Leona. La Granota was one of the neighborhood's most popular taverns. It hosted caramel and comedy groups. The popular Choirs of En Clavé were founded here (on the corner of Calle de l'Om), which performed Les Flors de Maig for the first time at the Bar de l'Embut. The New Warrior organized literary and humorous competitions; and the Círculo la Luz, the Barcelona Union of Free Thinkers, dedicated to promoting secular schools. Its gatherings were attended by republicans and freemasons (Rossend Arús, Odón de Buen, Anselmo Lorenzo, Cels Gomis, Eudald Canibell, José Nakens). In 1885, Eusebi Güell commissioned Gaudí to build him a palace next to the Rambla (1885-1890). Directly opposite, at number 8, was the first location of Manuel Maucci's Editorial Bookstore, specializing in cheap paperbacks. He introduced Barcelona to the reading of authors such as Émile Zola, Rosa Luxemburg, and Errico. Malatesta and Mikhail Bakunin. At number 25 was the Roca Museum dedicated to anatomical curiosities. Barcelona residents would queue to see the naked wax figures cut open... (1900). At the beginning of the 20th century, with the rise of the Paralelo, art academies were established here, such as the Lara Trio, the Cortés Vives Academy (1916), or the most popular, the Gordito Academy, where Raquel Meller and Bella Dorita learned the art trade. At the end of her career, Bella Dorita set up the Bodega de Toro tablao on this same street, which over the years would be converted into a porn performance venue, "Bagdad." Some couplet lyricists were residents of the street: Juan Viladomat Massanas (number 106), creator of "Fumando Espero" and "El vestir d'en Pascual," later popularized by Nuria Feliu. Francisco Codoñer and Mercedes Berenguer, composers of "E" Little House of Paper. ...Years later, the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat was born on this street. During the years of World War I, the street became an extension of the Paralelo that connected with the Ramblas. The human fauna was extremely diverse: drunken sailors, street vendors, attractive young ladies looking for wealthy gentlemen, bohemians, artists, workers, uninhibited young gentlemen, pimps, beggars... In 1917, it became fashionable to go dancing at La Patacada (1917) and have a drink at El Mecànic, the Triunfo, the dancing los Faroles (1929), or the magnificent Eden Concert, where the Café de la Alegría had once been (1887). In the 1930s, it featured jazz shows hosted by Black Americans. In 1935, it became the Eden Cinema and later the Eden Cinema (1939-1985). On the upper floors of the Eden Concert was home to Picasso's favorite brothel, Casa Emilia, now the Gaudi Hotel. Right next door was the La Estrella farm (number 32), opened in 1825, and Bar Edén, known as the "black bar" because it was frequented by black musicians and dancers. The full text is at www.barcelonamemory.com