The creation of Passeig de Gràcia was motivated by an economic crisis that had harmed the less favored classes. The captain general of Catalonia tried to avert it by giving them work in a large-scale urban project. And so, the narrow and impassable road to Gràcia was turned into a great walk. Such a novelty in a dense and suffocating walled Barcelona was very well received: the place was framed by a very generous plantation of aligned trees.
Citizens who could afford to go there for a walk soon discovered its benefits; hence it became a bourgeois space. Seeing the result, stalls offering seats and refreshments were soon set up on both sides. Gardens were also laid. The attraction then multiplied with food establishments and even stages. In one of them, Wagner's music was heard for the first time in Spain, thanks to the Clavé of the choirs. The Tívoli theater was born there. The cherry on top was the gigantic Champs Elysées amusement park, one of the most relevant in Europe.
Ildefons Cerdà respected that reality when projecting his plan for Eixample. It was not strange that that area, already enjoyed by the well-settled classes, attracted the first residents. The aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, by settling in large residences, made it the first axis that was built the soonest; Passeig de Gràcia came to dominate what would be called the Dreta de l'Eixample.
This stage had an intensity that was appreciated and became the best stage in Barcelona, something the bourgeoisie always yearns for to show off and as a meeting place. The walks on both sides soon appeared full of pedestrians, although the best was always the one on the Besòs side, thanks to the caress of the sun. Go and come without any rush, attentive to spot whether they were friends, coneguts or greetings, to comply with the ritual. This behavior responded to the need to show off and attest to one's presence. Another thing was what was soon offered with the chairs: contemplating the spectacle.
And on the road another style of exhibition took place: first with the riders and then with the individual or family carriages whose category depended on the brand of the foreign builder.
Behind the neighbors and walkers, the appearance of modernisme brought exceptional splendor to the landscape, which led to a natural competition between owners and architects to see who could achieve supremacy. Although not always well understood, as happened with one of the first tenants of La Pedrera, who received a letter in his name with only this address: “Strange house. Barcelona". The elegant streetlights of the architect Falqués, due to their excessive originality, provoked indignation.
The ground floor was first enriched with cafes; They were the most spectacular, taking advantage of enormous surfaces that did not exist in the walled city. They later incorporated modernist decoration and some provided almost twenty billiards. The businesses took a little longer to dare; The Roca jeweler accredited on the Rambla was branded crazy by his colleagues. They soon contributed excellence, realizing that that enclave was unsurpassable.
This walk was so attractive that they coveted it for the parades: soldiers and Carnestoltes, without forgetting the voice of Carlinhos Brown and his gesticulating troupe: Mayor Clos. Seven screens of high-class cinemas filled the legion of moviegoers with happiness.
The popular automobile changed uses and customs. The promenade was emptied of walkers and the car was so loved that it could be parked on its sidewalks, as well as on Diagonal and Gran Via. At the same time, another known danger was added: the increasing presence of bank headquarters, which had already turned Plaza Catalunya into a desert. L'Associació d'Amics fought back, despite being described as enemics, and achieved the expansion of the sidewalks, a change that has proven to be transcendent.
The most prestigious world brands today want to be present on this Passeig de Gràcia that the relevant professor Allan Jacobs has included in his book Great Streets about the best streets in the world.
A pending issue: the obelisk dedicated to President Pi i Margall and the Republic has been mutilated under the Colau City Hall, to such an extent that it is now the “nobody monument.” Shameful and intolerable. Its historical image must be recovered.
