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The missing café bar La Pasa was one of the first two establishments that opened its doors on the occasion of the first urbanization of Plaza España in Barcelona in 1900.
The premises were owned by a cardboard manufacturer installed in the municipality of Sants (as it was formerly written) who, after joining Barcelona, on April 20, 1897, by a royal decree of the regent María Cristina, decided to invest in the area by opening two restaurant businesses as a stop for travelers before entering the city.
The Babar La Pansa was where you could have a soft drink and the La Montera Food House was where meals were only served to travelers who arrived in the city hungry or who were leaving and wanted to eat something before leaving. Later, in the area near the new square, they opened the primitive Bohème cinema and another of the first bars in the area, Café Canto.
In the center of the square, during the main festival of Hostafrancs, the canopy was installed where popular events and dances were held.
In this area, at that time still semi-uninhabited, the second bullring in Barcelona was inaugurated, which was inaugurated on June 29, 1900. It was built on the Coll dels Inforcats, a mound where, in the 14th century, it had been installed. a gallows and, when an execution took place, the Pi Parish went in procession to the Covered Cross to collect the remains of the executed person in procession.
On the occasion of the construction of the bullring and the opening of several horse stables to provide the picadors with the necessary mounts, the La Pansa bar became a meeting place for horse dealers for bullfighting festivities.
With the inauguration of the bullring, La Pansa began to be famous in the place, since it was one of the few places where you could quench your thirst before and after the bullfights, while discussing the performance of the bullfighters and the bravery of the bulls.
According to Antoni García Palacín, an active researcher in the Sants neighborhood, La Pansa acquired fame because the brandy was served in small glasses garnished with a raisin inside.
Word spread throughout the city about these shots served in this place, which was where the neighbors gathered to "have a pansa" (raisin, in Catalan) in the afternoons and to participate in some small gatherings. Little by little the fame of the goodness of the drink spread until the place became a center for farewell to the night for spectators of the Parallel shows.
The first survival problem came when Barcelona was chosen to host the 1929 International Exhibition, since the premises located around the future Plaza de España had to be expropriated for the construction of several hotels.
Some, such as the España theater and the Bohème cinema, were expropriated. The theater disappeared and the Bohème looked for a new location in Cruz Covert - Bejar to build the new premises.
La Pansa was luckier, since the architects who designed the hotels agreed that the old bar would be located on the ground floor of hotel number 1, which was the one with the clock façade.
But, in 1968, the bar disappeared permanently and, subsequently, the building became property of the City Council, which became the headquarters of several institutions.
Finally, with the awarding of the 1992 Olympics to the city of Barcelona, the building was demolished in 1990 to build the Catalonia Plaza Hotel, the work of Enric Soria and Jordi Garcés.
