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The former Versalles and the place that later succeeded it, Barçalles, was located on the border of the Clot neighborhood with the right of Eixample, at 463 Mallorca street, corner with Castillejos. Two blocks from the Sagrada Familia.
Its owner, Antoni Bertrán, also had the Venus cinemas, located on Avenida del General Primo de Rivera (now Avenida Gaudí and Emporium, on Calle Independencia, all of them close to each other. A trick that the owners used at that time.
As the distances between cinemas were short and the distribution companies did not have many copies of the films, they had hired a young boy with a bicycle who took care of moving the film reels from one location to another and, thus, with a single rental and a bit of luck in not suffering a power outage (very frequent then) and a good capitulation of the projections, the films made their daily circuit.
When the Versailles was inaugurated, it had a lobby in which the ticket booths and the panels in which the photographs of the next films were offered, as well as an audience that was completely different from the rest of the cinemas. Thus, at first glance, it gave the impression that it was wider than deep.
At the beginning of the 50s, José Lecumberri de la Fuente took over the premises, completely transforming it, with an in-depth reform, enlarging the lobby. He built a stage with a small pit for the musicians, some dressing rooms and increased the capacity, from 800 to 1,167 spectators.
It introduced variety performances into its programming, with the main artists of the moment who performed in the city's theaters (they had the obligation to perform once a year in the cinemas that offered variety shows). They offered a short show, so that people from the neighborhoods could have the opportunity to see them perform in person (there was no television then).
But, there were two performances that marked a milestone at the venue. Maty Mont, a vedette who triumphed in the main Paralelo theaters, was one of the artists who every year presented the magazine that she had been representing at the Paralelo theater at the end of the cycle. After several years, in 1951, he had to break with the normal programming, since due to the success obtained, he presented two magazines that he had premiered at Paralelo, from October 23 to November 4: Barcelona is fun and, from 5 to November 11, Maty Mont on the phone.
In September 1955, the incomparable Estrellita Castro performed for only 4 days and, on Monday, April 29, 1963, Juanita Reina performed with her entire show, with Ole con Ole, with the dancer Caracolillo (later her husband) and all her ballet, as well as Emilio el Moro, humorous singer. That day there was no film projection, since there were two functions, afternoon and night.
Lecumberri de la Fuente achieved something spectacular for the neighborhood and it was that he had managed to get most of the magazines that were presented at Paralelo, at the end of the contracted cycle, to perform for a week at Versalles.
In 1977 the theater was acquired by Pedro Balañá's company, which converted it solely into a cinema. On this occasion, the great businessman failed, since the innovation of video rental stores was arriving and people from the neighborhoods began to stop going to the cinemas during the week, which forced the company to close the premises on the 8th. May 1986.
It was inactive until the businessman Martí Farré, owner of the Fibra Óptica nightclubs in Barcelona and La Atlántida in Sitges, decided to open a new nightclub in the old cinema on Friday, April 20, 1990, dedicated to Barça members.
Barçalles, which as a nightclub had a capacity of 1,500 people, diversified its offer and began to present boxing evenings apart from the nightclub. The success made the venue very popular, but the overcrowding was not controlled by the management. There were complaints from the neighbors, because the public leaving late at night caused quite a few disturbances.
The tension gradually increased and the complaints became daily, which ended with the intervention of the City Council, which decreed its closure on November 21, 1997.
