Recalling the Drugstore of Passeig de Gràcia

There are some places that, although they do not exist, last in the urban memory and evoke in their own right an entire period. On Passeig de Gràcia there was one of those places, in which one – if the imagination could fly a little – it could feel a bit like it was in Manhattan, for its endless hours.  

We talk about the Drugstore of Passeig de Gràcia, an emblematic establishment of the Barcelona of the sixties, a time when the city strove to break away from the greyishness of the Franco regime and embrace modernity and cosmopolitanism looking to Europe. Accompanied by unequivocal publicity pop advertising, the Drugstore of Passeig de Gràcia was opened in 1967 at number 71, between the streets Mallorca and València and next to the also missing Fantasio cinema. Its inauguration was celebrated and was attended by the artist Salvador Dalí and the actor George Hamilton, as well as a representation of the intellectual world of Barcelona at the moment.

One of the most outstanding features of the Drugstore in Passeig de Gràcia -and what gave it much of its appeal- was the fact that it was open 24 hours a day, becoming the first place of these characteristics in Spain and keeping it up which closed its doors in 1992. Only initially closed an hour, from six to seven, for cleaning tasks. For this reason, his cafeteria -which had a terrace outside the Passeig- was a mecca of the roaring nighthawks that kept the party beyond the sunrise, and that coincided with the early morning workers.  Along with the kiosks on the Ramblas, the Drugstore was the only place in Barcelona where you could buy the press before going to bed.

In his well-stocked bookstore with glass walls you could buy books at dawn, too. And, in the eighties – a decade in which the security had to be reinforced to prevent delinquency – a vending machine allowed to rent video movies at any time.  

In the Drugstore there were also several fashion shops – some as extravagant as those that specialized in paper clothes-, discs -with presentations and signatures for fans -, gifts and electronics, a bar restaurant and a store groceries.