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BARNA'S CAPUCHAS
Big City - Small Mundos
by Liz Kueneke
Going for a coffee in the Eixample I gave in to neighborhood style and slipped into a chic sweater—in the Barceloneta “village,” my old sweatshirt and a pair of slippers would do. And the refined intimacy of a close, quiet conversation in the Eixample is unknown in the Barceloneta, there people shout. High volume enables verticality: street level to 4th floor, 3rd floor to 5th. A friend’s eight-year-old recently referred to a loud woman standing behind her as “del barrio,” and her father asked, “How do you know?” She just responded, “Se nota.”
Isolation and/or political and commercial history have created sharp differences in Barcelona’s neighborhoods: Gràcia was its own city before being consumed by Barcelona; the hilly locations of Sarrià and Horta give them a feeling of separateness; Poble Nou’s industry moved to Shanghai decades ago, but the neighborhood still feels like a factory floor five minutes after the whistle blew and the machines shut down.
Working as an artist investigating identity and place, over the years I have asked neighbors in Barcelona, Mexico, Norway, Germany and the United States to mark the places that define them on maps of their cities. The first and most enthusiastic mark is always, “This is where I live.” People are proud of their symbiotic relationships with their places. Barcelona offers a nice range of possibilities for finding your symbiosis. If you like neighbors seeing you dressed to the nines, then consider the Eixample. If you can tolerate seeing your neighbors naked—and vice versa—through the windows across narrow streets, you might be interested in the Barceloneta. And when you need a change of scenery you are always just a short metro ride away from another world.
Barceloneta
by Mia Klein
Population: 14,252 (10.6% kids, 23.8% gent gran), 79.8% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 11,711 (5,848 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 62.9%; 61-90 m2, 26.6%; 91-120 m2, 4.1%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 9.5/33.2%
Greenest Spot: Plaça del Poeta Boscà
Barrio Party: End of September first of October
 You are as tranquil as the wrinkly abuelita in her woolen socks sitting in front of her one-room apartment, catching the first warm sunrays at the beginning of spring. You are as delightful as a fresh sardina fried in olive oil and topped with parsley and garlic. Your favorite meal—chipirones washed down with a chilled quinto—is insuperable. The salty wind that blows through your straight, narrow streets cures any illness and works wonders with resacas.
Your forebearance with those who say that you are cutre is exemplary. Drying the washing on the street is not a Spleen, you explain; the average apartment is 30m2 small. You tell them about your history, the Escuela del Mar where your children learned the ABCs whilst watching the waves roll over the sand from 1921 to 1935; about the first trees planted on Joan de Borbò in 1838; about your casino, the baños de Sant Sebastià and your excellent water polo team; about the yellow fever brought to the barrio by a sailing boat from Cuba that killed nearly half of your population in 1821; about the bomb attacks during the war when the allies sought to destroy the nearby industry but killed your men instead.
250 years of hard work and privation have made you as feisty as the big fat, bright white, always hungry gaviota but not equal to your archenemies, the uncaring, dumb, tomato-red tourist troups that hold you under siege from June to September. They enter through Joan de Borbó to besiege the playa de Sant Sebastià, thus surrounding the barrio before penetrating its narrow streets to create “I want patatas bravas” mayhem in the local bars. But from October to May when the mar is yours again, the fisherman’s village charm unfolds with fuerza and you become once more that oasis in the urban ocean that is Barcelona: her teta, her soft spot, the icing on the cake.
Sant Antoni
by Maren Hermans
Population: 37,678 (10% kids, 25.3% gent gran), 87.3% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 30.279 (11.301 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 17,6%; 61-90 m2, 53%; 91-120 m2, 24,4%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 2.6/13%
Greenest Spot: c/Mistral
Barrio Party: January 17
It was no love at first sight. It took a while for us to come along and it'll probably never be S.A. forever for me. It's just not my type—a little too conservative, bourgeois, calm and quibble. With its square format, natty balconies and nerdy detail stores, Sant Antoni shows me every day that a. I should start learning some Catalan and b. there are actually people who succeed in living in the same apartment for more than 50 years.
But don't get me all wrong: Sant Antoni is a good and honest neighborhood: where the stores have names like Rápido Pilli and Metro Electrónica, where Confeccions El Rellotge celebrates its 25th anniversary. Most inhabitants are Spanish; Catalan is the dominant language on the street. That goes together with its dominant smell: the good old soap of good old people. It's a calm life over here, and I must say that I've started to like it, after a short start-off period filled with envious gazes to the Raval, Gótico and other places of the Young and the International. No Erasmus Orgasm Parties, no loud music in the night; the market opens at 8 and that is when public life starts. Siesta is siesta and at 11 at night, after a beer in Café Alegria or Bar Radio, the streets are empty. I, the Catalan abuelos and those saving up for a place in another area, we come along just fine. We'll all be gone one day, but surely borne in remembrance by our neighbours.
Les Corts
by Benjamin Nathan-Serio
Population: 68, 870 (11.5% kids, 19.9% gent gran), 92.5% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 56,280 (19,145 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 14.3%; 61-90 m2, 52.2%; 91-120 m2, 26.64%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 3.3/17.1%
Greenest Spot: Jardins de la Maternitat
Barrio Party: October 6-14
“It” spots laden with art and drugs will attract you to a neighborhood…to visit. But you need a comfy, quiet locale to lay your sweet lil’ head at night where the streets don’t reek of urine from a mini-stag parade. Where la calle belongs to the people and not the Guardia Urbana, where the most common language spoken is not English or Urdu.
Les Corts is the greenest, chillest place to empadronar yourself. We boast the most trees of any neighborhood in town. Siesta is strictly observed—you’re mandated to relax. And there are cultural spots in the hood you shouldn’t overlook. Beyond the four museums, six public libraries and cinemas—even putting the pair of “five-fork”-ranked restaurants aside—we’re home to something that lures us all out onto the clogged streets in song: Camp Nou’s FC Barcelona.
What it lacks in centrality, it makes up for in accessibility: 6 Metro stops, 5 nit buses, the tram, the RENFE up in Sarrià and down in Sants…You’re 15 minutes from Las Ramblas, the beach, anywhere in Gràcia or the airport. And should you want to skip town, you’re less than two hours from the French Border via Estació de Sants.
While we don’t have the clubs, art or drugs, we’ve got what’s important in a barrio: something local, real and permanent.
l’Eixample Dreta
by Sara Custer
Population: 41,764 (11.6% kids, 23.6% gent gran), 88% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 33,156 (11,367 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 12.4%; 61-90 m2, 34%; 91-120 m2, 28.2%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 1.8/8.3%
Greenest Spot: Parc Ciutadella
Barrio Party: No Party
 This barri has got most of it beat based on size alone, and its girth doesn’t stop at square kilometers. Drive down Gran Via and be blinded by the enchanting blue glow of the Bingo Hall and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Hang out in the lower regions and you’ll be privy to a Chinese Wedding procession almost any day of the week. True, the Spars are scarce, but who needs those when there’s a 24 hour convenience store by the Estació del Nord and the now 24-hour Open Cor on C/Ali Bei? Sundays can be a little calm, but guaranteed at least two locally-owned bars are open per block and willing to serve you a cheap Estrella. The more curious, off-the-beaten-path types will thrive here because there is much to be discovered in those sneeze-guarded counter tops; one only needs some time and a slight fanaticism for the Barça. The pisos aren’t the cheapest, but they offer quality and community. I’m on a first-name basis with my portera and start off every day speaking at least 15 minutes worth of dirty Spanish with her. If none of that is wowing you then I have two words for you: Parc Ciutadella. It’s free, it’s fun, and there’s always some weird fair going on that’s worth at least a walk through. This barrio’s charm takes one back to another time and place when people weren’t stressed by 90-degree-angle intersections, could buy anything venta mayor, eat authentic Catalan food, and get a diet coke any hour of the day without leaving their block.
Gràcia
by Megan Ellis
Population: 87,125 (10.6% kids, 23.2% gent gran), 89.4% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 70,212 (24,535 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 27.5%; 61-90 m2, 50.4%; 91-120 m2, 16.4%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 3.5/15%
Greenest Spot: Parc Güell
Barrio Party: Second week in August
 An old Viewmaster with slides of Gràcia... Click! A colourful image of narrow streets lined with trees and tall, beautifully ornate houses. Click! A plaza with friends drinking coffee in the afternoon sunshine next to groups of dreadlocked rebels sitting on the ground with their dogs and cans of Estrella. Click! It’s a pijo courtyard, surrounded by railings and blossoming trees, next to an okupa house painted with anarchist slogans. Click! Carrer Verdi with its creative workshops, indie boutiques, old cinema and mezcla of exotic restaurants from the Middle East. Click! Generations of families relaxing in a spacious square, feeding pigeons, playing football and chatting over an Italian ice-cream. Squish! Oops. Take that plastic toy away from your eyes, you’ve just stepped in Gràcia’s favourite export, dog shit.
Gràcia is a village with its own character of alternative artsiness and constant Sunday afternoon feeling. It’s cosy, like a cup of steaming chocolate caliente, but at the same time vibrant (not to mention it’s host to the best barrio party of the year). Ok, so it’s on the top of a hill and a calf-stretcher on Bicing, is a bit more expensive than other areas downtown, and for most of the year you can substitute your alarm clock for the sounds of a parade with rifles that Catalans so favour of a Saturday morning. But for Catalan locals and guiris from lands afar, it has an unnerving feeling of home and has afortunadamente escaped the tourists whose invasion is confined to the half-mile radius around the Ramblas. Less rowdy, alcohol-induced vomiting, more pug poo—I love it.
Poble Sec
by Billie Virginia
Population: 38,345 (10.7% kids, 21.7% gent gran), 78.9% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 27,395 (11,936 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 43%; 61-90 m2, 48.3%; 91-120 m2, 7%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 5.4/26.9%
Greenest Spot: Montjuïc
Barrio Party: Mid-July
Poble Sec maintains a discreet, distant style tucked into the crease between rock and city. The neighborhood pulls off an intimate and comfortable version of l’Eixample’s design; its narrow streets accentuate modernist architectural diversity of that often shows a complementary contrast. Tree-lined streets climb a slow grade, finding relief in various plazas that are filled by the Spanish Chav (quillo): frosted mullet, gold hoop earrings, a hopped-up moto and tight, are those acid washed? jeans, families, and commiserating, degraded drunks. Home to at least two civil war bomb shelters and two historic theaters, the neighborhood’s streets have played support to a particular style of historic diversity. There seems to be some intrinsic attraction that draws an unobtrusive manera de ser to the area, tilling the ground for some rich city-cultural growth. Restaurants that serve home-cooked specialties and dare fuse in a fuse-phobic city await discovery, and a thriving bar culture night life allows for a complacent and pleasurable crawl. Mix in direct access to the various parks, trails and lookouts on Montjuïc, gospel-defined Protestant churches, the Institut de Teatre, the Mercat de les Flors and the Teatre Lliure and you’re left with an eclectic reality sans diluting transitory people traffic: it is not a pass through and move on-type place: if you’re in Poble Sec it’s because you’ve already arrived and your travel is done.
El Born
by Michael Jones
Population: 19,444 (9.4% kids, 20.7% gent gran), 70.8% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 15.070 (6,999 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 42.7%; 61-90 m2, 38.1%; 91-120 m2, 11.4%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 9.1/30.2%
Greenest Spot: Parc Ciutadella
Barrio Party: October 1
 Yes, I live in the Borne. The fashion Borne, posh Borne, pijo Borne, or, as one of my friends likes to refer to it: borny horny. It always seems to draw the same reaction from people, guiris and locals alike. Raised eyebrows, an ooh-la-la expression: living the rich life. Vale, pero I’m far from a pijo—actually I’ve been dancing that fine line between youthful bohemianism and abject squalor for as long as… Anyway, typical Borne: tourists looking for the Picasso Museum at all hours, more tourists and the ensuing crime, shitty shops and tacky bars. Fashionable (really expensive) shops, restaurants and overly hip galleries, the not-so-secret secret after-hours, the weekend mob of Catalans and guiris on the paseo. 1€ beers all night long, overrated pizza, endless random street events, concerts and fairs, and hey, look, Woody Allen! Oh, yeah, and more expensive restaurants.
The Borne that I love and live in is basically three streets and one tree-flushed plaza outside my door. I go to a handful of hip-yet-cheap bars plus the old man bars for good, cheap grub almost any hour every day or a simple morning coffee and free paper. The park’s right at my doorstep, something I exploit often. On a three-minute tour from my doorstep there’s a shop with some amazing halal meat, a extremely well-stocked DVD spot, and, for the timelessness of it all, on that tree-shaded cobblestone street, an ancient man’s taller. He does something? And needs an anvil well showcased in his dark storefront.
Raval
by Jordi Corominas i Julián
Population: 36,282 (10.4% kids, 18.2% gent gran), 59.6% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 25,325 (12,865 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 50.7%; 61-90 m2, 35%; 91-120 m2, 8.8%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 19.1/25.7%
Greenest Spot: Sant Pau del camp i els carrers adjacents a la Rambla del Raval pel seu inconfusible olor a ganja
Barrio Party: Mitjans de juliol
 No acaben de passar els temps de la Quaranta Cèntims, prostituta que guiava revolucionaris durant la Setmana Tràgica de 1909, o de les fotografies d’en Joan Colom que donaren una determinada imatge del Barri Xino. No. Ara parlem del Raval, que és una realitat multiètnica ignorada expressament per l’Ajuntament. Aquest ha creat un argument publicitari del barri com un lloc cool, amb espais culturals que generen places, MACBA i locals de disseny oberts tots els dies de la setmana completant la mescla d’un barri amb un espai antic i modern. La part municipal culminaria, sent una de les fronteres entre dos móns, a la Rambla del Raval i el gat de Botero, gran atracció per a nens i borratxos. Un dels símbols de la victòria municipal a la part alta del barri és la desaparició de les prostitutes del Carrer Joaquín Costa, transformant l’antic bordell urbà en una via de bars amb aspecte pseudobohemi, vanitat de l’aparença, molt d’acord amb el neologisme “ravalejar” que inventà i difongué l’Ajuntament no fa gaire temps.
La part baixa del barri dóna vida i s’erigeix com a mostra de la doble realitat. Si pels guiris i catalanets toca anar al local de disseny o a algun bar amb aspecte “canallesc”, com l’emblemàtic Pastís, pels pakis i equatorians el punt de trobada serà el chiringuito on comprar birres o el locutori més proper, places públiques de minories amb més check points que el bicing. La part alta és una reconstrucció prefabricada, mentre que la baixa és vida de carrer enmig de la misèria de cases superpoblades a preu d’escàndol. Les dues realitats es mesclen a la zona que vertebra el Carrer Hospital, frontera d’ambdues realitats que, per veïnatge, aprenen a conviure.
Poblenou
by Julián Socorro
Population: 58,611 (14.3% kids, 17.8% gent gran), 89.7% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 44,103 (16,853 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 23.2%; 61-90 m2, 58.7%; 91-120 m2, 15.1%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 12.2/24.5%
Greenest Spot: Jardins de Ghandi
Barrio Party: Segundo domingo del mes de septiembre
Hace un año veíamos por la televisión a jóvenes que vivían el arte, lo practicaban y enseñaban en una nave industrial de 5000 metros cuadrados. Se llamaba la Macabra y llevaba muchos años en funcionamiento. Se trataba de un centro artístico al que, no sólo podía acudir gratuitamente cualquier interesado, sino que, además, era frecuentado por artistas del calibre de “Le Cirque du Soleil” en su paso por la ciudad. Pues fue desalojado y se dejó a todos en la calle.
Recientemente volvió la polémica en torno al conjunto arquitectónico fabril de Can Ricart. Estos antiguos galpones, que, a juicio del catedrático de Ciencias Políticas de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Jan Subirats, “...son una de las joyas de la corona de ese significativo pasado industrial de Bacelona y Poblenou”, ya comenzaron a ser derrumbados.
El plan del Ayuntamiento es utilizar esta zona emblemática de Poblenou para realizar el “tránsito de un modelo industrial manufacturero a un modelo adaptado a la economía del conocimiento”, a fin de preservar su protagonismo económico y ocupacional. Por ello se creó el Plan 22@, que supone el derrumbe de las tradicionales naves industriales y la posterior construcción de edificios de oficinas y algunos “lofts de lujo”, entre otras cosas. Mientras se continúe con esta política prioritaria, lo único típico y cultural de Barcelona serán los afiches que empapelan los muros para la Mercé. Anunciando una urbe maravillosa que cada vez se respira menos entre las callejuelas empedradas de esta gran ciudad.
El Gòtic
by Elliotsdöttir
Population: 24,940 (7.1% kids, 13.7% gent gran), 49.2% Espanyoles
Registered Voters: 11,646 (6,262 abstained in 2003)
Apt Size: 31-60 m2, 29.4%; 61-90 m2, 37%; 91-120 m2, 19.8%
Estat Edificis: Mal/Alguna Deficiencia: 11.1/32.9%
Greenest Spot: There’s a tree, somewhere…
Barrio Party: Mid-August
 El Gótico es una lata de sardinas repleta de historia, excremento, personajes y vómito. Su infraestructura ha sufrido cambios a lo largo del tiempo: te puedes encontrar una escultura del 2006 al lado de un edificio del siglo X. Y eso, my friend, mola, es la onda kitsch que tiene el centro.
Para caminar por estas callecitas hay que tener estilo y técnica para no pisar la caca, para no quedarse mirando las tetas de la holandesa que parece que la sacaron de una revista de moda, para no gritarle a la gringa shut up! y para evadir a las abuelitas marujas que suelen atacar con sus escobas, mientras uno se arrastra de regreso a casa después de 18 horas de parranda continua.
Sí… El Gótico es trendy pero ghetto. No esperes áreas verdes, aquí todo es concreto y pavimento, el sol apenas brilla y la humedad es constante. Lo bonito del Gótico, es lo feo que es. Me explico: tiene una belleza cruda que por más que limpien, los grafitis vuelven a aparecer; por más policías-hijos de puta que se concentren en la plaza tripi, siempre habrá un junkie corriendo de un lado a otro alucinando y recitando algún poema. Ahora, eso sí, olvídate de querer ir a un mercado barato y a una tiendecita con precios razonables, lo más económico son los Spar. Nada más. En fin… ¿Qué más puede pedir uno? Si lo tuyo es la fiesta y la droga, entonces El Gótico es tu barrio. Pero si te gusta dormir y eres un tree hugging hippy, entonces lo tuyo son Les Corts.
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