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| Me in La Carihuela doing the research, July 2012. |
Similarly, if you have any questions about Torremolinos, let me know and if I don't have the answer we'll ask the others below.
Thanks!
Alfredo
1. BAJONDILLO - What's the story about the curious the mini palace Casa del las Navajas in Bajondillo?
2. LA ROCA - Before the promenade was built, was it always possible to walk round the rock when the tide was out?
3. TOWN CENTRE BARS - What's the story about Danish Dynamite in Torremolinos Town Centre? The guys that ran it did not seem very Danish. When did it open, and when and why did it close?
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| Diego in Danish Dynamite (or was it Dinamite?) |
4. PLAYAMAR TOWERS- When did the Playmar tower officially open? Or did they open as and when the first few towers were finished? I know there were legal ramblings about the ones which had been built in the later 60s into 70-71. I moved there with my parents in 75-76. Any ideas?
5. PUEBLO BLANCO - Is there any truth in rumours Pueblo Blanco in Torremolinos was built using money from a notorious kindapping? If not does anyone know the story behind Pueblo Blanco?
6. PLAYAMAR-LOS ALAMOS - Was La Playa by the ZZ Boys the first trendy chiringuito?
7. BARS - Why and when did Hard Rock close? Does anyone have any photos?
8. MONTEMAR - What year did Cine Montemar close?
9. MONTEMAR - What year did Hotel Melia Torremolinos close?
1. Was built in the 20s by the Navajas family who grew sugar cane in Churriana on what is now mostly Malaga airport. It is neo-mudejar style, inspired by La Alahambra. When I lived in Torremolinos as a kid(early 60s) it was still an active farm that grew sugar cane in front of the house almost all the way down to the beach (fond memories of going with friends to swipe some cane to chew and being chased by the capataz and a couple of dogs back up to the road that ran behind the house down to Playamar and escaping by climbing up the hill above the road to the old railway tracks - in those daas the Fuengirola train ran above ground to Malaga). Belongs to the city now who I am told has no money to restore it. I think there is an article on the house on Wikipedia
ReplyDelete2. Yes - bacame the shortest route to La Carihuela after they closed the paths that went down the Carihuela side of la Roca from behind what is now the Medalla Milagrosa school
Re 4. Had another look at the blog and saw you question about Playamar.
ReplyDeleteOn the Internet one can find undated photos which obviously have to be post 1963 showing only 4 blocks in one row, starting with the ones closest to the beach along Avda. Benyamina (and no partially built ones).
They also show a big crane between the last two. When maybe in 1966 or 67 the Supreme Court ordered 7 to be knocked down because they did not meet building standards (not the construction itself, which was reputedly top-notch, but the spacing between buildings and height) there were 9, all along the same avenida. A
s is obvious, the city of Malaga avoided doing so because it "was not in the public interest" and that never happened, so now there are 21 towers.
A long winded way of saying they were built and occupied in groups.
Thanks Derek, excellent insight as always
DeleteRe 9: The Melia Torremolinos closed at the end of October of 2005 and is now a big hole because after demolishing it in early 2007, the construction of the 5-star Cruiser-Tres Carabelas that was suppposed to replace it (employing the Melia staff) never got started - their building permits were pulled because of "irregularities in the approval process".
ReplyDeleteRe 2: The med is not tidal and I think the rock extended that little bit more into the sea so you would have to swim around but there were tracks over the rock to the other side which I often used during the late and eraly 60's.
ReplyDeleteRe 4: I remember when there were only 4 towers a few years after I arrived in Torremolinos in '64.
Re 8: No answer but still a cinema about '73. Tiffany's Disco previously was one of the other cinemas and there was not close to San Miguel near the railway line.
#2. you could never walk around la roca.we used to dive off certain parts of it via a path which began from the bajondillo side. one of us would jump feet first to make sure the depth was alright. even though there were no visible tidal differences, the currents could bring in substantial amounts of sand sometimes changing the depth dramatically.
ReplyDelete#8 can't tell you exactly when it closed but probably early 80's if not earlier. i do remember however that wednesdy evenings ( i think it was wed), they used to show movies in english. a good excuse to go out with your friends on a school night.
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ReplyDelete4, Alfredo, I've tried to get J-P Bauval to respond. He was the on-site architect during the 60's and seventies. For whatever reason, he feels as if he can't write. We stay in touch, and have seen each other several times since 1980.
ReplyDeleteMy memories are that in 1970, when I arrived, Playamar was "half" built. The towers 1 through 10 were complete or nearly so. Later, because the sales were so good, they built towers. 11 through 21, Five of which were not permitted and later challenged by the municipality. We all know the out come of this.
There was a Bernard Cornfeld, who was a Turkish born, American international financier. His company," Investors Overseas limited" built Playamar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Cornfeld
The story I heard was that "Bernie" was hired by some American investment company and while young and on a vacation, traveled to Europe. He saw so many US soldiers that had an income, but weren't being approached for investments, that he went back to his company and asked them to station him in Europe where he could "work" these potential clients. His employing company told Bernie that if he wanted to continue to be employed, he would return to the USA, Bernie quit and the rest is history.
Funny story, that may be true, was that as they were building the towers, an employee of IOL was assigned to procure furniture for the apartments. He walked into a little Torremolinos furniture store and shopped for furniture for a 3 bedroom apartment. Of course, the owner of the furniture store was very solicitous. A three bedroom apartment full of furniture would have been very profitable for him. When they had selected the items, and agreed on a price, the IOL employee asked, "OK, what kind of a price can you give me for 1,600 of these?" The muebles owner gave him a stunned, but good price, and the deal was done. The furniture store owner furnished all of the Playamar apartments and then retired!
I'm a Swedish girl who used to work at Danish Dynamite on a few different occasions for different owners. I started working for Miguel "el moro" taking Chris place when he was going to Denmark. The bar worked well
ReplyDeleteunder the Gulf War with all the Americans spending their money. Miguel did a traspaso of the bar to some guy called Keith with his wife who apparently left the business to Gary and Trisha because of (infedelity) problems. Gary drank a lot and finally Trisha took over on her own. She was not such a good judge of character and let a young marocchian run the place. He used to sell drinks after hour and put the money in his pocket. A few months after I left the place in the winter to work for another bar. My old customers came with me. Danish Dynamite closed a few months later and has never opened since. I don't remember the exact year 93-94?
Casa de las Navajas
ReplyDeleteThe place has been refurbished. Civil weddings and other events will take place there
"Las visitas a la Casa de los Navajas tendrán un precio de dos euros, salvo para pensionistas, jubilados y menores de 12 años, que podrán acceder de forma gratuita. Durante las dos próximas semanas, casi un siglo después de su construcción, el palacete abrirá sus puertas sin ningún tipo de coste."
http://www.diariosur.es/costadelsol/201410/11/casa-navajas-abre-puertas-20141010224658.html
Playamer officially opened in 1971. It was built ny an American company run by Bernie Cornfield. The company went bust and was taken over and run by in impendant company.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve. I worked at Playamar in the summer of 1970, as well as many other summers after that---so it had to open a little before 1971. The "Bajondillo" was the name of the beach.
DeleteHello 42inblue, sorry I only just saw you post. Playamar did open before 1971, this was not the official opening, we opened our tea room on tje 14th Feb 1971,it coincided with the official opening of the Playamar complex.
DeleteWhen were you doing out there?
Did you know me or my family?
I hope to hear back from you.
Regards, Steven.
Hi Steve, I taught swimming at Las Barcas pool at Playamar 1970-1978. I don't think I ever had the pleasure of visiting your family's tea room---never drank much tea......
DeleteThe Bajondillo was know as The Palacio de Congresso . It was a council run building used for special conferences and events. Every year in the 70's they would have a English cinema week showing controversial films. I remember see A Clockwork Orange there.
ReplyDeleteMethinks this one has the locations wrong. El Bajondillo is obviously on the beachfront but the Palacio de Congresos when originally built was out in the middle of nowhere north of the town, near what is now the A7. I think what is described as an English cinema week in the 70s refers to the Festival de Cine de Autor de Benalmadena that started in the Hotel Alay in Benalmadena maybe in '68 or '69 and was moved to the Palacio de Congresos a few years later when its popularity outgrew the hotel. After the move it continued to use the Benalmadena name although no longer located there (on the other hand, in those days many of the hotels in Benalmadena claimed to be in the better-known Torremolinos). People came from all over Spain once word got out that the festival would show films banned in the rest of Spain, making attending to see a particular film a gamble as announced ones were often banned on the fly by the government censors,. In the 70s I was studying at the Universidad de Malaga and the place would pretty much shut down as everyone took the week off to go watch movies in Torremolinos and I remember many being shown in the packed main hall of the Palacio with the people standing in the aisles.
DeleteHi 42inBlue, thanks for getting back to me. I am not sure what age you were when you were out there. I was 14 when we moved there in 1970. I use to go to Tina's bar and Tiffanys was my main night spot. Even DJ in the early evenings sometimes. I was friends with the DJ and the Manager Frank Egg. Funny, I was looking at a website recently with photos of nightspots in the 1970's and there was a photo in Tiffanys and I saw myself dancing in the background, that was really weird to see.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I was in my late 20's and early 30's during my time in Torremolinos---14 is a little young to be hanging out in Tiffany's isn't it....:-} ? I knew Frank, but not too well. He had an Irish GF who later started going out with a Spaniard---awkward, as they were frequently in Tiffany's at the same time. Spanish fellow's last name was "Nieves" if memory serves. Again, sorry I never had the pleasure of visiting your family business. I guess I missed out on some great breakfasts and hamburgers...dang! If you have any photos of the era, be sure to share them with Torremolinoschic.com.
DeleteAlso, even though it started off as a Tea Room, we were more know as the place to go for English breakfasts and always full of Europeans in the summer and Americans in the winter. We were well know for making great hamburgers.
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