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| La Carihuela Paseo Maritimo, with Castillo Santa Clara in the background. |
La Carihuela
is a popular place for an early evening walk or lunch, or to spend a day at the
beach.
In contrast to
the eclectic urban chaos which is the centre of Torremolinos, La Carihuela has
retained its charm and developed gracefully.
Fish restaurants continue to dominate the seafront, with perhaps the most successful one being the pricy Casa Juan which over the years has spread into four or five adjoining buildings.
Fish restaurants continue to dominate the seafront, with perhaps the most successful one being the pricy Casa Juan which over the years has spread into four or five adjoining buildings.
Casa Juan, not
to be confused with Restaurante Juan a few door down, started trading in 1963
making it one of the first fish restaurants in La Carihuela after Casa Antonio
opened by Antonio Marquez in Plaza del Remo in 1961.
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| Carihuela paseo maritimo opened in 1972 (pic.aqueltorremolinos.com) |
Until well
into the 80s it was not much more than a small fishing neighbourhood consisting
of a couple of rows of unassuming houses.
I remember
small makeshift shops would be operated out of people’s dark living rooms on one
of the streets parallel to the seafront. We’d buy sweets from an old lady’s
front room while the fisherman husband would watch TV on the couch.
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| Postcard of plaza El Remo with Restaurant Casa Antonio pictured (circa 1961) |
Chanquetes are
tiny whitebait-looking fish which – until they were banned in ’88 due to
overfishing – were eaten lightly coated in flour, deep fried and piled high on
a plate with a slice of lemon.
One can still see chanquetes listed on menus occasionally but they are not the same fish.
One can still see chanquetes listed on menus occasionally but they are not the same fish.
A handful of
British pubs are outnumbered by a huge amount of Dutch bars and restaurants
catering to the local expats and tourists from Holland.
Speaking with
someone from the Estanco Carihuela, the local tobacconist, she said the Dutch
invasion occurred in the 1990s, which explains why I was not aware of it until
I returned to Spain in 2008.
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| La Carihuela in 1960 seen from Santa Clara (pic.aqueltorremolinos.com) |
On the sand
every 100 metres or so, the small beach shacks where sunbathers could once walk
up barefoot and bare-chested to drink a cheap beer and small plate of fish,
deep fried or a la
plancha, the chiringuitos,
have slowly become full on restaurants charging a premium for their prime
location.
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| El Remo(forefront) with La Carihuela on the right (pic aqueltorremolinos.com) |
In 1933 the
woman who would later be credited with being the first to promote Torremolinos
as a tourist destination, Carlota Alessandri would open the Parador Montemar,
which would later become the renowned Hotel Montemar.
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| La Carihuela 1950 (Pic:aqueltorremolinos.com) |
In the 1950s many celebrities would visit at the Club El Remo.
The main coast
road of Montemar, the section between the roundabout before the boundary with
Benalmadena and the beginning of
Torremolinos town centre would be named Avenida Carlota Alessandri in her
honour.
Alfredo
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I remember the 'midnight building' that went on...one particular chirunguito waited till after
midnight and knocked a hole in the low wall to the
beach, to give the public easier access to their sunbeds. They built a
small ramp and finished the wall ends off. By the morning it looked like
it had been there for years but it provided me and may family with a
few hours entertainment from our apartment balcony.
Keep on blogging :) "
Alfredo
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Comments:
Sam Whitchurch,
"Lovely memories Alfredo. I too remember the lady selling sweets
out of her front room on the back street of the Carihuela. We called it
"number10" which referred to the number above her door.I remember the 'midnight building' that went on...one particular chirunguito waited till after
 |
| La Carihuela in the early 60s. (Pic:aqueltorremolinos.com |
Keep on blogging :) "
Saw the photo of the Bateria Park access to Montemar you posted. Looks like they have (finally) formalized the path down from Loma de Los Riscos to La Carihuela/Montemar that in the 60s/70s involved cutting through an olive grove to get to the old gun emplacements and then down the hillside on a path that came out roughly across the road from Aloha Torres where I worked for a couple of summers as a bellboy. I used this shortcut all the time to get home or get to La Carihuela (I lived on Loma de los Riscos on the corner with Davila Bertoli) - sure beat having to go all the way into Torremolinos.
ReplyDeleteLived on the Carihuela in the 80's and loved it especially talking to David the American my children adored him
ReplyDeleteWas there in 1974, worked at Fat Black Pussy Cat. Manager Bunny Owner Ty Hardin. Some of my fondest memories and shaped my life. Post pictures to facebook site. I will post some as I find them.
ReplyDeleteHey, who is this? I'm David Jones and I worked for Helen at the Fat, Black Pussy Cat and with John Mitchell at Figero's next door to FBPC. Also for Ray who leased Figero's from John Mitchell in 1974 when I left town. Do you remember the softball games at Lee Setemer's house above Fuengirola where he built a baseball field in his back yard.
Deletedjfas@yahoo.com
I knew Helen in 1970, and her son Rick as part of a group of drug-smuggling madmen who occasionally required free food. some years later I ended up in san Miguel d'Allende in Quanaquato Mexico, and happened to dine at Helen's point of origin. As she often said " I love men who pay" Best set of fifty year old tits I have ever seen, at her insistance. You guys are probably too dead to remember the smart ass in the two tone Bentley. Great year in a great place surrounded by degenerate stoned heartful people. I am older and hoarding the thousands of memories from foreign places bur the Fat black Pussycat and her offspring in Mexico will always break an smile from an old cynic.
DeleteFirst rolled through in Oct., 1971. After spending a week, I went down with some friends to Marrakesh. Came back to T-Town in November and stayed until June, 1974. First bartended for a French restaurant In Plaza Gamba Alegre, then after a week or so I began to tend bar at Harry's Bar, right next door. What a great time, what great people. All the old-timers said they were characters in "The Drifters" which was called the Alamo by James Michener. I met someone who came to town who claimed that he hooked up Michener with Harry Hubert in 1969 who co-owned and named Harry's at that time and said that the book was written for "Readers Digest" initially as a story about young nomadic travelers wandering through Europe. When I was there, Harry and Matt Carney leased the bar to Robert LaTouche and his wife, Marge and I worked for them until May, 1972 when the Torremolinos police came in one night and closed it down, and it stayed closed for another 3-4 years. What a shame! Harry's deserved another 3-4 books. I'll go on another time.
ReplyDeleteDavid Jones djfas@yahoo.com
Hi, I met my husband in the 70s, we are going near there next week, do you know what is there in its place? We would love to see where we met, hopefully.not a Mcdonald
DeleteWow. We also met there in the 70s and are going to that area this week. I was staying in a posh hotel and he was in an 18/30s hotel with the shower above the loo!
DeleteIs the Three Barrels Bar still there? How about the Duke of Wellington? And, especially the tapa bar in Plaza Gamba Alegre? Café con leche at Café Central with the International Herald Tribune (I understand it has changed it's name to NY Times International) in the morning? Is the old Carihluela still there or is it build over? Is a shot of Fundador still 3 pesetas (just dreaming)? There is a bar/restaurant in New York city on 113 13th St. just west of 6th Ave.. You step down the stairs and suddenly you are back in the old country. Very good ambiance and delicious paella!
ReplyDeleteDavid Jones
The bar/restaurant in New York is call 'Spain".
DeleteThree Barrels Bar - i think it's still open. Duke of Wellington - yes still open. tapa bar in Plaza Gamba Alegre - closed and reopened and closed and reopened. Is the old Carihluela still there? Yes, one of the few places which the esteemed mayor hasn't allowed to turn into a rotten tooth.a shot of Fundador still 3 pesetas? - sadly dreaming! When the euro came in everything which was 100 pesetas was rounded up to a euro which I believe was the equiv of 160 odd pesetas...
ReplyDeleteps keep the memories coming, excellent!!!
ReplyDeleteHey, it's another year. I hope that everything is well for you. I noticed that your facebook page was not working. If you changed it. let me know. my email is djfas@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteMy wife was asking me the other day if I wanted to go to Barcelona this year and I thought, why not Torremolinos? But I know that "you can never go back." Memories, like your blog, are the best. I wish that all the pictures I had were still around but I don't know what continent I left them at. Someone posted some pictures of the Pussy Cat and Duffy's and Noche Y Dia. I think that someone said that Sharon was still living in Mijas. If anyone reads this and knows her, please pass on a big hug and hello.
I do know that Helen, who owned the Fat Black Pussy Cat in the early 70's, after selling the bar to Ty Hardin (western actor), ended up going to an island in the Carribean off Panama and Columbia. John Mitchell is the irst owner of the Fat, Black Pussy Cat, Figero's and Duffys in the Carihuela. ThePussy Cat and Figero's, as well of Mitchell"s Gaslight Café were John's places in Greenwich Village in the late 50's and early 60's. I watched a movie the other night 'Inside Llewyn Davis" by the Coen Brothers, and the opening scene was a folk singer in the Gaslight Café. John owned the first coffee houses that featured poetry readings and the first to show the emerging folk music scene. After Torremolinos, I was living and working in Amsterdam and ran into John on the street. Eventually, he went back to New York and I stayed with him in New York when I visited. Finally, I went out to California and, amazingly, ran into him in Santa Barbara. When he left Santa Barbara in 1979, he went to Bisbee, Arizona where Helen was living. And is the last I have heard from him. John never acted his age and that made him one of the most interesting people I have ever met.
If he is still alive, I am sure he has charmed a 20ish lady to be his companion
Until the next time, or if you are around Delray Beach, FL,
David Jones
Hi David I kept up with John when he moved to nyc and worked for a lighting manfg. He had written a manuscript about his life anf was with a french girl and they somehow lost it in traveling. Would have been a great read. I used to call him in Arizona before he dird he was on oxygen and had a long tether so he could walk around his place. He was one hell of a friend.
DeleteDavie, we were there at about the same time. probably knew each other. You sound as if you were maybe of the "hippy" persuasion. I was not, but had no animosity towards those that were. I didn't hang around Carihuela much because I lived in the apartamentos Miramar in Plaza Andalucia and didn't have a car. But I did go out with the wife (Barbara) of the owner of the "Crow Bar", a lovely girl. I found a photo of the current Three Barrels on line the other day, so it is still going. It was a bar right under the apartments where I lived, so a good place to take a girl and ask if she would like to come back to the Apt and listen to some music. She would usually ask, " How far is it" (like it mattered, right?) And, I could say, "It's right up stairs".
ReplyDeleteI usually took a little tour of town at night, beginning with dinner somewhere, The Montmartre, maybe. Then coffee at some little place, then Tina's and ending up at Boga Boga . Sometimes I'd pop into Pedros, maybe la Tortuga, The Beer Keller, Apollo 12 (?) The Galloping Major, etc. You had to separate the bars where drunks hung out from bars where the tourist girls would go.
The Duke was eventually "owned" by Manolo, who was the bartender at Tina's after Tina left, and I hear it's still open.
It was a wonderful time for those of us who were privileged to experience it! I'm glad you were there.
I don't know if I mentioned this but I lived in the same apartment complex in Plaza Andalucia but on the opposite side of the street directly across from the Three Barrels. I check out this site periodically looking for anyone responding to my posts. Do you remember an English woman named Marian who worked in various restaurants and used to make her own mango chutney and sell it? Also, a woman name Joyce McMurphy, Scottish who was in Torremolimos with her sister for quite a while? Drop me a line if you get a chance. djfas@yahoo.com
DeleteDavid Jones
Davie, There's another site about Torremolinos that you may have found called Torremolinos Chic (torremolinoschic.com). There are fotos there that you may enjoy, including "Marion" of the food business, etc. Cheers.
DeleteMarion IS living in London, and still comes often ti Torremolinos
DeleteI went to Torremolino's in 72 or 73. Spent 3 weeks there camping at a KOA. I went there because I had read Michener's The Drifters and I just had to go. Found what I was looking for.. The Fat Black Pussy Cat and the wonderful people there. And I jumped on that yellow school bus and went and played softball. It was incredible. There was a large group of Aussies that had come across Africa in these huge trucks staying with us in the campground as well as many people from different countries and cultures. We used to run to the Holiday Inn for ice. One of my best life experiences. I loved Michener....I had to know...I was 18 or 19 now I am 62. I have lived a good live....partially because of Michener and Torremolinos but surely to those I met and played ball with from the Fat Black Pussy Cat
ReplyDeleteThe Alamo was really "Harry's Bar" where I worked. It was in Plaza Gamba Alegre in the center of TTown, a couple of blocks from the Post Office. The local police closed the bar in June, 1972 and it didn't reopen until 1976-77. I worked several placed including the Pussycat and Figero. The softball games were great. It was on the property of an American builder, right next to where the train line was built. I was there from Nov. 1971 to May, 1974.
DeleteDavid Jones
I worked as a Cook in the Figaro around that time. Joey and Mike (Mario) worked as bar tender and cook in the Fat black Pussy Cat. I am English but moved to America (where Mike and Joey were from) in 1974. As I recall John Mitchel was living upstairs.
ReplyDeleteI was bartender at Figaro until May, 1974. The cook was Sue or Sioux, can't remember how she spelled it. Ray, an English guy who was part owner of the Three Barrels, was leasing the bar from John Mitchell or whoever he sold the lease to. I'm David Jones at djfas@yahoo.com. Torremolinos was the perfect spot at the perfect time (1971-1974) and I have many great memories.
DeleteMessage from 42inblue (Bob Reed): Hi, Davie. Why don't you start to memorialize your memories on this site? Otherwise, they will be lost forever. Little stories, how you came to Torremolinos, whom you still know from this time, etc. You and I were there at the same time and may have bumped into each other, or may have friends in common. It was, indeed, a great time in any young man's life. Cheers mate. Bob Reed
DeleteTerry Grady
DeleteThere from 72 - 73. Worked at both the Pussycat & Old Crow Bar. Glad I decided to work a shift at the Crow Bar instead of the Pussycat the night Helen turned it over to Ty. Geez, what a party. Also sang a bit at Pedro's.
Lived there in 73. John Mitchell let me stay for a while at his place above the bar. He thought I looked like a young Lauren Bacall��
ReplyDeleteI loved hanging out in the bar playing very bad chess. I also met his young girlfriend who I believe was pregnant at the time...
After John kicked me out I rented a place together with a Dutch girl friend and we stayed in T during the winter 73/74.
I am John Mitchell's daughter, born in 1974, a true product of the Torremolinos beatnik 'hippie' generation, Lol! David Jones: I sent you an email last week to your yahoo account last week.
ReplyDeleteI am loving reading all the stories, thank you! :)
Triana,
DeleteI'll look through my yahoo emails for yours. I am still in touch with a few people who still come to Torremolinos. I live in Delray Beach in Florida, married and semi retired. I'm now 74 and paying a price for a life well lived. I remember John Mitchell so well and hope that you got to meet him. I stayed in touch with him until the late 1970's in Santa Barbara when I returned to Detroit after we had a business deal collapse. He went to Bisbee, Arizona and I heard that he died there years later. lets talk again.
David Jones
PS: send me another email to djfas@yahoo.com so I can find your first email.
Hi Triana my name is Danny Caston and I knew your dad well... my dad bought a house in T town, (Bajondillo), in the early 60's and soon we were regulars at the Pussy Cat. I rembember going there on the weekends for panckes and bacon with real syrup. John was kind of a curmudgeon when it came to little kids but he put up with my brother and I runnig around the joint. I was reading some of the replies below and one jumped out at me, (the dude that was given a English taxi), my pop had bought a taxi and had two blokes drive it down to us. I'm thinking it's the sme one he was writing about... anyway back the John, we all moved to Santa Barbara when Franco died and John Mitchell showed up there too. He bought an old Ford pickup truck and would haul trash to the dump. He ended up hiring my brother and I as his crew. He is truly a legedary character!
DeleteLovely to have found these memories! I went to Torre in August 1965, met John Mitchell in his beloved Fat Black Pussucat bar and I had travelled from San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico with my girlfriend Joyce, Helen del Muttolo and her partner Jack McDonagh. Use to hang up at Harry's Bar. My broter big Antonio met and later married Jeannie Macalliter, who owned the Bar Baroja, off the paza de Andalucia. I met my later-to-be wife Florence, French PR at the urbanizacion La Nogalera and our son was born at the clinica Dr. Segovia, being the first baby born in Torre... I left Torre with my family for Almuñecar in 1967 and the Costa del Sol in 1969. Came back once in a while to see Helen and friends . I did not know that Helen was still around Torre in the 70s! I was told that she moved to the Colombian island of San Andres in the caribean. I never saw again John Mitchel...
ReplyDeleteJust wondering if anyone here can remember a German chap Henry Stuyvens (or maybe Stevens) who went around in "western" (cowboy) gear!. His girlfriend was Astrid and I recall she managed a bar somewhere near the Pasaje Begoña. They used to hang out a lot with their friends at the Café "Drugstore". They had a friend (Spanish I think) who also dressed "western" style. There were some amazing characters around during those years.
DeleteWas a bartender at the Fat Black Pussycat in 73. Owned by Ty Hardin. Met Ty in a Moroccan campground on my way down to buy African Trading Beads. Because we were both Texans, he offered me a job. Wasn't interested in the job at the time because selling necklaces and bracelets to tourists was my main goal---- until I arrived back in Torre with only $10 in my pocket. Slept on the beach my first night. Can’t believe the Guardia de Seville didn’t kick me off. Bunny was the manager. This leather maker from New York Bleeker Street used to visit the bar often and one day while passing him on the street, he said he was going back to NY, and he gave me his broken down London Taxi cab, which I pushed around the corner from the Pussycat and used as a make-out place during my short breaks from the bar with any pretty girl willing. Ended up raffling off the taxicab and the winner was a fellow bartender. I left Spain and never learned if he got the cab working again. The NY Leather Maker also told me I could take over his apartment located right on the beach-- which I did. I knew Ian, the crazy Englishman, who I later ran into in Pompano Beach. Great times I still talk about today. Love reading these posts.
ReplyDeleteAnd loved playing baseball outside Fuengirola.
I didn't catch your name but I am David Jones and was working at the Figaro, next to the PussyCat. at that time. John Mitchell hired me (bartender) and Tony Valentine (cook) to run the establishment. I played in most of the softball games while I was there so we must have crossed paths often. I live in Delray Beach now, just a short way from Pompano.
DeleteDavid, we must have crossed paths as well. I started at the Pussycat just after Christmas, 72 until I went over to Morocco a couple of months later. When I got back, I worked at the Old Crow Bar. Lived down the street at Playa Montemar until I moved out to Alhaurin El Grande. Topping it off, I'm from Birmingham, MI
DeleteGuardia Civil
DeleteChris Monniot.
ReplyDeleteWow! Fantastic to read all this stuff about the Fat Black Pussycat. I saw in the new year there in 71/72. A great night. I was passing through with my pal Dave Lias. We had been working in the Moby Dick bar/disco in Lloret da Mar for a few months previously, and were cruising about in our old delivery van - half converted to a camper.
ReplyDeleteHello, just have been watching the new Netflix Series Drug Squad: Costa del Sol and all my memories from Torremolinos party time in 1979 came back to me. I lived there for 6 months with a German woman (Mardou), which had a bar on top of the hills behind Torremolinos: la Espuela. I worked there that summer, the gypsies would bring the tourists up there on horses. Best summer of my life. When we closed the bar we would hit the night life in Torremolinos. Besides some of the more famous once in the strip I also had fun at a place called the Piano Bar, a dance club close to the beach, the gypsies horse staples were there too. Omg, I was just 21, dancing was my life, I preferred also the traditional Spanish dances and also disco music. Rich Kuwaitis would pay for drinks in the clubs and going out didn’t cost a thing and no “favors” expected in return. I had never a bad experience even when partying until 5 in the morning. I am so glad to having had these wonderful happy times, full of joy of living and having fun. I am 61 now, happy, that I was able to experience these carefree times. I still have a collection of receipts, entrance tickets, beer coasters, etc. from that year. I returned a few years later, going to an open air concert in Marbella with Stevie Wonder and have been back in Torremolinos ever so often. The last time last year in November 2019 with my 81 year old mother, which back then in 1979 came to pick me up, because she was afraid I would never come back home to Germany. Torremolinos and Malaga are my most favorite places in the world. Since 1987 I live in USA in Georgia, but my heart is in Spain and if course my home land Germany.
Beautiful, Judy! We who were blessed to have experienced Torremolinos in those days will always remember it lovingly.
ReplyDeleteHi,I'm Stephen, I had the black cat from 1989 to 1995 with Lorraine, different times I know,but I loved to listen to the stories of the old torremolinos
ReplyDeleteI am looking to connect with people who frequented the Pussy Cat in 1966-67. My brother Bob Reynolds told be John Mitchell hired him to run the bar before it was sold to Bill Fisch. Does anybody remember the circumstances of the sale and what happened to my brother in the summer and fall of 1967?
ReplyDeleteHi Ed. I remember having met Bob Reynolds in those years. I arrived to Torre in 1965, from Mexico where I had met Helen del Mutolo in San Miguel de Allende and decided to travel to Torremolinos. We used to frequent the Fat Black Pussicat in the Carihuela and made good friendship with John Mitchell. I stayed in the area until 1969, when I moved back to Latin America.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember "Smugglers Bar" in Carihuela early 1970's.
ReplyDeleteI worked at Smugglers Saloon in 69 in Carihuela. I believe it was owned by a French Canadian.
DeleteHola, soy de Málaga pero desde que nací pase todos mis veranos en la Carihuela, finalmente logré vivir allí siendo ya adulta durante muchos años, aunque desde hace 6 volví a marcharme, voy todos los veranos y muchísimas veces durante todo el año, amo profundamente mi tierra, me siento Torremolinense y afortunadamente mi hijo si nació allí, es extraño como puedo añorar todo lo que allí hielo, veo y siento...no podría llamarlo echar de menos por la frecuencia a la que voy, tengo casa allí y a pesar de ser solo un pequeño apartamento, es mi HOGAR, así lo he transmitido a mi hijo quién hasta ahora lo ama igual que yo, no sé cómo explicar que solo al bajar las pedrizas y la ventanilla del coche, el olor ya me hace inmensamente feliz,mis problemas dejan de ocupar espacio en mi cabeza y vuelvo a tener 16 maravillosos años.
ReplyDeleteMe ha encantado leeros, ver qué hubo tanta vida en este pequeño rincón del mundo. Gracias por enriquecer rincones de recuerdos
Anyone recall the short-lived bar in Pasaje de Pizarro (just off Plaza Coste del Sol) 1973 to 1974 run Nicky & Scotty Wilson, aged 50ish - heavy drinkers, from Britain? He was Scottish and she was French and very short. Both 50 years old, with a teenaged daughter with a hearing problem. They had been spending months at a time in Torremolinos since the late 1960s. The bar folded in late 1974 and they moved to Mijas where Nicky died 1975. Scotty stayed on the Costa del Sol for the next decade: folk would remember him from bars, talking about British military things, golf, luxury nightclubs and private planes, and their former life on the Isle of Man. Does anyone remember either of them, or the bar? I would love to know the name of the bar, too! Thanks for any help. If anyone wants to they can also email me on 1212christina [at] gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI worked at “The Old Crow Bat” during the winter of ‘73 ‘74 for Pam & Kent last name slips my mind they had a young daughter Amber playing in the streets and speaking like a local we made a fresh pot of Chili con Carne every day, I still make it. John Mitchell would sit at the bar many nights and bum smokes off me then leave huge tip. And tell me how he discovered Bob Dylan. Soft ball in the hills and an English movie up the road on Tuesdays. So much fun I was probably the youngest turning 21 that Spring.
DeleteDerek anonymous above Austin was their last name I was so young and they treated so well I closed the Crow Bar every night except Tuesday when it was movie night the characters who ducked through the door 2 steps down past the fireplace and into the tiny bar with rock music blasting from the scratchy vinyl were always a pleasure to serve Pam taught me how to make Sangria I might have to cook up a batch this weekend
Delete