Malasaña

Malasaña is an area in the centre of Madrid, Spain. While it doesn't align with any specific administrative division, it is frequently associated with the Universidad neighborhood, the broader administrative district in which Malasaña is situated. The tourist information webpage from the Madrid City Council defines its boundaries as the streets of San Bernardo, the Gran Vía, Fuencarral and Carranza.^[1] Malasaña is associated with a creative and counter-cultural scene.

Overview

Malasaña is situated to the west of Chueca and to the east of Argüelles. It is surrounded by several metro stations and is a central neighbourhood of Madrid. Residents include Esperanza Aguirre, the former President of the Community of Madrid, among other politicians and several artists.

Malasaña is named after a 15-year-old girl Manuela Malasaña who once lived on San Andrés street. She was executed by the French following the uprising in 1808.^[2]^[3] Today, there is a street named in her honour very close to the roundabout Glorieta de Bilbao. The central point of the area is the Plaza del Dos de Mayo, commemorating a popular uprising on May 2, 1808, brutally repressed by the French troops and marking the beginning of the Spanish Independence War.

Nightlife and commerce

Malasaña is a neighborhood and a center for the 'hipster' movement, with a high quantity of bars and clubs with many young people. Its history, which stretches back several decades, has led to the area's distinct musical and artistic tastes.^[4] Botellons (a meeting of people drinking openly on the street, often before going to bars or discos) are common in this neighbourhood. Large ones were held in Plaza de Dos de Mayo before the police stopped the nightly practice after an unpopular festival in 2006. Botellons involving up to 200 people take place and the plaza where they occur changes depending on how the police crack down on them. Parts of the neighbourhood closer to Gran Via has many sex clubs, sex shops and street activity. Drugs are rarely sold openly on the street due to police crackdowns in the early 2000s.

The most common places open during the night are "style" places (alternative, funk, mainstream), mixed places (including some conspicuous LGBT, which have created a small gay scene distinct from that of nearby Chueca) and colourful or bohemian cafes. There are one or two bars for hard rock and metal, house, nudists, BDSM, gothic, Latin, classic, 1980s, hip-hop and other non-mainstream genres.

It is unclear if Malasaña will maintain its atmosphere or if it will become more commercial and upmarket. Since 2017 the Mercado de Fuencarral, an iconic shopping hub known for its industrial aesthetic and for housing alternative style shops, closed down in July 2015 after being bought by an investment fund.^[5]

Commercially, Malasaña has many fashion boutiques as well as shops for design and niche market products. They are often cutting-edge shops or feature progressive designers and products. They are often economical and rarely mainstream. There are many secondhand vintage shops, used book stores and unique gift shops. Calle Espíritu Santo represents the melange of Malasaña by having, on one full block alone, a retro shop, butchers with uncommon meats, a fancy pastry shop, two vintage shops, a small florist, vegetable shop, five bars, three bohemian cafes, a retro food shop, two ethnic restaurants, two mid-range restaurants, and a couple more traditional bars along with two hip-hop clothing shops.^[6]

Culture

Malasaña is mentioned in a song by Manu Chao, and the surf instrumental Farawel Malasaña by Bambi Molesters from Croatia.

With Chueca, Malasaña hosted the Art Festival Los artistas del barrio in October 2017,^[7] opening the doors of more than 70 venues to show the work of international and national artists like David Trullo, Pablo Sola, Daniel Garbade, Le frère, Pablo Kalafaker, Carmen Alvar, Rosa Guerrero, to mention a few.^[8]

Film directors often used Malasaña as a set for their productions, so has Marco Ferreri's in El Cochecito (1960), Franklin J. Schaffner in Patton (1970), Fernando Colomo in Bajarse al moro (1989), Pedro Almodóvar in Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980) and in Law of Desire (1987), or Emilio Martínez Lázaro in The Worst Years of Our Lives (1994).^[9] It was the center of the movida movement in late 1970s and 1980s Madrid.^[10]

Architecture

The architecture in Malasaña is traditionally uniform, featuring buildings with 4 to 6 levels, 3 to 5 windows wide. Each building is painted in a consistent color, with almost all windows adorned with French balconies and minimal ornamentation. A special site is Pedro de Ribera's Hospice, now the Municipal Museum on Calle Fuencarral, which exemplifies the evolution of the Castilian baroque style towards a more decorative aesthetic. Whereas the Conde Duque Cuartel, a former barracks that is today a cultural center, counts as an example of Madrid's Bourbon architecture.^[11]

Rents are high for smaller spaces, and some buildings are very exclusive.

The open spaces of Malasaña

This is a list of notable places in Malasaña. More information can be found here.

La Plaza del Dos de Mayo

It is the heart of the neighborhood, surrounded by a number of bars and restaurants. It is common for people to go outside here. It also has a crafts market in Malasaña that takes place over the weekend, as well as many vintage shops. It is common for people to sell beer here.

La Calle Manuela Malasaña

This street stretches from Fuencarral all the way to San Bernando, and there are many bars and restaurants, as well as a theater called El Teatro Maravillas that was founded more than a hundred years ago, and showcases musicals, plays, comedy nights, etc. There is also a bar called La Cerveceria Casa Maravillas, a popular bar for people visiting Madrid.

La Plaza de la Luna

La Plaza de la Luna, officially named Plaza de Santa María Soledad Torres Acosta, is a bustling area in Malasaña, Madrid. Widely recognized by locals as Plaza de la Luna, it attracts both tourists and residents with its numerous bars and restaurants.

A popular spot in this area is Gymage Malasaña, offering a multifaceted experience with a gym, a theater, and a rooftop bar featuring a swimming pool. During the summer, a temporary bar emerges in the center of the square, while the winter season transforms it into an ice-skating rink.

The square is just off Gran Via, the closest station is Callao. There are also a couple of toy stores on the square that specialise in board games.

La Plaza San Ildefonso

A couple of points of interest in the square are the San Ildefonso Church constructed in 1827, built on the grounds of the original building that had stood since 1619.

Then you have the Farmacia Malasaña, known as the Puerto Pharmacy. The buildings in the San Ildefonso square of Malasaña were reformed by the architect Manuel Bradi back in 1798, and there was a chemist previously known to be at this address.

La Calle del Pez

This narrow street in Malasaña runs from Corredera Baja to San Bernando. There were films made here.

Legend is that the land was previously owned by a priest in the 18th century, and after the land was given and divide up by royalty, there was a lake that housed a lot of fish that died due to the water being polluted during the construction of the new buildings being erected, so as a tribute and a reminder, a fish was carved on the entrance to the original Casa del Pez.

Although it no longer is here, there is a fish carved into the entrance of door number 24 in La Calle del Pez as a reminder.

In 1628 it was reported that 25 nuns from the local convent had been possessed and had to be exorcised, including the founder of the convent Teresa Valla de la Cerda. Juan Francisco García Calderón was eventually held responsible, perpetually confined to the convent by the inquisition.