Introduction

Association of Friends, Neighbors and Shopkeepers of La Rambla and Plaça Catalunya

Amics de La Rambla (Association of Friends, Neighbors and Shopkeepers of La Rambla and Plaça de Catalunya) is a non-profit entity whose members are the people who live on La Rambla, friends (people who do not live or have businesses on La Rambla, but have an emotional connection to the promenade), shopkeepers, and institutions present on the promenade.

Amics de La Rambla was founded in 1960 with the aim of defending and promoting the social, commercial, and cultural interests of this universal promenade. The founders of the Association were Amadeu Bagués, Josep Gaspart, Miquel Pantaleoni, Antoni Llenas, Baltasar Soubriet, Miquel Pintó, Francesc Malagarriga, Higini Feliu, Ramon Guimerà and Josep Fedi. The aim was to restore the prestige that La Rambla had lost.

Over these more than 60 years of history, the Association of Amics de La Rambla has led the promotion and regeneration of the promenade with campaigns in defense of the interests of residents and shopkeepers.

La Rambla, a unique promenade in the world

La Rambla in Barcelona is unique in the world. In this promenade of just over a kilometer in length, the value of the intangible exceeds the rest of the tangible values that this street also offers.

Its history, its characters, entities, facilities, and monuments, but above all the special relationship between La Rambla and the citizens of Barcelona, and the one established with the more than 7,000,000 tourists who visit the city each year, make La Rambla a street of remarkable singularity.

From the 18th century to the present day, writers, playwrights, and poets have written and continue to write about this promenade. Federico García Lorca dedicated a poem to it, Josep Maria de Segarra a play, ... Henry Miller, Ernest Hemingway, or Somerset Maugham publicly expressed their admiration for La Rambla, as have many other national and international figures.

Cities like Atlanta (USA) or Cattolica (Italy) have officially shown interest in replicating this promenade in their territories. The most important artistic expressions of the city are found in the theaters along this street, including the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The flower vendors on the promenade are an institution in the city, just like the Boqueria Market or the Columbus Monument that welcomes those arriving in the city by sea and leaves them with the first image of Barcelona, La Rambla.

All these virtues, including a great capacity for cultural mixing, have made La Rambla an exceptional, unique, and admired space from all corners of the world.