Bars, Gender, and Virtue Myth and Practice in Barcelona's Barrio Chino

Bars, Gender, and Virtue: Myth and Practice in Barcelona's "Barrio Chino"
Author(s): Gary Wary McDonogh

Source: Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Jan., 1992), pp. 19-33
Published by: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3318095 .
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BARS, GENDER, AND VIRTUE:MYTH AND PRACTICE

IN BARCELONA'SBARRIOCHINO
GARY WRAY McDONOGH
New College, Universityof South Florida
The constitution of urban culture entails the development, interaction, and manipulation of
potentially conflictive systems of categorization of space, class, gender, and morality. This
paper examines the intersection of these systems in the social organization and cultural
interpretation of bars in a marginal district of nineteenth and twentieth-century Barcelona.
It highlights the confluence of hegemonic ideals that affirm "good" and "bad," whether
referring to gender roles, activities, classes, or neighborhoods. At the same time it develops
the alternative models and everyday resistance apparent in bars, gender, and virtue in
zones excluded from urban power. [Barcelona, urban culture, space, gender, power]
Whenyou see boards guarding a facade and workers busy on the bottom floor of a house, you do
not have to bother them to ask what is going on. It
means they are establishing a cafe. Or a bar.
There is no doubt. Each day the number of cafes
and bars grows in an extraordinary fashion. There
are streets in which every other building has a bar.
There are streets where even this accounting is unjust: every street has a bar. He who wanders down
the Calle Conde del Asalto, on Calle San Pablo,
on the Paralelo, on the Rondas, on Calle Aribau,
on the Ramblas, on the Calle Mayor de Graicia,
will be convinced of it. And certainly there are few
streets, even in poor neighborhoods, in which one
establishment of this type does not exist (Andrebs
Hurtado, El Escaindalo 1926: 3).
The cultureof cities is characterizedby continual

tensionsamong symbolicsystemswhich definesocial space and delimitsocial groupsand categories
throughtime. The complexitiesof cities thus not
only reflectan increaseddensityof peoplesand activities, but also derive from the emergentsocial
and culturalprocesseswhich structureurban life.
Meaningful urban categories take shape within
conflictsover ideologyas well as political power;
yet the classificationsof dominantgroupsmay appear to transcendtheir form of productionto become second nature, the commonsense of "average" citizens. Thus the problemposed to urban
culturalanalystsis not only to delineatesalientcategories but also to understandtheir social formation as mutuallyconstitutiveelementsof urbanlife.
This articleanalyzesthe ideologicalformation
of capitalistBarcelonathroughthe intersectionof
culturalcategoriesand powerrelationsin an ambiguoussocial-functional
place-the bar.The inter-
pretationof bars as signifiers,especiallyin reference to the lower-classneighborhoodin which I

have worked,relies on other categorizingsystems
of urbanculture:the geographyof powerand the
constructionof gender.Space, power,and gender
"meet in the bar" to define the hegemonically
proper-"virtuous"-as well as styles and cultures
of resistance.'
I interpreturban symbolic systems through
close examinationof elements which have metaphoricor metonymiclinkages.Bars, here taken as
a loose categorywhichincludesnot only establishmentsfor liquorbut also cabarets,shows,and other
amusements,are ubiquitousin Barcelona.Yet bars
as signifiersmay become,in the sharedpublicimagery of urbanculture,a definingcharacteristicof
a singleneighborhood,
of a socialgroup,or of a set
of values.Nor has this processbeenuniqueto Barcelona: whether it be Harlem in New York,
Montmartrein Paris,Wai Chai in Hong Kong,or
the BarrioChinoin Barcelona,bars can be markers in the definitionof zones of vice for the city.
this designationcan be generalizedto
Furthermore,
the characterization
of the area and, more importantly, to its inhabitants(Siegel 1986; Douglas
1987). At the same time bars may be seen as reproducingsocialproblems-takingawaythe money
of the working-classfamily or reinforcingmoral
decayor disease,as Rorabaugh(1979) has notedin
a reviewAmericantemperanceliterature.Yet bars
may also be portrayedamongothergroupsand in
other zones as intrinsicloci of urbancivilization,
relaxedand literateconversation,and the social interactionwhich definestaste and civic virtue.The
interpretationof the bar as signifierdependsupon
otherurbanculturalcategories,and yet its reading
appearsto substantiatea coherentand rationalre-
19

20
ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
ality whose connectionsseem to transcendrather

than deny logicalargument.Instead,I suggestthat
connectionssuch as the "localization"of "vicious"
womenin portsidebars in Barcelona,which imply
evil neighborhoodsand citizens, rely on mutually
constitutivesystems which are socially repressive
and which sustain a segmentationof the urban
population.These systemsserve those who control
urbaneconomicand culturalcapital.
Three interlockingreferencesto bars, neighborhoods,and virtuein Barcelona'sbarriochino illustrate the interactionof representationsof gender, place, space, and power. The term barrio
chino (Chinatown)refersto the portsidestreetsof
the Raval, an area of one squarekilometeroutside
Barcelona'smedievalcore, althoughwithin the final set of walls which have definedthe traditional
The Raval emergedas a zone of urban
downtown.?
overflow,whose agriculturaland monasticcharacand workerhouster gave way to industrializationing in the nineteenthcentury."Chinatown,"a reference to the mysterious imagery of San
Francisco'sChinese quarter rather than to any
BarcelonaAsian population,was imposedby urban
authors in the twenties to romanticizea section
noted for prostitution,althoughthese streets actually sharedmany social and demographiccharacteristicswith the more "proper"working-classand
petty bourgeoisareas of the Raval (McDonogh
1987, 1991).
The name"Chinatown"
pointsto the complexities of urban symbolic geography.Prior to the
twenties this zone was occasionallydesignatedas
Drassanes/Atarazanas,after a nearby military
complex,but was not clearly definedby outsiders.
Local inhabitantsuse many social labels, although
their referentsmay be vague. Usage also reflects
ongoingurbanchange;since the 1950s, urbanrenewal has eaten away at the area; and workers
have followedfactoriesto suburbancenters,while
problemshavediffusedinto the Ravalwithina general decay of the older urban industrial zone.
Meanwhile,the literaryandjournalisticimageryof
the barriochino has rangedfrom tales of a seductive demimondeat the turn of the century,to cries
against pitiable exploitationin the Republic, to
portrayalsof nostalgic evil in the Franco period.
Metaphors and action overlap in contemporary
planning, which has sought to "clean up" this
neighborhoodbeforethe 1992 Olympics.
Jos6 Maria Carandell, in his Nueva guta
secreta de Barcelona, cites two references to the
Raval's Caf6 de la Alegria, a musical bar that

flourishedat the end of the nineteenthcentury.The
chroniclerLluis Almerichrecordedpopularverses
that recalled:"The Caf6 of Happiness/is a place
of perdition/whereflamenco/ is dancedto perfection/ The worker's smock is not permitted/
whateverthe excuse/ everygentlemanwho enters/
wearsa hat" (1982: 186). These stanzasidentified
the bar as a locus of both vice and (foreign)entertainment. Yet they associated these mixed
pleasureswith the middle class, symbolizedby a
reshat, ratherthan its working-class
neighborhood
identswho wore smocks.
A Catalan novelist,Josep Maria de Sagarra
(b. 1894), describeda subsequentincarnationof
this caf6 as the EdenConcert,frequentedby artists
includingPablo Picasso(see Richardson1991:6770):
TheEdenwasthe onlyprohibited
spotthatwascitedin
andof whicheveryof timorous
theconversations
persons
That is,
the conditions.
one, moreor less, understood
thata personof
whenonewantedto indicate(significar)
onesaidthathe hadbeen
the worldwasa ne'er-do-well,
theEden,andnothing
seenin theEden,or he frequented
else was necessary(Carandell1982: 186).
In this memoryfrom an elite observer,the Eden

becamea signifierof the downfallof the bourgeois
male who wouldspendtoo muchtime thereamong
artists and singers, often female. In public discoursethis bar-and its environs-took on cultural
meaningsbeyondsocialexchangeor entertainment.
A more recentrhetoricallinkageof neighborhood, bar, and moralityappearedin 1989, as the
gentrifyingworking-classzoneof Gricia celebrated
itsfestes majors(patronalfeast), a monthafterthe
limp festivitiesof the barriochino.3The inaugurator of the Gricia's fair proclaimedthat "civilization beginswherethere are streetswith bars."J.J.
NavarroArisacommentedthe next day in El Pais,
a majornationalnewspaper,
Perhapsit wouldbe betterto say that civilizationin
Griciabeginswheretherearestreetswithbars,because
to qualifyas civilizedthatwhichhapit wouldbedifficult
pensin somestreetswithbtarsin Lloret,of Sitges[both
barrio
touristcenters]orin someareasof thatmisnamed
chino of Barcelona(15 August 1989: 13).
contrastwith bars
Here, bars in one neighborhood
in another.While both zones are knownfor bars,
this signifierdenigratesthe barrio chino vis-t-vis
other settings. Nonetheless,the causes of the differencesremainimplicit.As in the prefatorycita-

BARS, GENDER,AND VIRTUE

tion from Hurtado,which lists streetswithoutever
namingthe barrio which holds most of them, urban cultureappearsto be public,commonknowledge sharedby experts,propagatedby mass media,
and apparentlyaccepted and understoodwithout
examinationby the "average"reader-citizen.
The use of bars as signifiersalso commentson
genderin relationto spaceand class as a systemof
urban classification,as the second quote implies.
Womenin a "marginal"areabecomedefinedin regard to the same landmarksof vice that play a role
in general urban imagery of their neighborhood,
and theirmoralitybecomesa touchstonein turnfor
other groups.Barcelonans'generalideas of gender
reflecta modernizedand primarilymiddle-classinterpretationof Mediterraneandualism in which
womenhave been ideallyconceivedof as maintaining domesticvirtue and culture while males have
been active producersin the publicarena(Brandes
1980, 1981; Corbinand Corbin 1988; Bux6 Rey
1978;Gilmore1990b).This urbansystemalso has
incorporateddistinctionsbased on class, ethnicity,
and virtue.One of the clear hegemonicantinomies
of the respectablewoman,for example,is the prostitute, who publiclyservesthe privateneedsof men
(Kendrick1987). Less apparent,but equally real
as an opposingrole, has been the presenceof the
workingwomanwhose demandschallengethe domestic complacencyof the bourgeoiscity (Kaplan
1982; Boatwrightand Da Cal 1984; McDonogh
1989) or the immigrant,whetherAndalusian,Filipina, or Moroccan. Even though most Raval
womendistinguishtheirlives fromlocal prostitutes,
they shop in the same streetsand can be foundin
the same bars. Thus they can become associated
with prostitutes-and distinguishedfrom proper
women-by urbanmedia becauseof imposedvalues of culturalgeography:one womanaskedabout
a newspaperphotographof "prostitutesin the barrio":"And if I am walkingdownthe street,to the
store, when they take the picture,what happens?"
Similarly,Mediterraneanmale ideals contrastthe
proper,productiveman with both the male who is
unableto providebecauseof poverty(or unemployment) and the male who in some way does not act
as a biologicalmale. Both types are seen as less
powerful and less correct (Brandes 1980, 1981;
Gilmore1990a).
Through reproductionand interpretationof
gender,space,and powerinthe bar, then, political
economicchange and external influencespervade
the definitionof the barrio,its people,and its bars.
21
Categoriesreinforceeach otherwhile dividingsociety: good men take their leisure in good bars in
good neighborhoods,possibly with good women
(who might also be at home), and such men even
confirmtheir goodnessin transientexpeditionsto
zones wheremen and womenare intrinsicallybad,
as their bars seem to illustrate.
In contrastto such establishedmythsof urban
culture, my observationsdemonstratemuch more
complexsocial patternswhich themselvesmay revolve arounda differentuse of the bar as social
place, or a multi-facetedand ambiguousset of
neighborhoodbars to servevariedlocal needs. Local usage may nuance,mirror,or invertother urban interpretations;
althoughit may also become
fraught with contradictions.Thus, understanding
the networksof bars in the barrioin relationto its
roles in the city demandsa multi-levelgeography
of social and symboliccategories.
This essay beginswith an analysisof the barrio chino bar as myth (signifier)in Barcelonaculture. It then turns to an historicalethnographic
analysis of bars in the barrio,based on observations I have made since 1975 (since 1985, with
Gaspar Maza of the Centre de Serveis Socials
Erasme de Janer). This analysis of the range of
bars in the barrioallowsus to disentanglecategories of gender,social function,and urbaninteraction that characterizethe barrio'sinteractionwith
the city; the depictionof a single bar over the last
fifteen years adds an ethnohistoricaldepth to
changingpatterns.Finally, I reflectupon the tensions amongsymbolsof gender,space, and power
whichshapethe bar and the neighborhood
as living
communitiesand as componentsof urbanculture.
Bars and the Barrio Chino: The Nature of the
Myth
Variousmedia have createdand disseminatedthe

myth of bars in the barriochino. "Stories"about
highly publicizedsites or incidentspermeateconversationswith residentsin otherareas,an oral traditionof urbangeography.Literaryworks,newspaper reports,and anthropologicaland sociological
analyses also legitimate shared cultural assumptions.To characterizethe mythof the barriochino,
however,I focus on AlfonsoPaquer'sHistoria del
barrio chino de Barcelona (1962). This already
nostalgic text, from a publisherspecializing in

scandaloustitles within the moral controlsof the
Franco period, distilled the major themes-and

22
bars-of classicbarriochinoimagerywithina narrative mixing styles of literature,memoir,history,

and alarmistreporting.'
Paquerbegan his representationwith the ambience of the barrio. His historicizationallowed
him to posit a barriochinodenaturedby the 1950s
closure of the black market and other "typical"
sites; this sense of the barrio decaying from its
ideal continuesto pervadeboth oral and literary
representation.By contrast, his introductionprovided a vivid yet judgmentalportrait:
transvestite males: "la ildtima escala
de la
degradacibn"(the last stage of degradation).6

Later, bars formedpredominantnodesof the tale,
with depictions combining physical presentation
with an analysis of clientele and events. Paquer
presentedeach as if it could be expectedto be familiar,by nameat least, to the reader:"La Mina,"
a worker'stavernportrayedas a centerfor criminal
planning(pp. 14-16); "La Criolla"and "Cal Sacristin" (pp. 61-64); "Villa Rosa"and otherAndalusianflamencoshows(pp. 93-98);the showsof female impersonators at "Gambrinus" and
andshaminghuHowmuchignomy,howmuchshameful
"Barcelonade Noche"(pp. 109-114);and the "Bomanity,howmanyvitaldefectshadtheirnaturalseatin
dega Bohemia"(pp. 137-140),a cabaret.His porand
of darkandnarrowstreets!Gamblers
thatlabyrinth
trait of Gambrinusexemplifieshis style and gaze:
freeandundaunted
women,pimpsandthieves,sodomites
and criminalsof everyclass, exploitersand exploited,
madeof thatzoneof the city its authenticwarren.That
became,withinBarcelona,an authentic
neighborhood
citadelof vice anddegeneracy,
andalmostirremovable
attracted
whosecavernsirresistibly
thespiritual
obscurity
of certainpersonsas chic as
the vulgarsentimentalism
theyarelimitedin mentality(Paquer1962:6-7)..
Paquerlinkedpeopleto space and structurationin

the barrio:
Thoselittle cafes and taverns,thosebrothelsand
thevitalal"nestsof Art"constituted
thosesophisticated
phaandomegaof an entirehumanitymorallyunderdewiththeunanimous
veloped.Not onlywasviceembraced
of the barrio,butit wasbornthere:in the incomplicity
of infectedhumanacnocentfleshitselfin thatambience
cumulation
(1962:7).6
This passage remains pregnantin both language

and imagery. The author employedan evocative
vocabulary gleaned from literature and street
slang. His charactersdefineda spectrumof stereotypicdeviants:gamblersand delinquentsare paired
with "sodomites"and "free and easy women."
Moreover,the barrioitself was takenas self-reproducing,a malignwombwithinthe city ratherthan
a result of other urban forces. For Paquer,as for
others describingthe barrio, bars were central to
the barrio'sreproduction.
Paquerdid not follow any chronologyin his
historia,althoughhe framedhis text by the internationaldiscoveryof the barrio in the late 1910s
and the introductionof major changes such as
drugs(in the thirties).Instead,the historiaroamed
throughsocialand physicalspace,depictingscenes,
characters,streetscapes,and events. In his early
sketchesPaquerdetailed-barsand brothelslinked
to crime and sex. He includedstreet scenes of all
generationsas well as a chaptersavagelycritiquing
cameto life.
About2 AM, the cabaretsandspectacles
a figurewho
Gambrinus
had,at that time,contracted
andwasfoughtoverlaterby
wouldsoonbecomepopular
localesoutsidethe barrio.
of thestars,a
imitator
Thiswas"theGreatGilbert,"
jobhedidso wellthatonlyat theendof theact,whenhe
his realaspectandwentout to greetthe
hadrecovered
be convinced
thatthe peraudiencecouldthe spectators
sonactingbeforethemwasa man.
In the midstof suchvulgarity(encanallamiento),
of the Great
therewas dignityin the representations
Gilbert....
of poorqualityone
. . . Fora bottleof champagne
was
paida priceso faraboveitsvaluethatnocomparison
to sit with
askedpermission
possible.Thetango-dancers
you,withtheirrecentlyadoptedcomportment.
wereforgotten
Butif thegamebegan,thesemanners
became"LaGravada"
andAnitaor Lucy,retroceding,
or "La Mora"of yesteryear(1962: 109, 111).
Paquer,here, captureda complexlayering,doubling, and evenmystifyingnatureof genderand representation.The Great Gilbert, a man, imitated
womenwhowerealreadydubiousin reputationand
thus in the essence of their gender role, by their
presencein the barrio. The new call girls representedthinly-disguisedmasks,with a veneerof educationor talent and perhapsa foreignname,hiding an older genealogy of prostitution.The bar
itself participatedin its spectacle,a processwhich
continuesin the contemporarybarrio.Meanwhile,
Paquerused gender,deviance,alcohol,and vulgarity to characterizethe bars, to insinuatetheir setknowlting and to establisha culturally-complicit
edge with his reader.
Paquer made scant mentionof the impoverished workingfamiliesof the barrio.Most men of
the barrio were portrayedas thieves and drunkards; male homosexualsand transvestites,in his
work, may have come from the outside, into the

BARS, GENDER, AND VIRTUE
barrio.Womenalmostinvariablyappearedas slatternly,unlessthey were entertainersor prostitutes.

A few local womenalso appearedas victims,in reference to a folkloric scenario of seduction and
abandonment(La cerillera(matchgirl)del "Excelsior,"pp. 115-121;"La Mofios,"p. 143).
Paquergenerallyalternatedbetweennostalgia
andvoyeurism.In his epilogicdiscussionof plansto
destroy the neighborhood,he nonethelessdrew a
contrastwith the normalcity into whose fabric a
new neighborhoodwouldbe incorporated:
thatpart
thathadconstituted
the redoubtof corruption
in thedailytasks
of thecity. . cameto beincorporated
faithfulto its
of a population
thathadalwaysremained
life
guilded,artesanal,
sensible/sensitiveandtraditional
(p. 148).
Opposedto the zone of vice was a stable, organized, and traditionalpopulation-a classic modern
myth of Catalan character-living in other
neighborhoods.7
The barsby whichthe barriochinois still best
knownin the city are those which have been individualizedin this fashionin novels,plays,and gossip over decades.The Criolla,Cal Sagrista, Eden
Concert, Bar Marsella, and Villa Rosa in the
1920s, or Barcelonade Noche, Bar London,Bodega Bohemia,and El Pastis in the presentexemplify this small group,highly identifiableto outsiders and mass media.Today,the remainderof these
bars open in late afternoonto run until morning.
They tend to serve drinksor cocktailsratherthan
food, chargingon the basis of their name, spectacle, and ambience.They are sometimeslinked to
theaters in nearby districts,such as Bar London
(founded1909), which becameknownas a center
for circus performersrather than presentingits
own acts. El Pastis,similarly,is knowntodayfor its
Edith Piaf-like atmosphererather than a show.
While some of the bars have lengthy pedigrees-the Marsella appearsin French novels of
the 1920s-few of the older famousbars of barrio
myth remain open. Many were destroyedduring
the Civil War or closed thereafter.Barcelonade
Noche, with its female impersonators,Villa Rosa,
and BodegaBohemiasurvivein transformedor impoverishedforms;new nightclubsare morelikelyto
be openedin other zones perceivedas fashionable
and/or safe. The image of the musicalbars, however, has transcendedits own historyto becomea
symbolicif ambiguouspresenceamongthe bars of
neighborhoodlife.
23
The earliercitationsfromCarandell,substantiated by reportswithinthe barrioand contemporary observation,indicate that such bars always
primarilyservedvisitors.Outsidershave, in turn,
differentiatedtheir appreciationof "attractions"in
termsof genderexpectations.Middle-classwomen,
in conversationswith me, have insisted on their
avoidanceof the entirebarriochino,referringto its
scandalousnature.Only amongoutsidewomenin
their twenties and thirties has there been an acceptable adventurousnessto having gone to the
Marsellafor absintheor Bodega Bohemiafor the
show, perhapscoupledwith a social consciousness
of the povertyand problemsof the barriosuchvisitors barely entered.Those who live in the barrio
have suggestedthat morewomenof the bourgeoisie
have in fact visited;thus barriowomenaffirmtheir
own worthas workinghousewivesas opposedto decadent aristocrats.
Males outsidethe barrio,on the other hand,
have relished stories of barrio adventuresand
sharedthem with me freely, especiallywhen away
from the conversationof their wives. The barrio
chino becamefor many men a right of passageas
well as an escape from bourgeoisnorms a view
which inhabitantsrecognize,ridicule,and exploit.
In all my interviewswith residentsin the barrio, however,they recalledthe barsthemselvesconsistentlyfrom the outsideunless they had worked
there (for example,as a waiter).The entertainers
who frequentedspectacle bars were known from
their daytimeactivities,frombuyingbreadto looking for perfumeand makeup,but childrenwere
warnedto keep a respectfuldistanceand to avoid
their example, however attractive it seemed
(McDonoghand Maza n.d.). Neighborhoodresidentsseem to view these barsas a foreignspace in
their own world, althoughthey have been recognized as a sourceof potentialincome.Eventoday,
those whom I know in Bar Gallart (below) were
uncertainaboutthe locationof the Pastis,although
it lies a few blocks away, and condemnednearby
epigonesof historicnightclubsas "worthlesstourist
traps."
The Bar Marsellaepitomizesthe ambiguityof
modern spectacle bars in the barrio chino. For
most of the day, its tablessheltera groupof older,
poorresidentsof nearbyroominghouseswho often
bringtheir own food and pass the day in conversation or card games. In the early evening,for a few
hours,it is invadedby college-agestudentswho revel in its "atmosphere"and disappearby 9 p.m.,

24
when television, cards, and neighborhoodgossip

again take over. Carandell'sguide refers to the
"strongestatmosphere(mas cargada)in Barcelona,
wherethe mostunexpectedbeingsplay,drink,talk,
smoke,shut up" (1972: 184);a recentnoveldepicts
the lives of the older womenof the bar and hotel
(Pottocher1985), yet ownersand regularsof the
bar were unawareof this book when I introduced
them to it in the late 1980s.The peopleof the bar,
withinits fin-de-siecledecor, are transformedinto
the spectacle,althoughthey also commenton and
profitfrom the touristsand others:some regularly
save me newsclippingson the barrioin whichthey
appear.The Marsella,in the 1990s, appearstorn
betweencleaningand appealfor moretouristsand
the needs and image of its stronglocal clientele.
Spectaclebars,as a single facet of the bar life
of the barrio chino, embody an ambiguousspace
within various frameworksof urban culture. To
outsiders,they typify the entire neighborhoodand
its inhabitantsas fascinatinglysinful; to insiders,
they may be odd, foreign,and even evil. Through
these bars,the myth of the barriochino has linked
space, class, virtue, and gender in the same way
that the themes of Paquer's narrativereinforce
each other by juxtapositionand associationrather
or the
than by logicalanalysisof the neighborhood
city. As Geertz has said of commonsense, with a
strikingrelevanceto urbanculturalknowledge,it
must "affirmthat its tenets are immediatedeliverances of experience,not deliberatereflectionsupon
it" (1983: 75). To deconstructthe historicalnature
of such mythology,we must look at other aspects
of gender,class, and virtuein the neighborhoodas
well.
Bars and the Uses of Social Space
In fieldworkin the barriosince the 1970s,Gaspar

Maza and I have found a complex system to be
necessaryin mappingand understandingbars. Besides spectacle bars (1), we have differentiated
three other types amongthe hundredsof bars that
have played a role in the Raval since the turn of
the century. These types are distinguishablein
their ambience,historicalorigin, clientele, admission criteria,hours,and their interactionwith barrio and city. We categorizethese types as (2) business bars (bares de negocio),entailingprostitution
and drugs, (3) special interestbars/clubs,and (4)
neighborhoodbars."Only the businessbar appears
with any frequencyalongside spectacles in mass
mediadepictionsof the barrio;specialinterestbars

occasionallyplay a corollaryrole as markersin political discourseaboutimmigrants,leftists,or racial
groups. Yet all can only be understoodwithin a
network of social use and cultural meaning in
which the neighborhoodbars predominate.
Bars, Prostitution,and Drugs
Althoughprostitutionhas been associatedwith the
barrio chino since the fourteenthcentury, legal
brothels contained prostitutionuntil the 1950s.
Many brothelswere located in the barrio chino,
servingtransientsin the harbordistrictas well as
the rest of the city. When brothelswere closed,
prostitutionmovedto the streetand the bar.One of
the bar-typesthat appearedin this periodearned
the name barra americana(Americanbar) in an
alternateidentificationof geographyandvice. Such
barsresembledimly-litcavernoustunnelswith bare
counterswhereprostitutesawaitclients.Prostitutes
generallymake some agreementwith bar owners,
who also profitfrom sales to male clients. Unlike
spectacle bars, in which commercialsex may be
available or implicit, these bars evidently offer
nothingelse, no ambiguitieswhichcouldotherwise
explain a client's presence.In the past few years
many have been closed by municipalaction, althoughprostitutionin otherzones is toleratedand
even graphicallyadvertisedin city newspapers.
Even so, these bars of the barrio chino have
attracteda literaryand journalisticgaze. Nobelprize winner Camilo Jose Cela (1964) described
the sad and weary urbanprostitutesin the 1950s
and 1960s in much the same way that they appeareduntil recentcampaigns.Othershave identified them street by street, such as the older (midfifties) prostitutesalong the Carrerde les Tapirs,
whose very name suggesteda particulartype in a
1980s dramatic monologue, Dolca de les Tapies
(Valls 1984; see DraperMiralles 1982; Carendell

1982). Ironically,Tapirsalmostlacked many bars
and even buildings,exceptfor a hotelwhichserved
as a houseof assignationand social center for the
communityof prostituteswho workthe street.
Today, most prostitutionbars concentratein
three or four streets in the north of the barrio
chino and in clubs havingaccess to the Rambles,
the major downtownthoroughfare.In the 1980s
the narrowpassage of Carrerd'En Robadorwas
linedwith one bar afteranother,hotels,andclinics,
with the prostitutesmovingoutsideon warmerdays

25
to drawin clients.Male prostitutionwas prohibited again localizedin partin the barriochino,withina

under Franco, but some transvestiteprostitutes more complexEuropeantrade.Newspapers,televiconcentratednear the Ramblesduringthe late afsion, and police singledout bars as zones of sale
ternoonand evening.9
and otheractivities,epitomizedin the imageof the
These bars tend to follow the hours of the
hooker-junkie.
In newspaperreports and political rhetoric,
spectaclebars,built aroundnighttimeactivities,althoughsome prostitutesand bars workfrom early moreover,the critiqueof drugsand actionagainst
morningon. These bars specializein hard liquor them often have mergedwith a new discussionof
and rely on prostitutes'earningsand inflatedprices race and immigration.Drug traffickingis associto survive.An indicationof the spatial specializa- ated in the press and the public mind with Arab
tion of such barsis evidentin the activitiesof pros- and Africanimmigrants,manyof themillegal,who
titutesoutsidetheirworkinghours,who eat and rehave concentratedin the Raval.Evenbars that relax in neighborhood
mained"clean"were heavilypolicedif their clienbars,wherethey may talk with
friends and neighbors,or joke about the day's tele includedblack or Arab males." The associatricks.Such offstageactivitieswouldnot be allowed tion of race and drugs also permeated some
in workingbars.
commentsby barrio residentswho rejectedthese
Prostitutesmay or may not live in the barrio, immigrantsas harbingersof problems,while comalthoughthe latter case seems morecommonfrom mentingon the "youngmiddle-classwomen"who
scattereddata I haveobtained.The clientelegener- frequentthem as companionsand clients.
As noted, not all prostitutionsinvolve male
ally comesfromoutsidethe barrio.Despitelegends
of the bourgeoispatron,especiallyin the days of
and female relations.Yet the interpretations
of a
the brothels,most of their clientsseem to be work- transvestitebar anda famousfemaleimpersonators
ing class and immigrants(DraperMiralles1982).10 show in the area again reflectclass patterns.The
Indeed,the originof the clienteleis often difficult most elegant transvestiteprostitutionin Barcelona
to define-Robadors is famous for its mirones in the 1970s operatedin the bourgeoisRambla
(men who stand outsidethe bar and stare,or winCatalana/Diagonalarea, next to a zone of young
male hustling.Muchof this todayhas movedto andowshopfrom bar to bar for hours),Tapirs for its
retiredmen on limited pensions.Generallyprosti- other suburbanarea near the Universitycampus.
tutes in this area are perceivedto be older and in
Yet the publicidentificationof male transvestites,
poorerphysicalshapeand to chargeless than those whatevertheir sexual orientation,often focuseson
in more elegant zones of the city.
the barriochino.Publicfear of AIDS and its idenUrbanknowledgeof workingprostitutes,male
tificationwith "illicit"sexualityand drugshas also
or female,belongsprimarilyto malesoutsideof the
medicalizedvisionsof gender,drugs,and deviance
barrio.Nonetheless,in 1990, I was takenabackby
in referenceto the barrio.
a startlingcommentfrom an elite woman in her
It is importantto note, however,that the barfifties:"En Robadorshad prostitutesthat were not
rio chinoapparentlylacksany male and/or female
available anywhereelse in Spain." This remark gay bars, althoughthere are gay book/sex shops
was not, however,based on first-handknowledge, nearby. Gay centers are also more likely to be
but on conversationsand reading,reflectingan infound in more middle-classareas such as Gracia.
verse pride in urbanlife. Inside the barrio males This, too, seems to reinforcenegativeratherthan
and females may know prostitutesas neighbors, merelydifficultmale genderroles:in the Mediterwithin social limits alreadymentioned.
ranean,a male who adoptsan activerole in homoProstitutionas a gender-relatedservicehas in
sexualliaisonsprovesmoreacceptablesociallythan
recent years been linkedin mass mediato another a passiveor feminizedmale (Brandes1981). Both
vice:drugs.Thereare mentionsof
the resourcesand political consciousnessof the
publicly-labelled
cocainetraffickingin the barriobetween1910 and
middleclass may also facilitategay identityin arthe 1930s (Paquer1962:85-89;Boatwrightand Da
eas where bars will escape other negative
Cal 1984;Romani1982), but few reliablestatistics attributes.'2
exist. The imageryof cocainethen was that of the
Prostitution,drugs, and transvestitesin bars
enticementof upper-classwomen into a world of
serve to justify images of the barrio chino as a
depravity.Cocaineand heroinreappearedin Barce- problemzone for many outsiders.For those in the
lona in the 1980s, however, with visible traffic neighborhood,these bars are workplaceswhich

26
may elicit ambivalentresponses,especiallyin the

case of drugswhichare increasinglyperceivedas a
problempermeatingthe entire neighborhood.Like
spectaclebars, then, these bars and their workers
are integratedinto barriosocietywith difficultydespite the generalizationsdrawnby outsiders.
Special InterestBars
A third major set of bars with a long historical
presencein the neighborhoodencompassesestablishments built around neighborhoodvoluntary
groups.At the turn of the centurythese bars were
particularlyassociatedwith politicaland workers'
groups,whichgave the barrioa reputationfor radicalism as well as vice (Fabre and Huertas 1977).
Today, these bars may be associatedwith specific
interestgroups,such as choral societies,although
politicalprojectsalso endure.Otherbars serveethnic interests.These includedprimarilyAndalusian
bars in the early waves of immigrationto the city
and, in recent years, bars that cater to Arabs and
Blacks, who will form an exclusiveif negativelystereotypedclientele. Still other bars articulate
neighborhoodgroups,such as soccerteams, within
league relationships.
Most of these bars are dominatedby older
men, althoughwomenmay join them for socialoccasions.Political centers like the anarchistbar in
the Raval (a few blockswest of the barriochino),
have a younger,mixed clientele. Exclusivefemale
reunions in the barrio traditionallyhave taken
place outsideof the bars,in such centersfor public
domesticactivityas washhouses,stores,and dairies
(Kaplan 1982). In contrastto bourgeoispatterns,
the RomanCatholicparishesare not viewedlocally
as social centers; schoolyardsnow seem to serve
such functionsfor many mothers.
Such bars lack shared patterns of time or
space use. Choral society and club bars remain
open after workinghoursand may provideactivity
zones arounda pool table or an office as well as
storagefor paraphernalia.Politicalbars also open
duringthe day, but close earlierthan commercial
bars.Thesebarsalso includeofficeand propaganda
space. Ethnicbars representa specializationof clientele rather than setting; they tend to look like
other neighborhoodbars (from which they may
have sprung) and are open throughoutthe day.
Nonetheless, some bars have been marked (and
marketed)as specificallyAndalusiancentersin the
past, bordering on spectacle bars. An African
centerin the 1980s playedAfricanand Caribbean

music as well as serving occasionalethnic food
items. Here,the ownerhimselfwas an Africanwho
wantedthe bar to be a social centerdespitepolice
hostility.
These bars are not numerous,although in
their widestsense they may be as commonas bars
specializingin prostitution,and they are certainly
more prevalentthan the spectaclebars. Yet they
rarely figure in the image of the barrio, unless
evokedin times of politicalcrisis becauseof their
apparentlyclosedcharacter.After riotsin the early
century,for example,or in more recentperiodsof
changingattitudestowardssub-Saharanrefugees,
these barshave beeninvestigatedand controlledby
urban media and administrators.In most cases,
however,the symbolicvalue of such centersin urban cultureis limited,an oversightwhich also facilitates the discussionof fragmentationor anomie
in the barrio.
Such bars may be integratedinto the barrio,

althoughassociatedwith specialgroupsor interests
who are exclusivistin their use; in the case cited
below,a bar has alternatedbetweengeneralneighborhoodstructureand ethnic exclusivism.In this
sense special interestbars also mark a processual
continuityin the neighborhood
populationnot associatedwith spectacleor prostitutionbars.This continuityincludesan affirmationof local genderroles
(with clear public male dominance)and nuclei of
communitysolidarity.
NeighborhoodBars
The preponderant
categoryamongbars in the barrio chinoand Raval,as in mostof Spain,comprises
multi-servicebars familiarfrom the ethnographic
literatureon ruraland urbanSpain (Hansen 1977;
Brandes 1980; Collier 1986; Corbin and Corbin
1987; Gilmore 1987; Heiberg 1989). These bars
originatedin pre-industrialtaverns,'and tend to
specialize in wine and beer, although appetizers
(tapas) and often completemeals are served(Almerich 1945). The remainingbodegas,wine stores
that also sell drinksin a limited space, represent
the most traditionalformof this establishment,yet
the neighborhoodbar has typically expandedfar
beyondsuch humblebeginnings.
These establishmentscenter on both the bar
and the kitchen,where a couple or a family take
responsibility for multiple services, replicating
traditionalgender divisionsof labor in a public


area. Such bars vary widely, however, in size and
offerings as well as clientele. Hours are similarly
complex. The largest bars may follow multiple
rhythms in order to serve the widest possible range
of clients, from cleaning women and night workers
returning home in the early morning to those who
stop by after late night jobs. Others are more specialized: in the wholesale distribution areas around
Carrer Uni6/Marqu6s de Barbara, for example,
some bars open at 6 - 7 a.m. and close at 9
p.m.-early for Spanish bars-after workers have
left the area. Other bars specialize in the lunch and
after-lunch trade, although almost all are open
mornings.
Clients vary through the day as well as over
time. Working women and men congregate in the
early morning-a phenomenon my students and I
have noted throughout the city. Mornings later are
punctuated by work breaks, with activity picking
up before the main mid-day meal. Here, the clients
are primarily male, although women and children
also may wander into bars before lunch. Coffee and
liqueurs follow the mid-day meal, again inviting
both males and females. Late afternoons usage responds to breaks among those around the area,
with a concentrated population again growing as
afternoon work winds down (8 - 10 p.m.). While
many evening clients are male, women and children also may become involved in the social life of
the bar, often in relationship to the women and
children of the proprietorial family. For poor families in cheap rooms or cramped and crowded apartments, the bar and street provide a welcome recreational space. After midnight the clientele becomes
predominantly male, since most barrio residents
still value domesticity for females, especially young
and unmarried women.
The presence of women and children during
the day, or even of apparently stigmatized clients
such as prostitutes, transvestites, the homeless or
serious alcoholics, makes sense in terms of the resources of the neighborhood, with a history of minimal open space or community resources and the active construction of a social network that makes
any bar a success. As Maza and I have repeatedly
observed, the most marked category of persons for
such a bar is the outsider who is unknown to regulars and owners. For others, bars may be livingroom, mailbox, playground, and social club.
The ambiguity of such bars as signifiers can be
seen by returning to Paquer's description of the
only "famous" working-class bar in the classic bar-
27
rio, La Mina, torn down after the Civil War:

wasthe
on the right,backto the windows
Entering
rolledup,
counterfordrinks,wheretwolads,shirtsleeves
servedendlessglassesof wineandspiritsin thickglasses.
On the left wasa windowclosinga smalldoorway,
andpickled
in whicha womansoldcodfritters,sardines
fish(escabeche).
overto various
At the tables,mengavethemselves
duties.Whilesome playedcards,othersin a corner
somegoodgambit,withdrinksfromtheirflagon,
planned
mutewitnessto the scene.
At anothertable,sometookapartcigarbuttsthat
intocigatheyhadpickedupin thestreets.Reconverted
tobaccowasusedto make
rettes,thatdirtyandbespittled
packetssoldto theofficialtobaccodealers....
Scarcelywoulda disputecomeup, overa gameor
in theplace
byan"outsider"
(forastero)
simplyprovoked
andknives-withwhichtheclientelewasgenerally
quite
bestainedwiththerageof theircrimidexterous-would
nal mindswhichalcoholhadmademoreviolent(1962:
24).
Most of the activities described are those of a
neighborhood eating-house, which is how older local residents recall the bar. Indeed, the presence of
marginal work (food sales, tobacco gathering) overshadows leisure or scandal for the critical reader.
Even knives served multiple functions to
dockworkers and laborers. Paquer recognizes,
moreover, "that there was a code, tacitly established, that they always respected" (p. 25). None-
a criminal
theless,to fit the mythic interpretation,
atmosphere is imposed, including the implicit inter-
pretationof a relativelyclosed social structureas

xenophobic or dangerous.
The construction of the social life of all Spanish bars entails changing strategies to stabilize a
clientele and make money, which may move bars
into other specialized categories. This change is apparent in the history of a bar which I know to have
been a neighborhood bar when I arrived in Barcelona in 1975. A long-term analysis of this bar,
which I will refer to pseudonymously as the Bar
Gallart, illustrates the complex interactions of bar,
gender, and virtue in everyday life in the "modern"
barrio chino.
Bar Gallart was founded by a couple who had
immigrated separately from the South of Spain in
the 1920s and met and married in Barcelona,
where they worked. After the war they invested in
a small bar which they used as a stepping-stone to
the larger establishment which they have run as a
family since the 1960s. In the mid-1970s, this bar
operated from six in the morning until 2:30 at
night without a day of vacation. This rigorous

28
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
schedule, designed to serve all elements in the

demandedthe workof both parents,
neighborhood,
their four children,and the children'sspouses.The
father opened the bar in the morning and the
motherclosed it at night-roles they maintaintoday in strict controlof the financialaffairsof the
business.In the 1980s the father handledthe bar
alone or with the passing help of an unoccupied
child in mornings.Two daughtersand one son-inlaw workedin the kitchenat mid-day,whenclients
packedin, and preparedappetizersas well as meals
at any hour.The othersons and anotherson-in-law
have tendedbar. All lived in a nearbyapartment,
increasinglycrowdedby grandchildren.
The bar provideda living for fifteenpeopleas
well as a center in which workersand residentsof
the neighborhoodmingled.It maintaineda soccer
team and frequentlotteries as well as parties for
seasonalor familyevents.Its clientelein the 1970s
includedboth males and females,althoughthe foras regulars.Womenappearedin
mer predominated
the early morningbefore or after work, and at
night, generally in the companyof regular male
partners.Single women, like foreigners,were unusual, althoughprostitutes,male and female, were
toleratedwhenthey came for a break.Severalmajor prostitutionbars functionednearby.
In the mid-1980s this bar became linked to
new illegal immigrants,especially Arabs, and to
harddrugs.After the departureof the early morning workers,Arab males became more numerous
throughoutthe day and night. Most ran up tabs to
be settledlate at night, includingdrinks,cigarettes,
and food. Some wives and families appearedas
well as a handful of older regulars.Drugs were
sold, but the owvnersvehementlyinsisted that all
transactionsand use took place outside the bar,
publicly and perhapslegally defendingtheir own
virtue by a new spatializationof evil. The bathroomwas closedwith a lock, the only key to which
was availablefrom the bartender,in orderto prevent drug use, a policysupportedby detailedanecdotes of overdosedcorpses found in nearby bars.
Young males and females with drug problems
bought sandwichesand even receivedcharity, althoughthey were criticizedfor their weaknessand
watched for any problemsthat they might cause.
Yet the street was only antagonisticallyseparated
from the bar: sidewalksand a small nearbyplaza
were dominatedby drug dealerswho used the bar
as their social center. Increased police control
around the neighborhoodwas also evident:after
ten years without questionsin the barrio, I was

stoppedthree times by the police within the first
days of my returnin 1987.
The bar was no longer securedby neighborhood or family anchors.Most of the customersI
had knownin the 1970s had shiftedtheir business
to other, less flamboyantbars-where I would go
with membersof the owners'familywhenthey had
time off. Both sons-in-lawhad left, one by divorce
and the otherby takingan outsidejob and moving
out with his wife, who continuedto work in the
bar. One of the sons had been divorced;a distant
relativefrom the mother'shome had movedin to
help with cooking. While older neighborswere
clearin theirdisapproval,the familymemberswere
ambivalent-living from the money of the bar
while tryingto avoidany tangibleassociationwith
the drug trade.
On my return in January 1989 I found the
Arab populationof the bar replacedby blackAfricans. Essentially,this did not changethe economic
or social status of the bar, althoughfamily members commentedthat Africansprovedto be a more
tranquilpopulation.Yet changingattitudestoward
immigrationas well as a latent racismtriggeredby
new ethnicgroupswas also turningthe societyas a
whole againstsuch locales.
Thus, by my returnto Barcelonain summer
1989 and 1990, bar ownershad joinedwith police
to reconvertthe bar to a neighborhoodlocale. Police situated a mobile station for days at the entrance to the street and, ratherthan complaining,
the sons lauded the effort-"Pues, Gary, has visto
como se ha puesto esto. Es mejor. Asi no viene el
hampa"(Well, Gary,you haveseen what has happened.This is better.The trash won'tcome). The
hours remainedthe same, but usage corresponded
to a moreworking-classpattern,and hoursand clientele familiarfrom a decade ago, with peaks at
earlymorning,mid-day,and late at night,although
the bar now closes by 2:00 a.m.. The core family
workingstaff has diminished,whilethe next generation beginsto look for other opportunities.
Through the 1980s this bar has joined for
many activities with anothermore clearly stable
neighborhoodbar severalblocksaway. In 1989 on
feast of Saint
the importantCatalanneighborhood
Joan, regularstossed fireworksfrom the bar, controlling the traffic and occupationof the street.
Core clients/neighbors,males and females,stayed
on for closingand cleaningbeforeadjourningto a
verbena(party) at anothernearbybar. This bar,

whose clientele was strictly drawn from and controlled by neighborhoodsocial ties, sponsoreda
street party to benefit its soccer team. Ironically,
most of Bar Gallart'sfamily were reunitedat this
all-nightparty.
It is questionablewhetherBar Gallartwill in
fact be able to regainits status as a neighborhood
bar and to surviveeconomically.Yet whilethe sons
as well as the grandchildren
talk longinglyat times
about leaving the neighborhood,the bar remains
their social center and their livelihood.
Bar Gallartas a communitythroughtime has
been shapedby continuingprocessesof socialcategorization-includingthe active ignoringof racial
or criminalcategories-in a constantand changing
relationto the neighborhoodaroundit. For fifteen
years family members have publicly portrayed
themselvesas virtuousand ultimatelyas orderly,
despitethe imageryof the barrioand the realities
of the bar. Yet they have been awarethat such a
claim wouldbe dismissedoutsidethe barrio,just as
I evoked a certain ethnographicscandal among
bourgeoisinformantswith my use of the bar as a
commandcenter.Recentlythis scandalhas intensified with any indicationthat I wouldlive and work
in the neighborhoodwith my wife. The family offers us a place to live with security,but to outsiders, I seem to be riskingmy wife's reputationas
well as her safety.
Thus, the life of Bar Gallart epitomizesthe
complex meanings of bars in the barrio itself,
formedby daily contact and nuancedby personal
ties, but subjectto externalevaluationand control.
At times,residentsof the barriouse a commonurban discourseabout particularbars or cabaretsor
even particulargroups, such as drug-dealersor
Arabs. Yet they see these bars or groupsas external to the barrio, thus changingthe signification
processof the urbanmyth of the barrio.Spectacle
or workingbars define a kind of urbanbourgeois
vice for them, againstwhich local genderand virtue may be measured.
To barrioresidents,bars are centersof living
society as well as timeless signifiers.Workersin
shows or prostitutesmay become regulars who
share in neighborhoodidentity while in the bar's
social world. Outsiders,by being structuredinto
the spatialand temporalcategoriesof a neighborhood bar, lose their dangerousstatus, whetheras
drug-dealersor anthropologists.They becomepersons,ratherthan categories,althoughthe processis
hardlyarticulatedby residentsas such.
29
These differences of experience, use, and

mythologization,however,are subordinatedto the
timelessand detachedcategorizationsof dominant
groups who have the right to categorizefor the
city, to createand imposea generalizingmythdisassociated from quotidianrealities. Throughthis
process, resistance,domination,personalnuance,
and historicalchangeare hidden.
Conclusion: Bars as Social
Signifiers
Zones, Bars as
Bars exist as both servicesand symbolsthroughout

Spanishand Catalanlife. In general,bars act as
arenas of drinking,eating, and social interaction
which reflect the social structure,economiclife,
and culturalvalues of the communitiesin which
they are situated.In urbancenterssuch as Barcelona, complexnetworksof bars servesocialgroups
or categories defined by neighborhood,class,
ethnicity, gender, interest, race, profession,and
style and theirintersections.Barsare also arenasin
which social and cultural change is enacted, as
Jane Collier (1986) has describedfor women in
Southern Spain. Similar phenomenacan be observedin the transformation
of touristareasor the
bar fashionswhich have swept throughmetropolitan centers.Yet as urbanitestalk aboutbars,these
establishmentsare often treatedas secondaryand
loaded signifiersthroughwhich the play of other
urban values is discussedor concealed.That is,
quiteapartfromthe socialor economicstructureof
any bar, it is open to symbolic interpretations
which subsumeother phenomenaand make wider
connectionsof meaning.
The barriochinoof Barcelonain the twentieth
centuryhas been characterizedby a dominanturban culturalportrayalof its bars as centersof depravityand vice. This attack has not been on the
generalfunctionsof the bar-certainly not alcohol
use or recreation-nor on the presenceof bars per
se. Nor does this attack encompassthe actual social formationof the neighborhoodor the perceptions and actionsof those who inhabitit. Rather,
the "myth"of the bars of the barriochino has become part of the interplayof culturalstereotypes
which confirmthe political, economic,and social
marginalizationof the area and its inhabitants
while apparentlynot entailingcauses. Indeed, as
landmarksin the human symbolicgeographyof
Barcelona,barrio chino bars appear to become
causes ratherthan attributesof marginality.

30
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
This phenomenonbecomesmoreinterestingas
the mappingof Barcelonain terms of production
and employmentzones intersectswith a dialogue
overgender,power,and virtue,specificallyoverthe
natureof the "good"man or woman.As the barrio
chino is identifiedwith bars of vice, so all the
womenof the barriochino becomeidentifiedwith
womenof vice. This categorizationof gender and
virtue is thus extendedto a large segmentof the
urbanpopulation,whilewomenof otherclassescan
confirmtheir virtue by their avoidanceof a geographicspace.
Men, by contrast, are associated with bars
throughoutthe city; the intensity of the mythic
show and prostitutionbars of the barrio chino in
this sense reinforcesthe core identity of middleclass urbanmales. Transvestites,as agents of bars
and vice associatedwith the area, reaffirmthe unmarked and dominant categorizationof active
bourgeoismales,while confusingthe externalcategorizationimposedupon men in the barrio. The
contrast between transvestitesand a more emergent politicalgay identity,with locales in middleclass barrios, suggests even more complex
associations.
Withinthe barrio,as I have suggested,the social structuringof bars proves more flexible and
complex.The bars that for externalimageryhave
been typical of the neighborhoodare perceivedas
externalwithin the barrio. Thus, most women of
the barrio can affirm their own virtue by their
avoidanceof these locales,just as women outside
the barrio can. Women can, however,find social
meaningand value in properbehaviorwithin the
barsas socialcentersfor families,esneighborhood
pecially in the absenceof other alternatemeeting

places. Men, generally,do not frequentthe bars
which provideadventuresfor wealthiermales so
much as they reproducea ubiquitouspattern of
male publicsocial interactionin local bars. Nonetheless,theirlocalesmay be identifiedas dangerous
if they cultivateof socialand politicalunitieswhich
invert the political goals of more elegant clubs
elsewhere.
Ultimately,the timelessand mythicreduction
dominatesdiscussionof urbanperceptionand policy, and, not surprisingly,the signifiersof bourgeois
cultureconcealthe lives of barriochinobarsthemselves as well as the neighborhoodin which they
participate.The citation from Hurtadoat the beginningof this article, for example,was produced
by a lawyer-politicianwho became influentialin
the Republicanperiodof the city, withina newspaper which created strong imagery of the urban
fabricthat continuessixty yearsafter thatjournal's
demise. The quotationsfrom Carandellare found
in a guideto Barcelona'smysteriesdesignedfor the
literate and adventuroustraveller.The pregbnof
the 1989festes of Gricia formedpart of the festive-politicalremappingof the city, which has
markedGricia for its urbantraditionswhile rearrangingand denigratingthe barriochino and the
Raval. Fromthese statements,in turn,it is easy to
move to policy enactment,such as the demolition
of barsand streetsof barsin the nameof civic and
neighborhoodvirtue.Thus ultimatelybars become
metaphorsfor complexrelationsof powerand culture which shape the city while hiding an understandingof its life and change.
NOTES
AcknowledgmentsFunding for this research was primarily
from the AmericanCouncilof LearnedSocieties and the New
College AnthropologyFund. An earlier versionof this article
was presentedat the American AnthropologicalAssociation
meetingsin 1989, where it profitedfrom discussionby Stanley
Brandesand DeborahHeath. It has since received extensive
commentsfrom Hing-YukWong, Carles CarrerasVerdaguer,
GasparMaza, and Gerald Felz as well as those in the barrio
with whom I have discussedmy ideas.
'Gilmore (1990a, 1990b) has pointedout the limitations
and critiquesthat are transformingearliersimpledualisticexplanationsof gender.His rethinkingof categoriesfor Southern
Spain suggests an even more urgent need to incorporatedata
from other areas, especiallyconcerninggenderrelationsin urban areas which have often been ignoredin the constructionof
modelsof "real"Mediterraneanculture (Brandes1980, 1981;
Murphy 1983; Corbin and Corbin 1987; Gilmore 1987; Uhl
1991). Little of this literaturetouches on the Catalan experience, wheredistinctivekinshipand productiveexperiencesand
class patternschange or complicateroles (Vives de Fabregas

1945; Falcon 1983;Bretonand Barruti1978;McDonogh1986,
1987). Dorsey Boatwrightand Enric Da Cal (1984) analyzed
genderand imagerywithina politicalframeworkfor the barrio
in their stimulating examinationof the newspaperEl Escandalo, which was an early inspirationfor my work in the
barrio.This workdrawson Gurr's(1987) article on drinking.
My modelsin this analysistend to synthesizeelementsof
structuralistand post-structuralistdialogue-notably Barthes
1972; Bourdieu1972, 1979; Foucault1972; and Sahlins 1981,
1985; with other concernsof space, representation,and power
voiced by Castells 1983; Harvey 1989; and Lynch 1990. My
readingof mediaand the productionof myth has also been influencedby work in cultural studies includingHebdige 1979
and Johnson 1987. Finally, I have been stimulatedby a rethinkingof gender and space in Spain, althoughthis applies
primarilyto literatureon Andalusiaand in a differentway, to
the Basquecountries(see Gilmore1990b;Uhl 1991;Del Valle
et al. 1985; Del Valle 1989).


2The Raval was formerly a municipal political
unit-District V; since the 1980s it has become a subunit in
the "Old City" (Ciutat Vella), which influencesboth its voice
and its image withincontemporaryplanning.(For generalhistory see Ajuntamentde Barcelona1971; ArtiguesVidal et al.
1980; McDonogh1987, 1991).
SGriciaemergedas an independentvillage and city to the
northof Barcelonathat was incorporatedinto the city, despite
a strongliberaland working-classidentity,in 1898. It remains
a separatepolitical unit with a strong local culture, although
increasinglydominatedby general urban movementssuch as
gentrificationand the developmentof new entertainmentzones.
'This text representsmany similartexts which I have encounteredin my fieldwork,includingtexts on the barrio and
guide books to the city. Madrid 192? and MarsA1928? were
two of the earliestcomprehensivetexts; Boatwrightand Da Cal
1984 and McDonogh1987 providesummariesof the bibliography, while Carendell1982 providesan interestingoverviewof
oral traditions.
5A recent guidebookmaintainsthe same themes in a diminished form, without Paquer'sextraordinaryimagery and
with a strongersense of the social formationof marginality:
Nourishedby a populationoriginallyrural,victim of the
miseryof the big city, the fact of constitutingin a large
part an insalubrious,dirty and abandonedneighborhood
has not managedto stifle the expressiveforce of a race
[referenceto Andalusianimmigrants](Cirici 1971, reprinted 1985: 308).
A street is characterizedas "a miserablestreet, with elemental
shops, primitivismsand the most miserabletaverns"(p. 312).
Bars, health, and "primitivism"continue to figure largely in
discussion.
6Thistheme had alreadybeen established,however,in depictionsof the barrio in the 1920s (Marst 1928?).
7This neighborhoodis depictedconsistentlyby Paqueras
predominantlyAndalusian,emphasizingthe predominantorigin of twentieth-centuryimmigrants,yet addingan Orientalizing flavorto his depiction(Said 1977). He does not name an
alternateneighborhood,which might well have been typifiedin
this periodby Gricia.
8This list would not be completefor the city as a whole,
where the periodsince the death of Francohas witnessednew
kindsof bars,markingtrendsin neighborhoods
and socialclass.
These includeformatgeries (specializedin cheese and wine),
xampanyerias(champagneboutiques),discotecas and, in the
1980s, coctelerias(cocktaillounges),and increasinglysophisticated nightspots.Here, the barriochino offers only a pale re-.
flection of the bars sophisticatedclients have sought in other
fashionablebarrios. In the late eighties perceptionsof urban
dangerand the politics of urban renovationhave favorednew
controlledzones of amusementaway from residentialareas.
The Poble Espanyol,originallybuilt as an amusementcompound for the BarcelonaExpositionof 1929 has been revitalized as a bar/amusementarea controlledby walls and paid admission,a Disneylandsimilacrumof the old barriochino with
which it was contrastedin the 1920s. This policyhas also been
inauguratedin revitalizationof the port area, the Moll de la
Fusta. The presenceof such opportunitiesdelineatesthe class
implicationsof an earlier Bohemia.
9Thereis a stratifiedgeographyof prostitutionin the city,
apparentin newspaperads and in DraperMiralles'sbasicstudy
(1982), as well as my own observationsand interviews.
Miralles gives various life historieswhich illus1ODraper
trate the expectationsof such women. I includeone, of a 70-
31
year old whom he found workingin the CarrerSan Ramon,

which also presentsthe woman'ssense of neighborhoodsand
bars outsideof the barrio:
I came here like all of them, havingtried everything.
I beganthis when I was 14. An aunt of mine took me out
of the orphanagein which my parents had abandoned
me. My aunt also workedin this and soughtmen for me.
First, her clients, whom she offered a minor. At 18, a
gentlemanwho had a drygoodsbusinessretiredme. I was
with him five years. Then I went into "Casa la Carola."
One workedmuchand well. It was a little after the war.
A guy in Suppliestook me out and put me in a flat in the
calle del Carmen [in the Raval, several blocks northof
the barrio chino]. But he pulled some tricks and they
threw him out. He was in prison for a while and then
disappeared.I went back to "MadameRita's," where I
stayed a long time. I earned good money. I made a
"friend" (amiguito) who ate up everything.He really
likedgamblingand alwayslost. When I left him, I began
to save moneywith the intentionof startinga business.I
workeda lot, althoughwhenthe housesclosedI had to go
to the street and there was a lot of competition.But I
couldn'tcomplain;I made a lot. ...
I had a client who was, or seemed to me to be, a
good personand who advisedme well. He passed from
client to friend. We didn't go to the meuble (house of
assignation),but to my roomin the boardinghouse.I was
falling in love and he with me, so it seemed. When we
were togethera few years, he proposedthat we mounta
businesstogether.He said that the moneygave me little
returnin the bank. Since I trusted him a great deal, I
accepted.We boughta site in GrAciaand starteda bar.
He took care of everything.I am illiterateand don't understandthese things. He said it was in both our names,
as did the lawyer who made the papers.The bar went
well and we made a great deal of money. He put the
profitsin a bankaccounthe said was in both our names.
That man was the solutionto my life. He didn'twant me
to workin the bar or even to go there ... [afterhis accidental death, seven years later, she discoverseverything
was in his name and everythingwent to his legal wife] I
had nothing.I had to returnto this. I can no longerbe in
the goodsites. I startedin Robadorto end up here,in this
garbage. I live from the pittanceI get. Some days I do
not eat. Workingall my life for this. At least I don'tpay
much for my room, but I have to pay it every day, or
they will throwme out. Couldn'tyou give me 200 pesetas? (1982: 105-106).
"The populationof Africansis roughly85% males, primarily attractedby agriculturallabor.The Arab populationis
also largely male. Immigrantgroups which are family-based
(Chinese and Indians) or predominantlyfemale (Filipinos,
85 %) are not stereotypedin the same way withinstill another
intersectionof genderand the labor market.
"'AlthoughI became aware of elite transvestiteprostitution becauseit centeredin the neighborhood
whereI livedduring my dissertationfieldworkin 1977-1979;it was relatively
generalknowledgeamongpeoplemy age whocame to this zone
for movies or parties--or who noted the traffic congestion
crossingthe city at night that prostitutionactivitiescreatedin
this period.This zone is no longeractive, nor do I knowwhere
the traffichas moved,except for reportsfrom the University.
Gay bars are morecovert knowledge,althoughmaps are published in gay guides which show them concentratedin Gricia

32
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
and higherzones (geographicallyand economically)as well as

a few in the touristic central Barri G6tic. A student who
checkedthem out in January1989 suggestedthat those of the
Barri G6tic attracteda more working-classclientele, but did
not encounterany transvestitebars. Some transvestitesin bars

also were probablyassociatedwith the upcomingCarnaval.See
Brandes 1980, 1981; Murphy1983;Gilmore 1987, 1990a.
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Bars, Gender, and Virtue Myth and Practice in Barcelona's Barrio Chino

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Bars, Gender, and Virtue: Myth and Practice in Barcelona's "Barrio Chino"

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