@Barcelona Memory You can share our videos: / barceloname. . If you want to collaborate with a small contribution for the maintenance of the channel: https://es.tipeee.com/barcelona-memory. The Collserola mountain range was, as today, the great lung of Barcelona, ​​the ideal place to isolate with the family during the frequent epidemics that devastated the city. Many merchants and bourgeoisie established their second homes on its slopes. This is how housing estates such as Vista Roca were born, in the surroundings of Can Cortés, in the municipality of Sant Cugat del Vallés. One of the owners of the area was Josep Sabadell, the main character of our story: Sabadell was president of the Catalan Employers' Confederation and one of the last mayors that Gracia had before its annexation to Barcelona (1893). His main residence was this one, on what is now Avenida Meridiana. With the construction of the Rabassada road (1877) and the “Tibidabo Amusement Park” (1900), the area was a “sweet treat” for any investor with a future prospect. Josep Sabadell joined forces with the great restaurant entrepreneur at that time, Miquel Montané, owner of the Gran Café Restaurante Alhambra (1891) at number 25 Passeig de Gracia, the widest in the city. They bought the inn “Casa de Comidas La Rabassada” which had previously been known as Can Manela and later Restaurant El Rabassalet. It was next to the “la Rabassada” sulphur spring. They wanted to remodel it and turn it into a luxury hotel with a restaurant: the Gran Hotel Rabassada, which opened in 1899. The artist and architect Edmond Lechevallier had been commissioned to design it and a hundred metres further on, an exclusive private club was opened where the Catalan and foreign bourgeoisie settled in the city could talk business in the heart of nature: the “Circle of Foreigners”. Miquel Montané left the management of the hotel to Joan Jubert to focus on a key issue for the future complex: linking Can Gomis, on the slopes of Tibidabo, with the Vista Roca development in Sant Cugat by tram. He obtained the concession in 1910 and operated the line with a French company “Boursier & Escartefigue” linked to certain members of the Circle of Foreigners”. Josep Sabadell convinced some French investors, members of the Circle of Foreigners, to acquire the complex (1808) plus 10 hectares of land. The idea was to build what was to be the largest and most exclusive leisure complex in the city. They registered the Societat Anònima La Rabassada SA and put two and a half million pesetas on the table and contacted the architect Andreu Audet i Puig to commission the works. The underlying idea was to place the casino within the private club, in order to circumvent the law that prohibited the opening of gambling halls in public establishments. Next to it, a large amusement park was to be built that would dwarf the one in the neighbouring Tibidabo park. The complex opened on 15 July 1911 with a spectacular opening. The cream of the Barcelona and foreign bourgeoisie attended the reception. The inaugural speech was presided over by the then mayor of Sant Cugat, Martí Rodó. They enjoyed a magnificent presentation dinner prepared by chefs specially brought from Paris. Barcelona was plastered with advertising. The national and international press reported on the great event: El Diario de Barcelona, ​​El Diluvio, La Vanguardia, El Imparcial, El Heraldo de Madrid, Le Figaró, the Daily Mail… The promoters of the project had installed a line of rented trams in Marseille that originally ran from what is now Craywinckel Street to the doors of the casino. On the first day, there was a breakdown in the converter of the power station, although the service would be resumed four days later (19/7/1911). Faced with the setback, the company made a fleet of cars with drivers available to visitors since the funicular was not enough... but most of the curious could not get there in any way and had to settle for spending the day a little further down, at the Hostal de l´Arengada. Access to the site cost half a peseta with the right to go on one attraction. It had luxury lounges, a hairdresser's, a medical service, a billiard room, telephones, an oratory, a theatre with capacity for two hundred people, restaurants where you could dine for 5 pesetas... thermal baths, dance halls and a hotel with fantastic rooms that cost the whopping sum of eight pesetas a night. Outside, spectacular gardens with sculptures, pergolas, gazebos and fountains awaited visitors... and a viewing terrace with drinks kiosks. To read the whole story, click here. For more information on the story, please visit our website: www.barcelonamemory.com.