Traditional and modern, cultivated and gypsy,religious and lay,and always captivating,la Gran Via is a peculiar symbiosis of the new and the old that brings visitors back to the ages of folk songs and schottisches, coupled with the cosmopolitanism of ongoing times.

More than a street, it’s rather one of the main characters of Madrid’s urban legends and stories, telling us about humor and memories, the place where the pulse of the city is gauged. Back in the 1930s and 40s when Pedro Chicote opened his American-style bar, the atmosphere for evolution had already settled in. Since then, it started to represent the ambience of cosmopolitan sophistication.

Its movie halls and theaters premiere big-ticket flicks and presentations –in the presence of big-screen stars. It’s as famous as London’s Piccadilly or New York City’s Broadway. It’s the bloodthrobbing artery of the burg, featuring fancy hotels and baroquestyle buildings, home to the first skyscrapers and movie palaces of the jazz times.

It’s been quite a long time since its construction kicked off during the reign of King Alfonso XIII, back in 1910. Beyond the grandeur of the urban project that gave birth to it, la Gran Via has turned out to be something different and dear in the hearts of Madrid residents, something with a life of its own, riddled with myths and legends, an exceptional history that has rubbed its character off on the entire capital and now exerts a tremendous influence all over the city.