* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
Located in the primitive Gran VÃa Meridiana 166-168, inaugurated in 1899 (later, Avenida Meridiana), the Salón Meridiana was built by the Swiss businessman Alberto Meier Mosmann, between Montaña and Mallorca streets.
Like all neighborhood cinemas of that time, its owners were not looking for a nice building, but a place from which they could make quick profits. It had a small lobby (people went to the movies, not to hang around), a box office, and two side stairs that led up to the amphitheater and the projection room.
It had an audience for 672 spectators and an amphitheater for 359. At the back of the audience there was a bar, which only served a soft drink or a quick coffee.
The Salón Meridiana opened its doors in 1929 as a performance venue, where film sessions, political rallies and boxing matches were held, something very common in those times.
The first news that is found of the premises belongs to Tuesday, March 5, 1929, the date on which, on page 22 of La Vanguardia, the celebration of an evening was marked by seven combats.
He appeared again in La Vanguardia on Wednesday, September 18, in a two-column corporate advertisement on page 13 of the company Cinematográfica Nacional Española, S.A. (CINAES), in which. Initially, it presented the addresses of the company in Barcelona and Madrid and, immediately afterwards, it made reference to the 43 cinemas that until then belonged to its programming.
It came out again at the beginning of 1930, announcing that the Provincial Subcommittee for Consultative Local Health and Entertainment Inspector, in its last session, adopted, among other things, the agreement to propose the approval of its operation.
From that moment on, his appearance in the newspapers is constant, but not to advertise his shows (which he usually did through the handouts and other larger ones that he distributed to the neighborhood shops and that were placed in the entrance showcase), but to the continuous holding of political rallies and workers’ assemblies. It was a rare month that one was not celebrated given its capacity.
On the occasion of the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia on Sunday November 20, 1932, a meeting of the Catalan State party was held on Monday the 14th, in which Aznar, Rovira and Compte, among others, took part.
On Wednesday the 16th it was the Radical Republican Party, in which Luis de Figuerola, former deputy; Antonio Montaner, Jesús Ulled and the deputies Abad Conde, Sigfrido Blasco and Guerra del RÃo.
On Friday November 17, 1933, on the occasion of the celebration of the first round of the general elections on Sunday the 19th, a meeting of the Coalition of Catalan Leftists was held, in which R. Font i Ferrán, Josep Maria de Sagarra intervened , Antonio Xirau, Juan LluhÃ. The event was chaired by Luis Nicolau d’Olwer.
On April 11, 1934, the leaders of the Single Textile and Manufacturing Union announced the holding of a magna assembly. Upon learning of this, the Civil Government, in order to prevent possible disturbances, suspended the rally by sending the public force to notify the workers.
Warned the workers of the suspension, they went to the Nature School, which was closed by government order. When the police found out about the clandestine meeting, they ordered the transfer of Civil Guard agents, who surrounded the block, in order to evict him and make a search.
Those who were in the premises were arrested, which were 270 men and two women, who were transferred to the Assault guards barracks, on Aribau street. Their affiliation was taken and they were detained at the disposal of the general commissioner.
During the search, the agents seized a Ciclostil machine, numerous circulars, a box full of rubber stamps, receipts for delivery of quotation stamps, blank C.N.T. books, all of which were transferred to the General Police Station.
On Monday, June 25, 1934, the assembly of the El Radium boatswains, belonging to the Barcelona area, was held. After the corresponding debate on the matter, the agreement to persist in the strike was reached unanimously.
In the times of the civil war, it continued holding workers’ assemblies. On Thursday, December 3, 1936, the general assembly of the manufacturing section (yarns and fabrics) of the Single Union of Manufacturing and Textile Art was held at nine in the morning, together with the Manufacturing, Textile and Annexes Union of (U.G.T.),
On Sunday, October 10, 1937, the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Revolution was celebrated, in which Emiliana Rius from E.R.C.; Rafael Tassis from A.C.; and Manuel Buenacasa of the C.N.T.
After the civil war ended, he appeared again on Thursday, August 8, 1939, programming with the Fomento Martinense cinema: Magnolia, Kermesse heroica and color drawings. On November 5, 1945, the cinema was acquired by Juan Mur Mencerreg, who also ran the Fomento Martinense cinema.
On February 27, 1953, Alberto Meier Mosmann, the first owner of the cinema, died at the age of 72.
That same year, the week of May 11 to 17, the cinema inserted an advertisement in La Vanguardia (something that was out of its natural norms) to promote the film Gone with the Wind, which caused impressive queues and which, in In some sessions, in order to accommodate the spectators who were going to see it, they had to prepare the side aisles to accommodate the public who watched the projection of the film standing up.
On January 28, 1969, a part of the roof of the building fell off, which Juan Mur took advantage of to renovate the seats and install a screen, to be able to project movies in cinemascope.
During its first stage, neither the circulation of the train in front of its door nor the level crossings affected the attendance of spectators (I personally attended this process, since I lived on Nación street and was born on May 14, 1942). .
Subsequently, with the beginning of the urbanization of Avenida Meridiana, the circulation of the tram line 51 was installed, which did not affect the spectators or the cinema, nor the candy kiosk that was in front of its door and that received visits from the moviegoing public.
With the first major urbanization that Avenida Meridiana underwent and with the rapid circulation on the avenue due to the high bridges that were built, it was divided into two parts. The Avenida de José Antonio (currently Gran VÃa), the Avenida del GeneralÃsimo Franco (currently Diagonal), or the current Aragón street had not been opened, and the only exit that the city had for many years was Avenida Meridiana.
The walkway bridges to cross it were impossible to use when it was windy or rainy and the stairs to climb the walkway were narrow and steep, impossible to be used by elderly or disabled people and with small children’s strollers.
Some crossings were enabled but they were very far apart, which caused a reluctance to go to the two cinemas in the area: the Meridiana and the Martinense.
Subsequently, like other neighborhood cinemas, it suffered from the problems of changing trends in viewers, which closed its doors on Sunday, March 14, 1971, with the screening of the films: Serafino, starring Adriano Celentano and Ottavia Piccolo, and Full Sun, starring Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt.
