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The other Bailén cinema, which opened on this street in Barcelona, ??was located at 161, between Córcega and Rosellón streets. It was built by the Cinesa film chain, which wanted to locate a room managed by them in that area of ??the city.
It came to replace (in name) the disappeared Bailén cinema located at number 205, which had been inaugurated in 1912 and which, due to the civil war, was collectivized by the CNT and turned into a soup kitchen in 1938. Later, after After the end of the war and after an important restoration, it reopened its doors as a Texas cinema on September 28, 1947.
The new Bailén cinema was designed by Jordi Galí and its decoration was very reminiscent of the Diamante cinema, also by Cinesa.
Galí built a lobby with the ticket office located on the right and on the left side, the cafeteria bar, where customers, during breaks, quenched their thirst or smoked a cigarette, since in those days smoking was not prohibited indoors .
The inauguration was announced in the press with hype and cymbal, since they offered an unprecedented claim in other venues: during the opening day on Sunday March 17, 1974 and the entire following week until Sunday the 24th, the Bailén cinema would perform eight premieres, one daily, and with films that were by famous directors.
On Sunday the 17th, the opening was presented with the film Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop), a Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman, which at that time was a benchmark for excellent production.
On Monday the 18th, The Great Duel, performed by Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash; on Tuesday 19, The Passion for Living, by Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson; on Wednesday the 20th, Until Divorce Do Us Part, with Enrico Montesano, Senta Berger and Catherine Spaak; on Thursday 21, The Two Englishwomen and Love, performed by Jean-Pierre Léaud and Stecey Tenderer; on Friday the 22nd, Skin on the Asphalt, with Robert Blake and Billy Green Bush; on Saturday the 23rd, They were called Hallelujah and Sartana, by Ron Ely and Alberto Dell’Acqua and on Sunday the 24th, The Heir, performed by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Carla Gravina.
Monday the 25th was already programmed normally with two preferential rerun screenings: Number 1 and 7 red berets.
An intentional fire suffered on December 17, 1991 destroyed the cinema (Terminator 2 was being shown on those dates). The fire started around 5:30 am in the stalls, which was seriously damaged, spreading rapidly throughout the premises due to the flammable material in the room, whose structure was not affected.
The residents of building number 153 were evicted to avoid any incident during the firefighting tasks. The firefighters found the doors of the premises forced and located in the stalls two different sources of the start of the fire and the offices completely scrambled.
Josep Batlle, head of Cinesa, which owns the room, stated that the company would repair the damage and reopen the room as soon as possible. It closed for six months to be able to rebuild and improve the facilities and projection equipment to update them to the new techniques, also completely renovating the bar.
The Bailén was reopened on July 17, 1992, a few days before the opening of the Barcelona Olympics.
That day, the Bailén premiered together with the Montecarlo and Pelayo cinemas, with Badalona’s Montigalà and Manresa’s Atlántida, El silencio de la sospecha, directed by Simon Moore and starring Liam Neeson, Laura San Giacomo, Kenneth Cranham and Maggie O’Neill,
The proliferation of multiplexes in the large hypermarkets and the explosion of video and the Internet reduced attendance at movie theaters, forcing him to inevitably close the Bailén on June 28, 1999, with the screening of La Trampa. That same month, two emblematic theaters in Barcelona also disappeared, the Astoria and Arkadin cinemas.
