The reborn La Estrella bakery wins the 2025 Ramblista de Honor award.

BarcelonaFor another year, Barcelona City Hall's Saló de Cent hosted the presentation of one of the city's most symbolic awards, the Ramblista de Honor (Honorary Rambla). This year, the recognition promoted by the Amics de la Rambla association for citizens and institutions that have contributed to improving and raising awareness of the civic and cultural identity and activity of one of the Catalan capital's main boulevards goes to the new owners of the L'Estrella bakery. The iconic establishment celebrated its 200th anniversary this year, and if it remains open, it's thanks to two 25-year-olds who saved it in stoppage time.

Anna Campos and Judit Servent keep the business—founded in 1825—running after the retirement of the former owner prevented the demise of another historic establishment on a street facing replacement by local and nearby businesses with 24-hour supermarkets and souvenir shops. In fact, the award jury praised the women's rescue of a long-established business and the renewed energy with which they run it. "We're not even a year old yet, and this award gives us a lot of impetus to continue with this project," Campos expressed. The Mayor of Barcelona, ​​Jaume Collboni, presented the award to Campos, thanking him for "defending the city's traditions" through gastronomy, which "is part of Barcelona's identity" and has become a space "for activism."

This year, Eduard Soley was also recognized with the Honorary Ramblista Award for his professional career. the Soley-Roser Fruit Paradista; a stall at the Boqueria market, right at the entrance, which attracts everyone's attention with the gleaming color of its products. Soley belongs to a fifth generation of fruit vendors and is a board member of the Market Vendors Association. According to Collboni, the now-retired stallholder is "an institution" in the city. "I've wandered up and down this beautiful dance hall, our picturesque and vaunted Rambla, which is a jewel of the city; there's no other like it," said Soley, who explained that his entire life has been tied to this street: he was born in the Passage des Escudellers, grew up hidden for years in the Boqueria, and still goes there every morning.

The jury also awarded the prize to actor, dubbing artist (for Woody Allen), and "clumsy waiter" of the Rambla, Joan Pera, who in 2015 received the Cross of Sant Jordi and the Gaudí d'Honor Award for his professional career and who this year celebrated his 60th anniversary. "Actually, I've been a Rambla fan all my life, and now I have the honor of being one," he said upon receiving the award. Pera said that this "piece of the city" is part of his DNA and that he is "who he is" through every corner of it. In his speech, he remembered the "rogue" theater and took the opportunity to emphasize that in Barcelona "everyone is welcome."

"La Rambla will change, but it will keep its soul"

Collboni presided over the awards ceremony, which he said is "an essential classic to express the commitment of so many people who live or work on La Rambla," and which has been held for 64 years. Paraphrasing Maria Eulàlia Capmany—"La Rambla allows itself the luxury of not being what it was, but of always being itself"—he recalled that this street is fully immersed in a transformation, referring to the works that must reshape its skin, but also to a process of recovery for the people of Barcelona. "La Rambla has changed and will change," he admitted, but assured that it will always "maintain its soul."

For his part, the president of the Friends of La Rambla organization, Àlex Balletbó, claimed that the three award winners are an example of effort and resilience and a model of what this promenade should be: "sweet, healthy, and fun." In his speech, he listed the needs of La Rambla: housing should return to the residents, resources proportional to the intensive use of the street, a public order and security program against drugs and street vending, an intensive cleanup plan, and action to provide alternatives to homelessness. "There are already many cities without soul: La Rambla must be a street unique in the world," he stated.

The founder and director of Comediants, Joan Font, who has been rooted on La Rambla his entire life, was in charge of giving the closing remarks, in which he emphasized that La Rambla must continue to be "a place of memory." And after the "facelift" that is being done, he invited the audience to "fantasize" about what it will be like in a hundred years. "Will cars drive on the ground or above ground? Let's imagine it, it doesn't cost a thing." hard", he concluded.