The last lesson of the man who made biomedicine explode in Barceloneta
Last September, Jordi Camí, professor of pharmacology at Pompeu Fabra
New generations
- #6/2023, History
Thirty years after the disappearance of the merenderos, some sagas are still active.
Like the children and grandchildren of María Vellvé of Casa Costa, or those of María Lluisa Espí of Costa Azul.
That’s already the fourth and fifth generation that have managed to maintain the essence of their ancestors, adapting to the times but respecting the legacy without ever forgetting their origins.
Maria Lluïsa Espí, of the Costa Azul
Her parents Antonio Girau and Concepció Espí acquired the Costa Azul in 1947. She and her husband Agustí Ferrer continued to run the business until the demolitions. They were one of the families that moved to the Palacio de Mar, where they run La Gaviota. Directed by his daughter Maria Ferrer and his son-in-law Ramón Seoane a fourth generation already works on Gaviota: his grandchildren Laia, Albert, Sergi and Agustí.
Maria Vellvé, from Casa Costa
Mrs. Maria remembers that “it all started before the war, my grandmother, Carmen Fresquet, and my mother, Maria Costa, who in the summer season, when they saw the bathers going to the beach, thought of setting up a bar, as some have already been doing, to offer bread and chocolate. The following year, they offered mussels and so the business evolved. Enterprising and restless, Maria and her husband bought the Hawái, which they would later call El Pinxo, and later the Dos Hermanas, which they renamed El Merendero de la Mari. Aware that someday they would overthrow the merendero, they had the building built where they settled Hace falta Costa. Their 3 daughters and the youngest son took over to continue opening restaurants when the merendero was overthrown. In Sitges they opened some and others at the Palacio de Mar with the current Hace falta Pinxo and Lo Merendero de la Mari. Today a fifth generation of the family maintains the family legacy, that is to say the grandchildren of Maria and great-great-grandchildren of Carmen.
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