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La Rambla’s most famous woman -
Sir, do you want me to sing a song?
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A hippie avant la lettreThere is a Spanish expression that says “you’re more famous than La Moños”, that means, to be a very popular person. The origin of this saying is Dolors Bonilla Alcànzar (1871-1940) which was known as La Moños (The Buns). The nickname was a result of her curious outfits. She was a hippy avant la lettre that captivated both Barcelonians and tourists with her sympathy. She sang and recited poems in exchange for some coins. A biography full of gaps helped to create the legend around her. The most commented story is that a marquis knocked up and abandoned her. That was the origin of the unbalance that would make her wandering La Rambla. -
Decided and abstracted
This singular character made La Rambla her usual scenario, despite the fact she lived in a modest apartment of the missing Cadena street (now Rambla del Raval). She walked hurried but giving small steps, as described by a chronicler of the time. Writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán remembered her like this: "A quaint old lady who only fought with herself". Determined and abstracted to the point of crossing La Rambla during the bombings of the Spanish Civil War without suffering a single scratch. -
Empress of La RamblaThe popularity that accompanied La Moños when she was alive made her a myth after her death. She has inspired many artists in films, plays, songs and poems. In addition to having a figure at Barcelona’s Wax Museum and Tibidabo’s Automata Museum. She was even given the grandiose title of "Empress of La Rambla". When people questioned about her life she waved her fan and answered: "I am republican, but of the republic of Barcelona" or "I do not spend a penny and I go to fashion".
