Five of the 27 Bars On Calle San Bernardo Author(s): David Goodman Source: Log, No. 1 (Fall 2003), pp. 65-75 Published by: Anyone Corporation Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41764949 . Accessed: 14/06/2014 15:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Anyone Corporation is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Log. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.2.32.21 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:01:45 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Transcript
Five of the 27 Bars On Calle San BernardoAuthor(s): David GoodmanSource: Log, No. 1 (Fall 2003), pp. 65-75Published by: Anyone CorporationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41764949 .
Accessed: 14/06/2014 15:01
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
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http://www.jstor.org
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David Goodman is an American BORN ARCHITECT LIVING AND WORK- ING in Barcelona. His article, "Systematic Genius: Walter Netsch and the Architecture of Bureaucracy," appears in the FORTHCOMING UNIVERSITY OF Chicago Press anthology, Chicago IS History.
I lived and worked in Madrid for two years learning to love a city that really requires one to learn to love. The city is at times uglier than seems possible without coordinated plan- ning. Madrid is most interesting and most itself in the moments when it is an ugly agglomeration of excess, of
pretension, and of the slow Franco-era decay that seems to have well outlived the man himself.
I did this project as a farewell to a city I now love for reasons I don't really understand. The only fitting goodbye I could think of was to document, as meticulously as I could, some of the wonderful and bizarre details that epitomize Madrid itself: a room wallpapered in hams, a bar with stairs that go up only to allow a stair to go down below it, and the mere sight of hundreds of coffee cups with saucers, spoons, and sugar waiting almost plaintively in rows along the bar. I
suppose somewhere in the back of my mind were those Ed Ruscha books of swimming pools and parking lots, and the idea of recording something ordinarily understood as "low" with generally classical means. As I began to draw hundreds of dotted hams in projection, I realized that in drawing the excess of these places I also began to expose the plan drawing itself - the ostensibly neutral horizontal cut - as something not neutral at all, but as a tool that begins to look absurd when used to record the hyperabundance of a Madrid bar.
I chose these five bars because they somehow represent prototypess: the long narrow space (Cafeteria Marugan), the
incredibly small and dense (Cafetería Soto), the sublimely excessive (Paraiso del Jamón), the horribly faded and mis- treated (Cervecería Noviciado) and the apparently straight- forward but actually quite twisted (Cafe Express).
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1 Television (color). 2 Hinged countertop pro- vides access to behind- counter serving position. 3 Waste basket. All olive pits, toothpicks, shrimp tails, cig- arettes, dirty napkins (see item D.7), discarded lottery tickets, etc., are to be depos- ited here, rather than on the floor immediately adjacent to the bar. 4 Plastic Pepsi ashtray with- out cigarette-holder niches. See also nonsponsored ash-
played in plastic Schweppes frame. 6 Bottled alcohol on metal
shelving unit and on glass shelves in wall niche. 7 Cash register. 8 Black laminate table. All tables in bar equipped with
plastic napkin dispenser, plastic ashtray (see item A.4) or both.
9 Glass tabletop refrigerator unit, temperature main- tained between 0 and -3 degrees Celsius and displayed on digital LED. Unit type used throughout Madrid for
display and storage of tortilla
española, croquetas de jamón, ensaladilla rusa and other mayonnaise-based sal- ads, patatas ali-oli, various chorizos, etc. See items B.6, C.6, D.10, and E.15. 10 Combination orange juicer/orange juice pitcher. Compare with items B.10, C.5, D.12. 11 Brass Aguila beer tap, with miniature eagle. 12 Fly and mosquito trap, suspended from ceiling. 13 Menu board: white plastic snap-on letters on black sur- face. (Prices available in
pesetas upon request.) 14 Coffee grinder and
espresso dispenser.
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15 Espresso machine, four
taps, with cups and saucers stored above. 16 Double-width grill, with twin exhaust fans. Compare with item B.8. 17 White laminate counter-
top. 18 Faux walnut panels with maroon velour inlays. Five modules along north wall; faux walnut continues along rear wall. 19 Bar name painted on front glass. 20 Walnut doors, painted glass inlays.
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penser affixed to wall. (Au- thor ordered a Coca-Cola to
go; was not offered a bag.) 2 Microwave oven. 3 Sealed plastic container with soft rolls. 4 Lucky Strike cigarette machine. 5 Pink granite laminate table. All tables in bar
equipped with glass ashtrays and laminated menus. Two tables equipped with olive oil and vinegar bottles. 6 Glass tabletop refrigerator unit. See items A.9, C.6, D.10, E.15. 7 Deep fryer. 8 Grill. Compare with item A.16. 9 Espresso machine, four
taps, with cups and saucers stored above. 10 Orange juicer. Compare with items A.10, C.5, D.12. 11 Fluorescent tube affixed to overhead moldings.
12 Below-counter dishwash- er and storage rack for bar
glasses. See also item D.13. 13 White marble laminate
countertop. 14 Moldings above. 15 Slot machine. See B.16. 16 Cables from slot machine and Octopus game (see item B.18) plugged into outlet embedded in ceiling mold-
ings above. 17 Stair up to elevated behind- bar serving position. For another solution to the behind-bar level change, see items E.20, E.23. 18 Octopus game of skill, in which players use remote- controlled metal claw to
grab key chains, lighters, stuffed toys, etc. 19 Window opening entirely covered by A4 sheets, each
listing a menu item with
price in both pesetas and euros. 20 Juice glasses, face down.
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1 Top-loading Menorquina ice-cream freezer unit. 2 Door to restrooms. ? Door to kitchen. 4 Kitchen counter visible from dining room. 5 Orange juicer with glasses. Compare to items A.10, B.10, D.12. 6 Glass tabletop refrigerator unit. See items A.9, B.6, D.10, E.15. 7 Espresso machine, three
taps, with cups and saucers stored above. 8 Warm milk dispenser. 9 Cash register. 10 Three-tiered glass shelv-
ing unit: top two shelves hold bottled alcohol; bottom shelf holds row of cognac glasses, face down. 11 Black laminate table, equipped with glass ashtray, laminated menu, and oil and
vinegar bottles. 12 Black floor tile inlay. Note
repetition of banding tech-
nique in ceiling reveals, item C.13. 13 Reveals in ceiling around center column, also at peri- meter of room. 14- Slot machine. 15 Winston cigarette machine. 16 Radiator encased in wood-
paneled cabinet. On cabinet, business card raffle box. 17 Low-backed stools with solid wood seats. 18 Rows of coffee saucers, each with spoon and sugar packet, allowing bartender to serve more efficiently during peak coffee hours (10:30 a.m. - noon). Compare with D.17, in which coffee cups are also
arrayed with saucer, spoon, and sugar, which, to the author's mind, is very likely unhygienic. 19 White marble countertop. Cold to the touch. 20 Fanta menu board. No prices listed.
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1 Stair down to dining room. 2 Nestle Camy freezer, skewed five degrees to allow easier access to restrooms to the left. 3 Wooden cabinet unit: stor-
age of placemats, napkins, silverware, salt and pepper shakers, menus, etc. 4 Espresso machine, four
taps, with cups and saucers stored above. 5 Tables with white marble laminate inlay. Most tables with ashtray, oil and vine-
gar, salt and pepper, and
toothpicks. At midday meal (2:30 - 4:00 p.m.) most tables covered with peach tablecloths. 6 Ham above. 7 Stainless steel countertop with ashtrays, toothpicks, and napkin dispensers dis- tributed at regular intervals. All bars feature napkins made of wax paper. 8 Bottled alcohol. 9 Cash register. Multicolored bills of foreign currency 73
taped to one side. 10 Extra- wide glass tabletop refrigerator unit. Compare to items A.9, B.6, C.6, E.15. 11 Beer and soft-drink taps. 12 Orange juice machine with storage tub and auto- mated juice press. Compare to items A.10, B.10, C.5. 13 Below-counter dishwash- er and storage rack for bar
glasses. See also item B.12. 14 Dual sinks. 15 Under-counter refrigerators. 16 Standard glass ashtray: circular base with superim- posed square above. Eight cigarette niches along peri- meter of square. Compare to item A.4. 17 Rows of coffee cups, saucers, spoons, and sugar, awaiting rush hour. See item C.18 for commentary. 18 Refrigerated display case with rare and gift-packaged hams. 19 Slot machine. 20 Entry. Doors normally left open.
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1 Kitchen beyond. 2 Row of juice glasses, face down. 3 Orange juice machine with
storage tub and automated
juice press. Similar to item D.12. Compare to items A.10, B.10, C.5. 4 Storage of coffee cups and saucers. 5 Espresso machine, four
taps, with cups and saucers stored above. 6 Cash register. 7 Warm milk dispenser. 8 Sliding window passage to kitchen. 9 Bottled alcohol. 10 Two microwave ovens, stacked vertically. 11 Door to kitchen. 12 Audio speaker above. 1? Beer and soft-drink taps. 14 Fluorescent ring lighting above. 15 Glass tabletop refrigerator unit. Compare to items A. 9, B.6, C.6, D.10.
16 Under-counter sink. 17 Wood countertop with
napkin dispensers and tooth-
picks. 18 Yinyl and chrome stools. 19 Laminated menu; most items represented with
photo. 20 Stair over stair: two steps up, allowing clearance for
stairway down to restrooms. Also allows change of level behind serving bar and ac- cess to kitchen. See item B.17. 21 Walnut laminate inlay on black laminate tables. Both tables with napkin dispenser. 22 Slot machines. 2? Stair down to restrooms. Head clearance provided by item E.20. 24 Window niche (cannot be
occupied). 25 Television.
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