To celebrate the arrival of summer, we set aside our usual themes and recall Donostia anecdotes focused on the city's historic clocks, particularly the one on the Boulevard. It was once a mandatory meeting point for generations of Donostia residents in the Old Town, a place for socializing before the era of mass-produced pintxos and social media influence. The neighborhood was not yet gentrified and was inhabited mostly by locals.
In the 19th-century walled city, there were four clocks: those in the churches of Santa María and San Vicente, the one in the Town Hall on Plaza Nueva, and the sundial in Plaza Vieja. The latter served as a reference for Donostia residents from 1819 until it detached in 1906, without causing casualties. It was never replaced.
Later, other reference clocks appeared on the Boulevard, at the start of San Jerónimo street. One of them, the 1958 electric tram clock, was where the group would meet before going for drinks or txakoli.
In 1997, the Boulevard was renovated, designed by engineer Javier Mainar, increasing pedestrian space. Hernani's Talleres Leorpe restored and reassembled the elliptical kiosk, in modernist style with Casa Maumejean stained glass and cast-iron columns, designed by architect Ricardo Magdalena, moving it a few meters from its original location.
The current clock comes from Ondarreta and has its own secret history. By 1976, a small clock was already installed on a magnificent cast-iron column with the inscription SS 1895 at the exit of the Ondarreta tunnel. Enrique Bulnes, the municipal clockmaker, always requested its replacement. Bulnes and José Manuel Del Rey, Head of Public Works, designed a new clock imitating a pocket watch, which was manufactured and replaced the historic one, sent to the scrap yard.
Shortly after its installation in Ondarreta, it was moved to the renovated Boulevard, and a smaller, catalog clock was placed in its stead, which remains there today.
Recalling Mainar, an anecdote is shared: he used to joke that he was the only Donostia resident kissed by Ava Gadner. The actress Ava Gadner never visited Donostia, despite living in Madrid and having notable relationships. In 1955, returning from Paris, she made a stopover in the city and dined at the Salduba restaurant in the Old Town. Afterwards, she went to the kitchen and affectionately kissed a ten-year-old boy on the cheek.
Special mention also goes to the clock in Ategorrieta – Puertas Coloradas – a landmark for the employees of the Tramway Company.
For Sunday, in the gastronomic sphere, recommendations include: asparagus cream, baked txangurro, Errota Berri apple tart, Ostatu crianza red wine, Añarbe water, and Oa de Hernani petit fours.
