A story of La Ruta, the Spanish highway that rivaled Ibiza’s club scene
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Child raised in the 90s in Valencia, it was very common to collect nightclub leaflets and stick them on your room or school diary. Growing up, I realized that this was an anomaly that only happened in this part of the world. Yes, we can all agree that the Spanish have always had a reputation for loving a Party until late hours – but among the Spaniards, the Valencians are the masters in this area.
Why? Beyond being naturally rowdy and rebellious, we love noise, fireworks, street music, and since I can remember the clubs have always been open the longest hours here. When Franco’s fascist dictatorship ended in 1975, Spaniards were understandably hungry for freedom and self-expression – the explosive club scene in Valencia testifies to this.
It’s interesting how accustomed everyone is to hearing about the top-notch clubbing scenes in Berlin, Amsterdam or Kiev, but few have heard of it. La Ruta (or also called La Ruta del Bakalao / La Ruta Destroy, meaning ‘The Road’). La Ruta was indeed the first and biggest clubbing scene in the world in the 80s and 90s. What started with the opening of a few clubs in abandoned factories has turned into a pilgrimage bringing together more than 50,000 ravers every week -end in its prime, from artists, fashion designers and filmmakers to your average Joe.
There were many reasons that made it legendary. From Thursday to Monday there were plenty of options for cañeros (meaning “hardcores”, as the Ruta ravers refer to themselves) to party. In fact, the first European club to legally open in so-called âafter-hoursâ was Spook Factory, a 4,000-seat club in operation since 1984. Amnesia and Ku, neighbors of Ibiza, then scheduled their first morning sessions in 1985. NOD, in Ribarroja, made parkineo (parking culture) one thing, turning the parking lot into a sort of adjacent outdoor party, including a free paella. The Chocolate Club in Sueca started holding concerts at 7 a.m. Barraca, also in Sueca and open since 1965, had drag queens like Faraona performing on the dance floor.
What was happening in Valencia was unheard of, as the local pioneers were punks looking for provocation and transgression – to the point of completely redefining club culture. But Valencia didn’t have an industrial past like Bilbao, and wasn’t as cosmopolitan as Barcelona, ââso what was the recipe for a few villagers to create the most avant-garde scene in the world?
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