by LORENZO LEMAUR SANTANA
Calle Real is the most famous street in Arrecife, everyone knows it but many do not know that its official name is Calle León y Castillo. But it didn't always have that name. Before it was called Calle Real, which is why we popularly know it as such. Then it was Calle Principal, later Calle Constitución and then Calle de Las Carretas. But, since at least 1945 it has been named after the politician from Gran Canaria, Fernando León y Castillo, political leader of the province of Las Palmas of the Liberal Party who even became a minister and the precursor of the division of the Canary Islands into two provinces. That is why there is a Calle León y Castillo in all the municipalities of the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and logically Gran Canaria and none in the islands of the province of Tenerife.
Before continuing, I will tell you that to document ourselves we have turned to the book Arrecife. History of its streets, written by Alejandro González Medina in 2002 and published by the Arrecife City Council. About him I have to say that, although I know that both Félix Hormiga and Carmencita Cabrera Bello would have documented him very well, the book presents many inconsistencies and contradictions, so it may be that, when we do not realize it, they will lead us to deceive you. But well, let's continue and forgive us for the blunders.
Having specified the above, let's continue with the streets of the center of Arrecife. Of these, another of the first and most important is Calle José Antonio (José Antonio Primo de Rivera) It is one of the most well-known and frequented streets, especially at night. It has had that name, logically, since 1936, after the dominion of Franco's people, during the Civil War. Before, during the Second Republic it was named after García Guerra (republican activist) but long before it was called Calle La Amargura. It seems that it received that name because from the center it led to the cemetery, which at that time was where the Agustín Espinosa Institute is today.
Fajardo Street is also one of the first streets of the new Arrecife, which is beginning to aspire to be a city. It was first called Calle Nueva, well, because of that, because it was created when the new Arrecife of the late 19th century began to walk towards the interior of the Island. Then, since at least 1945 it has been named Calle Fajardo. It is named after Leandro Fajardo Cabrera who was born in Arrecife in 1852. He studied law in Madrid where he carried out an intense political activity during the First Republic. He died in Madrid in 1896. Álvarez Rixo wrote about this street that "a straight sidewalk was built in a few months on the street that they called Calle Nueva, being the only straight one that existed in the year 1906."
I already told you about the maritime avenue in the first installment regarding our streets (do you remember that I told you that it has 10 names throughout its route?). But more than a street, until the retaining walls were finished first and the fillings were made later, where the Ramirez Cerdá parks (old park) and the Canary Islands park are today, in front of the current Police Station, etc., it was an undeveloped maritime front and, as Esteban Armas documented me at the time, they were rather the back of the houses whose facades faced the interior of the City. The streets of then were the current Quiroga street, apparently since 1931, (Rodrigo Quiroga, Spanish conqueror born in Galicia in 1512, one of the first governors of Chile), La Plazuela (today Plaza de la Constitución, since 1981, although during the Franco regime it was Plaza Calvo Sotelo and before it was called La Unión), Callejón Liso today Carnicería street, Luis Morote street (Spanish journalist, soldier, politician, writer and adventurer born in 1862 in Valencia and who died in 1913 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, city of which he was an adopted son for political activity in favor of the eastern islands). This street was previously called Calle del Ángel in what was previously known as Barrio de las Marcas. Also in the area is Esperanza street (in memory of the ship of the same name, a pailebote type dedicated to fishing whose shipowner was Manuel Betancort who later transformed it into a motor and dedicated it to corvina)
To share some curiosities in relation to the streets of this area of the center of Arrecife, I will tell you that Inspector Luis Martín street (Spanish narrator born in Morocco. Clandestine activist of the PSOE. Died in Vitoria in 1964), obtains that name in 1950 but before it was called Quiroga and Academia, it is preceded, although with a break in the Plaza de Las Palmas, formerly Plaza de San Ginés, by Academia street, which owes its name to the existence in it of an academy for primary, secondary, administration and accounting education. This, until 1931, reached Calle Real and was called Calle Salazones until 1920. After crossing Calle Real, the street takes the name of Quiroga, which ends in the Plaza de la Constitución to, once the square is finished, be renamed Calle Riego (Spanish soldier born in Asturias in 1785 who participated in the War of Independence with Napoleon. He then became involved with the liberal cause and in 1820 led an uprising against Fernando VII while touring Andalusia proclaiming the Constitution of 1812. Executed in Madrid on November 7, 1823) Come on, that from the back of the old Revoca, specifically from Liebre street to José Betancort street (politician and writer from Lanzarote, known by the pseudonym of Ángel Guerra, who was born in Teguise in 1874 and moved to Madrid in 1900, where he died in 1950. In 1912 he was appointed Deputy to the Cortes for Lanzarote), this street that was previously called Calle de La Pescadería, this road in question, which is true that it has several breaks, adopts six different names. We will continue.
