The Grand Hotel Almeria

The boom in filming and incipient tourism made it necessary to modernize hotel infrastructures and equipment in Almería. Next to the airport, the Gran Hotel Almeria represents a historical milestone of that great leap in quality that required the accommodation of so many production teams and the parade of artists behind them.

With a privileged location, in the center of the city, next to the Park and the port, the hotel opened its doors at the end of 1967 and many of the technicians and artists who have worked in Almería since then passed by. Such was the volume of filming in those early years that between this Gran Hotel Almería, the Aguadulce hotel and others such as the Costasol, and even private chalets for some stars, the numerous teams had to be distributed.

Different economic and judicial circumstances led to its closure in December 2014, but now we can celebrate its reopening, four years later, thanks to the OHTELS chain , which has set out to revitalize it and make it an emblem of our city again.

His cinematographic past has an evident weight and, therefore, the new managers have dedicated a space to remember with a photo gallery some of the personalities and movie stars who stayed in their suites.

And the task, in this Almería of ours, is not at all easy given the lack of documentation on which to lean. That gallery is made with very good will and we are proud to see Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone and so many others on those walls ... Some of them -Clint- it is impossible to stay here; from others we can fantasize that they stop by their cafeteria or their rooms for a production meeting or to share projects.

We rely on scholars such as José Márquez and José Enrique Martínez to check in their books, thanks to years of research in local newspaper archives and other sources, the correct passage through these rooms, for example, of stars like Sean Connery and Candice Bergen who, during the autumn of 1974, filmed in Almería 'The Wind and the Lion' (John Milius, 1975).

Unfortunately, news of the time or written testimony are not the usual. And nothing has been left in the archives of the Gran Hotel. Surely there was a Golden Book in which signatures of illustrious guests were collected. With total certainty, in that Golden Book they signed, at least, during their visits to Almería to be honored at the 'Almería en shorts' festival: Claudia Cardinale, Faye Dunaway, Geraldine Chaplin, Giuliano Gemma, Eli Wallach, Ernest Borgnine .. These and some more of those who returned to Almería from the year 2000 left their signature and dedication in that Book of Honor. A book, a gem for any movie buff, who stayed inside the hotel closed and has never appeared again. Of course, his destiny does not deserve to be a private individual. Such a book, with that cinephile and historical value, is the heritage of the city.

 When asked to investigate, with the rigor that characterizes us, we prefer, when possible, the direct testimony of those who had experiences in the hotel itself. In this sense, María Luisa Pino , editor and special effects technician, told us about her first stay at the Gran Hotel during the filming of the western 'Hunting Party' (Don Medford, 1971), in the summer of 1970. María Luisa remembers the Hotel as your home in Almería, a quiet place to rest after hard working hours, in your case, at that time, in assembly. On those same dates, people from the teams of 'Companeros!' (Sergio Corbucci, 1970) and "Doc" came to meet at the hotel(Frank Perry, 1971). It was a common thing in those years the mix of equipment and even locations; such was the volume of filming.

Another of his stays at the Gran Hotel took place in November 1974 for the filming of'Cry Onion' (Enzo G. Castellari, 1975). Much of the team was here, with the Italian director himself or the visual effects genius Emilo Ruiz del Rio among his fondest memories.

Another film professional with a long history despite his youth, Juanito Fernandez from Almería, who won the ASFAAN award at the 2015 'Almería en shorts' festival, also provides us with valuable information from his participation in numerous titles. According to him, Sean Connery was the only one of the greats who stayed at the Grand Hotel during the filming of 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (Steven Spielberg, 1989), surely because of the good memories of previous stays. Also in 1997 were Jose Coronado, Manuel Zarzo and Aldo Sambrell, another assiduous client, during the filming of The Return of El Coyote' (Mario Camus, 1998).

Juan Fernández was a direct witness to the return to the hotel of almost all those great stars honored by the Almería festival and was also present on May 30, 2006, the eve of Clint Eastwood's birthday, when his friend Eli Wallach he shared a transoceanic call with the festival team from the hotel lobby, next to the piano in the cafeteria. As journalist Antonio Sánchez de Amo tells us in his book 'Clint Easwood will never return to Almería' (Lagarto Editores, 2012), Clint did not respond because it was early morning in Los Angeles but Eli left him this message: "Hi Clint. I am in Almería. I call you to wish you a happy birthday. I have a surprise to give you. I will later call from my room ". And he did it. Later that night, two in the afternoon in California, he telephoned him from suite 432 of the Gran Hotel to congratulate him and say: "I am in Almería. And there is hot water! They have paid me a precious tribute. I remember our years here, how much we enjoyed shooting. " At that time forty years passed from the filming of '

The walls of the Gran Hotel Almería have witnessed many stories of cinema and celebrities of the seventh art, but they have also had its sporadic role as a filming set.

We go back to August 1986, with the Almería Fair still taking place in the port, a few meters from the hotel. More than fifty people who made up the filming team for 'Straight to Hell' (Alex Cox, 1987) were staying at the hotel: Courtney Love, Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, Dennis Hopper, Jim Jarmush, The Pogues ... Some of They arrived directly from the filming at the fair, wearing the same clothing as their character. In those years, the tune of the Uranga Burgers was played in any fairground, and in that music so pounding, that it would be heard incessantly from their rooms, the members of the group The Pogues based themselves to compose their world-famous song 'Fiesta ' ,in which references to Almería or the then very popular Chochona doll are heard.

And much more recently, with the hotel closed to the public, in October 2016, the TV miniseries 'The State' (Peter Kosminsky, 2017) was filming in its lounges again, as a good omen that the hotel's fate would soon return. to be open and carry out its function, fifty years after its opening.

Today times have changed. After the new shooting boom that occurred after 'Exodus: gods and kings' (Ridley Scott, 2014), the filming teams have moved to the historic center of Almería, where new establishments such as the Hotel Catedral or the Hotel Plaza Vieja They have already received great references of these days such as Michael Fassbender, Joachim Phoenix, Aaron Paul, Jake Gyllenhaal or Emilia Clarke and part of the cast of the acclaimed 'Game of Thrones'. The historic center of Almería has recovered that atmosphere it surely had in the sixties when the famous guests of the Gran Hotel went out to dinner at restaurants such as 'El Rincón de Juan Pedro' or partying at the ephemeral Mesón Gitano. 

But while the Gran Hotel struggles to reopen a place in the cinema atmosphere of this city, we will continue to pay attention to what happens if in a few decades this new story must also be told.

But while the Gran Hotel struggles to reopen a place in the cinema atmosphere of this city, we will continue to pay attention to what happens if in a few decades this new story must also be told.