The unknown town of the West that was razed and condemned to dig up and rebury its remains

 40 kilometers from Madrid, Golden City was established, the first town for filming of westerns of which there is hardly anything left and from which an archaeological excavation has recovered material

— 'Mi soledad tiene alas' (My loneliness has wings), Mario Casas' directorial debut is as professional as it is inane

el DIARIO.com

By Javier Zurro

August 25, 2023

 

300 cubic meters of wood. 60 tons of cement. Half a million bricks and more than 30 kilos of dynamite. 75,000 hours of the work of 100 men were necessary to build, at the beginning of the 60s, a western town in Hoyo de Manzanares, a town 35 kilometers from Madrid that became the nerve center of western cinema in the following years. A bar, ranches, cabins and several cemeteries turned Golden City into the first town of the style built in Spain. Although many always refer to Almeria as a key site for the spaghetti western, before it was this Madrid town that opened the doors of its saloon.

Through its arena walked from national stars such as Marisol or Tony Leblanc to Sophia Loren. Its peak was touched a couple of years after its creation, in 1964, when Clint Eastwood stepped on the sand of Hoyo de Manzanares with his cowboy boots and shot in Golden City one of the most important films in the history of cinema, For a Fistful of Dollars, the imposing work of Sergio Leone that made this scenario be seen on screens around the world. Less than 60 years have passed, and of that corner, history of cinema, there are only a few stones that delimit what it was. The pride of the village, the most desired decoration, is now a lot. Its abandonment since the 70s was progressive until in 2010 came its total disappearance.

But where did all that go? Despite its destruction and abandonment much of what existed and what was lived is still present ... underground. That is why this year, for the first time, archaeological work has been organized to show what the sand of Hoyo de Manzanares hides. A work that comes hand in hand and thanks also to the commitment of the Hoyo Cine association directed by Julián Iglesias and that tries to ensure that everything does not fall into oblivion. There have been several initiatives that it has had for this, including an augmented reality app in which you can see what that unique decoration was like. Now he has had the help of Jesús Martín Alonso, archaeologist and director of a project that aims to unearth the cinematographic memory, which is also historical, of the place.

[The town of Golden City at its best in the filming of 'The Shadow of Zorro' Hoyo Cine Association.]

Julián Iglesias is the one who set out, many years ago, to recover that memory. He arrived in Hoyo de Manzanares in the year 86, and always heard the same comment: "I'm going to walk through the scenery." One day, walking with his wife, he saw that there were some ruins of what had been a movie set. He, who had always liked research, was "bitten by the bug" and began to look for what had happened in those lands. He began to ask, search, and create a database of the shootings that had taken place in his new home.

In 2010 he had a list of about 30 films that were shot there, and they already seemed "a barbarity". Now, thanks to the Internet and the time spent, you already know that more than 150 were shot in Golden City. In spite of this, the best known town is still that of Almeria, especially because that one "has endured over time". There were also others in Catalonia and Aragon, but those have suffered the same fate as Golden City: oblivion.

[A scene from Sergio Leone's film 'For a Fistful of Dollars', shot in Golden City.]

With his association they make guided tours. Two or three a year. People have to make an explanation so that they understand what that town meant, because if not, when they reach that empty esplanade they see nothing. An area that "well treated would have been very well even if it were a few remains". One of the main problems is that the town settled within the Regional Park of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares, a protected area, and any activity requires specific permits. It was in 2010 when the few remaining remains were removed.

"The only thing we managed to keep are two original troughs of the films that have been maintained with the promise, by the consistory, to restore them and fill them with water. In this summer season the field animals have a place to drink and are filled with a tanker truck and at least we have managed to maintain it, "says Julián Iglesias. One of the reasons they give for denying them any activity is that "they don't want it to become a theme park."

This May they have achieved something different. An archaeological excavation to unearth the cinematographic memory that hid the land of Hoyo del Manzanares. The result has dusted off frames used by the directors, prop bullet casings, bricks from the old buildings and coins from the shoots. At the head of the project was Jesús Alonso Martín, an archaeologist who says that this project was born within the framework of his doctoral thesis, dedicated to "contemporary archaeology". Two terms that seem like an oxymoron, because when you think of a term like 'archaeology', centuries-old excavations and little-known civilizations always come to mind.

[Jesús Martín at the archaeological excavation of Golden City in May.]

When he was told about Golden City, it seemed logical that the first western settlement in Spain would become "the first filming site to be excavated in Spain with archaeological methodology." A way also to publicize this enclave, since "many people do not know this place or know that very important westerns for the history of cinema were filmed there".

A film set is not considered "archaeological heritage", but it has still had to ask for permits from the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, and has applied the same methodology as if an Egyptian tomb were excavated. "The people who passed by when we were doing the intervention asked us what we were doing, and I said, well, digging. There were people who said that this was not an excavation because 'that was very current and very contemporary,'" he recalls of his action.

[Bullet casing used in a movie shoot, unearthed in Golden City. Jesús Martín.]

Being located in a regional park, one of the conditions for them to be allowed to carry out the excavation was "to leave everything as we found it". The team worked with a biologist to protect the most sensitive plants so that there was no problem with the fauna and flora of the place. "The grass has to grow, but I covered the holes that had been made, so you can see absolutely nothing except some walls that were already visible and that I left a little more uncovered so that they could be seen in the future in the guided tours, so that people who were could see a little bit," confesses the archaeologist.

Everyone would like it not to be an ephemeral excavation, but "it's difficult." "On a material level, I mean real estate, there is nothing left. They literally loaded it, very hard. You could try with the rescued material to make a museum, that would be fine. A museum of the shootings, of the daily life of the actors and extras, but unfortunately they did not leave much, "says Jesus Alonso sadly. The unearthed material is not considered archaeological heritage "because it is not old enough", but having been granted permission and made with archaeological methodology has been delivered "to the Regional Archaeological Museum as if it were a Roman tableware".

[One of the few bricks that remain after recovering what was buried in Hoyo del Manzanares Jesús Martín.]

A self-financed activity, without public aid, and from which "at the material level many things have come out". A pioneering activity that shows that the cinematographic memory of a country is also historical memory. "We are very closed-minded, and it seems that because it is not archaeological, they do not consider it heritage. In the cemetery of Sad Hill – mythical setting in Burgos where the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – was filmed – they tried to get the protection of heritage by film space and I think they have not succeeded. Let's see if we get it with Golden City. Hopefully, but it is difficult to understand that archaeology can also reach our days and that it can study anything."