A square brimming with vitality, lively and bustling. It was Zocodover, in May 1974, when the city was waking up from the lethargy of a few difficult years. The young people in miniskirts they mixed with paralyzed shoe shiners of the Civil War and with elderly sellers of fuses and lighters; older, well-dressed men in suits and ties clashed with a foreign touristwith their backpacks, like those that now, 50 years later, flood this square, the most tolerant of all. It was the meeting place, where he stayed to play, walk, meet a word at the Arco de la Sangre or have a few beers on the terraces, while the urban guard, with his white helmet, controlled the traffic of vehicles that were already beginning, at that time, to complicate the lives of the neighbors.
The supplement “Black and White” on ABC In May 1974, he devoted several pages to the heart of the city, to its lively square, which was then being discussed as being reformed, one of the many it had undergone throughout its history. What was magical about this report were its authors, the journalist we remember. Luis Moreno NietoDean of the Toledo press and Jaime Pato, one of the best Spanish photographers of the 20th century who was also editor of the magazine “Blanco y Negro” from 1965 to 1980. Jaime Pato, National Photography Award for the image of the farewell to Franco and Eisenhower at the Torrejón base in 1959, is also the author of the image of Gloria Myles, queen of the New York International Exhibition, posing in the valley in front of Toledo in April 1963.
In his column, Luis Moreno Nieto quotes Ortega and Gasset and his impressions on Zocodover, and also on Azorinwho felt trapped by “a dark, deserted, tragic city, with many clerics, which has many soldiers; “The Toledoans go to mass, believe in the devil, pay their taxes and go to bed at eight o’clock.” Toledo was no longer as it was described by this writer at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1974, it was a city in full growth and modernization and in which at the time there was discussion of how to reform your place, on a design by the sculptor Ávalos for an ornamental fountain or on the project that the Ministry of Housing was considering to beautify and completely reform the square, providing it with arcades around its perimeter.
And he also spoke in this article called “Adventures and Misfortunes of the New Zocodover Organization” to eliminate the controversial parapet of the square, “which the good-natured people of Toledo called the “wall of shame”. But it took 30 years for it to be demolished. It was in 2002 that a reorganization and improvement project was approved in which, according to the chronicles of the time, investments were made. 35 million pesetas, in which the pavement was repaired – replacing the stone with granite – and the square was enlarged towards Comercio Street with the removal of the parapet, the rearrangement of the trees and the change of location of the two kiosks, which still exist.
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