Back in 1921 there was already an establishment under the name of Sale Eritaña, but it was not until 1937 when Catalina Perez y Juan Vargas They take over their property and the place begins to be called Vargas saleIf they could talk, their walls would tell hundreds of stories and some others that cannot be told. On their stage was born the legend of Camarón de la Isla. An absolute tempo of the flamenco that says for sale.
The Picardo family has owned this space for 88 years and the lack of generational change has led them to put it up for sale. "Things are getting more difficult because our children are studying degrees, none of them have come out with a taste for hospitality or for the restaurant industry." flamenco", he explains in statements to EFE Lolo Picardo, fourth generation at the helm of the famous sale.
"We have put it up for sale, but not to sell it tomorrow, but when the seller we want comes," Picardo says. SPC. The passing of Pepe Nieto, one of the workers, led them to think that selling was the best solution.
«It made us think that this could happen to us. What happens to you and what happens to the Venta and to that person's inheritance? We get older, we're all over fifty and it makes you rethink the future, and that future involves the Venta de Vargas no longer being in the hands of the Picardo family,» continues Lolo.
«We are looking for someone with respect, who likes hospitality and flamenco, who wants to continue making it what it is, a beacon that lights up the flamenco» (Lolo Picardo)
It is for sale for an initial price of four million euros and the idea of its owners is to keep its essence. "We would like it not to be taken over by just anyone, who makes a 'chinese' out of it. We are looking for someone with respect, who likes hospitality and flamenco, who wants to continue making it what it is, a beacon that lights up the flamenco", argues Lolo Picardo.
More than a hundred years of history and a place where names such as Lola Flores, the Chato of the Island, Chano Lobato, Rancapino o Sara Baras, among many others. That you were just fed up with hearing flamenco You were tasting some delicious shrimp omelettes made by Catalina Pérez. They say that it was she who made the recipe for these nationally famous omelettes famous.
However, if this Venta Vargas will be remembered for anything over the years, it is for being the springboard for the career of Camarón de la IslaThey say that it was Juan Vargas who introduced him one day in 1959 to none other than Manolo Caracol to a boy of only nine years old, José. When the little boy finished singing, Caracol gave his verdict: "It's not bad, but a blond gypsy is not going to get very far in the cante».
Ten years later, the two protagonists met again. The boy was no longer a child, he was a young man. Camarón de la Isla, who had just conquered Madrid from the tablao of Vermilion TowersIt is said that Caracol and Camarón They fought a duel and everything was settled. When Joseph died, big felix He remembered that night in a article: "A Jose Monk who sings with relentless power and is breaking the throat of Manuel Ortega Juarez, Snail".
"It may take ten or twelve years for it to be sold, but we have already put that label on it that it is for sale... When it is sold, I will never pass by that roundabout again in my life," concludes Lolo Picardo.
