The decades of the 80s and 90s are considered the golden age of the city of Marbella. Hollywood stars, members of the European and Arab royal families or international multimillionaire entrepreneurs met every summer to enjoy the Costa del Sol at a time when celebrities and the press of the heart coexisted amicably and, in some way, was’ they helped ‘each other.
The arrival of Jesús Gil in the 90s marked the end of an unrepeatable era, although he boasted otherwise, of “having made Marbella great again”. Many of the characters left because they were not satisfied with the work of the new mayor. To this day, Marbella is still synonymous with luxury, but a luxury that bets on the anonymity of private parties of great fortunes. What did the Marbella jet set mean? Next, we reveal 10 keys to understanding the golden stage of the city of Malaga:
1. Alfonso Hohenlohe, ‘creator of Marbella’
The German prince, godson of Alfonso XIII, settled on the Costa del Sol at the end of the 1950s. He was a real estate developer and was in charge of transforming the fishing village into the epicenter of European festivals and luxury. For this reason, he is known as the Prince of Marbella. In addition, he was responsible for attracting many European aristocrats to spend the summer in our country and introducing paddle tennis in Spain. Alfonso Hohenlohe was affectionately called the ‘prince olé-olé’ because many did not know how to pronounce his surname.
2. Jaime de Mora and Aragon
Actor and aristocrat, son of the Marquis of Casa Riera and brother of Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of Belgium. A peculiar and recognizable character for his characteristic mustache and his inseparable cane. His social skills, his multilingualism and his intelligence made him a fundamental pillar of Marbella society, since he was the most responsible for the arrival of the great fortunes of the Persian Gulf to the city. Also known for his nocturnal business side or for being a pianist at parties for such illustrious figures as Luis Miguel Dominguín.
3. Marbella Club and the Hollywood stars
In 1947 the Hohenlohe family bought a property in Marbella that ended up becoming what we now know as the Marbella Club. Inaugurated in 1954 by Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe, the hotel with pool became the favorite haunt of Hollywood stars. Its first guest was the actress Merle Oberon and there were many who wanted to visit this exclusive environment, through which international figures such as Soraya, widow of the Shah of Persia, Liz Taylor, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Joan Collins or Liza Minelli passed. In addition, there is a curious anecdote with the singer, and that is that one of the founders of the Marbella Club had to intercede because the establishment’s staff would not let her come in to dinner in shorts.
4. Gunilla von Bismarck and Luis Ortiz
Blue blood predominated on the Costa del Sol and there are characters that have become icons and talking about them is talking about Marbella. That center of luxury would not have been the same without the presence of Gunilla von Bismarck, great-granddaughter of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and her ex-husband, Luis Ortiz. Together they were the protagonists of all the parties, thanks to the class and image of Gunilla. And to this day they are still the two former best avenues of the social chronicle.
The magazines filled their pages thanks to the poses of the couple. The myth of the unattainable and the playful way of understanding life transmitted by this series of characters have built the legend of the golden age of the Malaga municipality. Sometimes they continue to appear in a publication, but his current life is much quieter. In one of her last appearances, the chancellor’s granddaughter recalled old times: “I remember Khashoggi parties, they were the best in the world. Many Hollywood people: Elizabeth Taylor, George Hamilton … Also Lola Flores. She began to dance flamenco. and she told me to go with her. We became friends right away. We had the same sense of humor. She was a very strong woman. ”
5. The Arab kings and sheiks (Khashoggi and King Fahd)
To say Marbella is to say a place of rest and pleasure for the Arab kings and sheiks who longed to enjoy the good life. Thus, in the late 1970s, Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia arrived in the city. The first one filled the Costa del Sol with glamor with some great parties held at his 900-hectare La Baraka estate in Benahavís and on the Nabila yacht in Puerto Banús. King Fahd preferred to be calmer and took refuge in his white palace in Mar Mar. However, his presence generated a daily expenditure of about six million euros in luxuries and whims.
6. Olivia Valère, the Marbella night queen
The French businesswoman opened her first nightclub in Puerto Banús in 1985 and is known as Marbella’s queen of the night for giving the best parties on the Costa del Sol in its venues and nightclubs. At 70, Olivia Valère is still active and is one of the most popular characters in the municipality. Its last venue, Olivia Valère Club, opened in 2000, has hosted such figures as Alberto de Monaco, Bruce Willis and Naomi Campbell.
7. Urbanism (the mansions of Sean Connery or Lola Flores)
Another of the fundamental keys to understanding Marbella society is to understand its opulence. The celebrities of the time decided to build and acquire large real estate in the epicenter of glamor. For example, actor Sean Connery bought the Malibu mansion in the late 1960s, where he celebrated his birthdays and loved to enjoy the golf courses and parties. On the other hand, from the national scene, Lola Flores and her husband, Antonio González, el Pescaílla, acquired the Los Gitanillos villa, on which hung some debts that their daughters did not pay and which they ended up doing without. At present, only the site and the memory of the González Flores summers remain, since no one has taken over the property, located in a highly coveted place in the town of Malaga.
8. The ‘gilismo’
1991, the arrival of Jesús Gil to the mayor of Marbella marks the beginning of the decline in the city, as it remained in the collective imagination during previous decades. The real estate developer and former president of Atlético de Madrid decided to start a massive urban expansion that led to a proliferation of mafias and a praise for the ordinary. This caused the jet to start to leave. An example is the sale of Sean Connery of his mansion, not agreeing with the ideas of the leader of the municipality. Gil became a television character of questionable taste, appearing on screen in a hot tub surrounded by women with excessively tanned silicone lips and breasts, which would be intolerable by today’s moral standards. The problems with the justice were recurrent and the brand image of the city was very deteriorated.
9. Caso Malaya
Marbella followed the same trail with the arrival of the new century and the new mayor, Julián Muñoz. The Costa del Sol became a clear example that the gangsters were the Spanish who were in power. At this point, the city totally dissociated itself from the luxury and glamor of the jet set. In Marbella, money no longer came out of the branded wallets and credit cards of aristocrats and magnates, but was carried in garbage bags, according to the expression coined by Mayte Zaldívar, the mayor’s wife. Marbella changed radically in just a few years, it became the epicenter of the Malaya case, and Isabel Pantoja took her sentimental relationship with Muñoz not only to the pages of the coated paper but to the chronicle of the courts, since both she and her ex ended in prison.
10. The glimpses of that time: Starlite
Despite everything, Puerto Banús still has luxury shops and restaurants full of powerful people. The problem is that its population has changed, its residents are no longer part of European royal houses, although the situation has improved notably in recent years. Much of the ‘fault’ is with the Starlite festival created by Sandra García-Sanjuán, and in which Antonio Banderas is still very involved, one of the maximum claims in Malaga today. Artists of international stature pass through La Cantera every year and this 2021 is no exception. Figures as emblematic as Bonnie Tyler or Tom Jones and great national stars such as Raphael or Pablo López will not miss the appointment.
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