It's very early, the bar's blind just raised, a silence that fills the first moments of the day with peacefulness, before everything happens. He arrives, greets affably, and orders an orange juice.
He's tempted by an anchovy sandwich, like the ones he used to enjoy at La Principal bar when he worked at Diari de Barcelona, one of his many stages in the world of urban journalism that owes him a lot, starting with the impressive volumes of Tots els barris de Barcelona, written together with his great friend and partner, Josep Maria Huertas Clavería.
"Pepe Encinas always wondered how Josep Maria and I could be such good friends and work so well together. I've always had a strong, bad temper, while he was all kindness," explains historian and journalist Jaume Fabre, who ultimately declines the sandwich, as he has already had breakfast, as he does every day, very early. "I sleep very little, by three or four I'm already awake, and I take advantage of that time, and the fact of not having social media, to work."
And certainly, time has not ceased to be productive for the author of works such as Barcelona: la construcció d'una ciutat; Burgesa i revolucionària: la Barcelona del segle XX; Barcelona, memòria d'un segle (written with Huertas); Periodistes, malgrat tot; CAU, quan el PSUC era més que un partit or his recently published Cròniques del fang, an ambitious volume that thoroughly narrates and documents the development of local journalism, focused on the neighborhoods, between 1966 and 1983. A book that is, openly, a love letter to Huertas's legacy.
--- You can be proud of so much work.
--- Every time I release a book, I feel great satisfaction. I like to see it, to see that work materialized, but I don't like to be in the spotlight. I consider that I don't have a good character and I prefer to go more unnoticed. Let the attention be focused on each book.
From when journalism was done
In 1970, Jaume Fabre joined El Correo Catalán as a journalist, beginning a very long journey that would see him sign articles and reports in media such as Tele/eXpres, Avui, Presència, TVE, Destino, Tele-Estel, La Vanguardia, Signo, Serra d'Or, La Veu del Carrer or El Punt, at which point he moved to Girona, where he lives, alternating that city with Barcelona and never ceasing to escape to walk in the mountains, one of his favorite activities.
"One could live very well from journalism. Good salaries were paid, which you could then round out by collaborating with magazines and radio stations. And it showed in the journalism that was done. Today that is no longer done. It is a precarious profession," he explains, recalling coverages such as "the police charge against the residents of Nostra Senyora del Port," or those nightly closings at Tele/eXpres that the newsroom finished off at Boadas or other haunts, or the times when Huertas and he were at the helm of the youth magazine Oriflama. "Censorship constantly opened files on us and, when these added up to three, the director had to be dismissed, which was done officially, but de facto we continued to function exactly the same, with Josep Maria at the helm."
"Censorship constantly opened files on us and, when these added up to three, the director had to be dismissed, which was done officially, but de facto we continued to function exactly the same, with Josep Maria at the helm"The death of the latter and of another great name in Barcelona journalism, Josep Martí Gómez, was a severe blow for Jaume Fabre.
--- At least, his work endures in memory.
--- I believe that, today, journalism students, those who are now at university, don't even know who Josep Maria Huertas was--, he replies with an undisguised grimace of sadness.
In defense of "the shabby" and public transport
"I always defend 'the shabby,' understood as that which is most authentic and least designed. For example, I defend the Barceloneta of before, compared to the touristy Barceloneta of today," says the local, originally from the Hospital Clínic area.
--- But things, and among them cities, change for better or for worse.
--- Of course, and I like it that way. Places like Rambla de Guipúzcoa, Calle Prim or Via Júlia, which used to be mud, are now dazzling streets, full of life. I love that transformation.
Another aspect that, in his opinion, is positive for the city is the current council's war against private vehicles. "In all major European cities and neighboring metropolitan areas, most of their inhabitants travel by public transport. It makes no sense to continue using the car in the city."
"I defend the Barceloneta of before, compared to the touristy Barceloneta of today"--- Man, if it's to come here to try the delicacies we have available, maybe it is worth it. Don't you feel like having lunch? Maybe that anchovy sandwich? Or a spoon and fork lunch?
A slight smile appears on Jaume Fabre's face, who hurries his orange juice before speaking:
--- As long as it's homemade and traditional, served on a checkered tablecloth and without unnecessary modernities, I'm interested.
--- What only a brainless person could think of defining as a "lousy" menu.
To which the parishioner nods, without losing his smile.