Dolors Bonella i Alcàzar, "La Monyos"

Popular character from La Rambla (?–Barcelona, 1940)

La Rambla and its surrounding area have always been the focus of popular and cultural life, peopled with endearing figures who have given Barcelona its own unique character that is known around the world. And Dolors Bonella i Alcázar, “La Moños”, is certainly one of the best known and most loved. “La Moños” lived on Carrer de la Cadena, now the Rambla del Raval, and every morning she would walk to Barcelona’s famous Rambla, where she would sing and recite poems in exchange for a few coins. The local Barcelonians would always find her there, come rain or shine, dressed in garish colours, holding a fan and with her hair done up in topknots decorated with flowers. Apparently, her behaviour was triggered by the premature death of her only daughter which plunged her into madness.

“La Moños” became one of La Rambla’s iconic figures without intending to be. Her outlandish, eccentric demeanour was so popular and beloved that people still use the expression “to be more famous than La Moños” to refer to a well-known personality. In 1969, a city bus route was launched bearing her name and she has also had a film, a musical and two statues dedicated to her: one at the automata museum, the Museu d’Autòmats del Tibidabo, and the wax museum, the Museu de Cera.

She died in 1940 aged 89.