La Voz de Galicia – September 16, 2022 →
In Madrid, there are many streets, and each one of them must have its own history, but the thing is that the Passage of Modesto Martínez has one that is as curious as it is original, just as Modesto was. And who was Modesto? Among other things a creative being, a designer born in Madrid (of Galician origins) who decided in 1999 to move to Galicia, and to bid farewell to his native Madrid, he decided to order a plaque imitating the official plaques of the city streets and install it in a nameless place in the Malasaña neighborhood.
And what happened to it? Well, in 1999, after throwing a farewell party with his friends, and installing the plaque as a joke (with no more intent than that of having fun that night), the plaque remained there, and with it, the Passage of Modesto Martínez began to take a life of its own. In 2009, with the coming of the tenth anniversary of the made-up street (because ten years later nobody had removed the plaque), Modesto granted some interviews to national media and told, with that natural grace he possessed, the curious story of the passage and how he was the first to be surprised to see how it had become one more street in the neighborhood.
Time passed, and in July of this year, the news came out in eldiario.es that read: “Madrid will rename as Tony Leblanc Modesto Martínez’s ‘self-invented’ street,” the news that Modes shared on its web as «This is worthy of notice. What an honor.» And the truth is that now that I think about it, perhaps this would be a good end to this story, because some days ago, that same Modesto, that good friend Modes, left before his time. And I want to remember him with the idea that, no matter how soon we have to leave this earth, we all have a story that deserves to be told (or a street to rename!). Sit tibi terra levis, dear Modes.
