Lolita Pluma

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: People

Orlando Hernández, in his incomparable Catalina Park , sketches the portrait of one of the most popular characters in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lolita Pluma. Santa Catalina Park and Ripoche Street are the settings of this unique book, where local characters mingle with foreigners attracted by the most roguish atmosphere of the 1960s and 70s.

“A flash of light. Overflowing with colour, youthful and ancient like a timeless mummy, strutting among the tables under the awnings of Catalina, appeared Lolita Pluma, the graceful Gilda, who is the undisputed Muse of the place. Today she comes dressed in fascinating yellow from the braided shoes like peach skin to the bow of exquisite velvet that falls in two ribbons over her bare, tanned shoulders, after tying a bun nest sown with yellow buds of pitimini roses. The dress, equally amber, as if taken from the heart of all yellows, is unusually short and low-cut, leaving arms and thighs bare, strangely smooth and tanned for the indefinable age of this circus Gioconda, very human and spoiled. [...]

Lolita Pluma passes by. A rainbow of a single colour, a daily splash of colour invades from the Park to the end of Ripoche, stopping every two steps at bars and corners, because when she approaches all eyes and flirtations follow her, while she kindly shows the latest photographs published of her in the Press, the sketch of the portrait promised by a painter friend, or offers a colour photograph taken by street photographers and tourists, which she will charge at a fair price. And they sell, of course they sell, because taking a portrait of Lolita is like acquiring one of the most lasting souvenirs of Catalina Park.” [...]

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