Calle de José

A bare name: José, no surname, no date. The short street begins in what was La Ventilla, the shantytown of huts and low houses that grew north of Madrid as families came from the countryside looking for wages. There the residents laid out their streets before the city named them, and several took the names of saints: San Aquilino, San Benito, San Restituto. In that group, this surnameless José evokes Saint Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, patron of workers and of the humble trades that filled the neighborhood. The exact reason for the name is undocumented. No municipal record clarifies which José the plaque honors. The name arrived and stayed, like so many in these settlements that named themselves. A few steps away runs the calle de los Mártires de la Ventilla. Beside them, this José keeps its oddity: a first name without a surname among a map of saints.