Outline for a book about Ibiza

The book was never published, partly because somebody else was working on a very similar idea...

Ibiza – where the hippy dream still lives

The initial idea for this book was to look broadly at the “New Ibizans”, the common term describing people who spend much of their time on the island, but were not born there. As I looked more carefully, however, it became clear that there is one group that has had a more profound impact than any other – the hippies (or “peluts”, hairies, as the locals call them). Certainly, beatniks had been coming since the 1950s, but it was not until the mid-1960s that Ibiza became the place in Europe to drop out.

Of course, other places attracted large numbers of draft dodgers, musicians, artists and wasters, the difference is that in Ibiza they stayed. Their impact can be seen and felt throughout Ibizan life, as I would hope to show in a book and/or television series.

It is difficult to be precise in a synopsis before I have had chance to interview even the main players. This plan has been drawn up using information gleaned from a few short visits, a very limited amount of published literature, the internet and brief conversations with acquaintances on the island. But I know enough to be sure that there is a story to tell, in fact many stories to tell. The characters and places are colourful. And I think I can show sides of Ibiza that most people are not aware of.

This synopsis is divided into six parts which could either be sections of a book, hour-long television programmes or, hopefully both. There would obviously be more flexibility in a book format, but either way it seems to provide a logical narrative structure.

1. Why did the hippies choose Ibiza?

A cheap, sunny and beautiful island in the Mediterranean has obvious attractions. But those attributes could be applied to dozens of places from Corfu to the other Balearic Islands. The more spiritually inclined believe there is something mystical about Ibiza’s place at an intersection of leylines. What is certainly true is that the island has a tradition of tolerance going back centuries to at least the time when Jews fleeing the Inquisition were protected on the island. More recently black jazz musicians came to get away from racism and, in the early 1960s, it had the first bar where “men danced with men” openly. Somehow this combination made Ibiza the centre of European hippy culture and it has remained so as it went from being the poorest area in Spain to the wealthiest.

If one place in Ibiza illustrates the changes the island has gone through it is Las Dalias. This year is the 50th anniversary of its opening as a bar built and run by Joan Mari Joan. It is still run by his son. In the 1950s it was a nightclub complete with orchestra. In the 1960s the garden was landscaped and it attracted package holiday tourists to its “chicken-a-go-go” flamenco nights. Not long after that the local town became a centre for Ibiza’s hippies and a recording studio was opened. It became a tradition for bands to celebrate the completion of an album by playing at the nightclub. In fact the list of stars who have played there reads like a litany of 1960s and 1970s rock music including members of the Stones, Led Zeppelin. Mike Oldfield and the Jam. In the late 1980s it was at the centre of the new dance music scene, where it has remained. At the same time what had started as a “swap meet” in aid of the local church became a fully fledged weekly hippy market.

Las Dalias continues to thrive as the symbol of hippy culture in Ibiza with the bar, market, restaurant and an amazing garden filled with flowers, murals and statues of Hindu deities. Many of the people who have been involved in its creation are still around, including the owner Juanito.
2. Music & Clubbing.

There are direct links between the hippies and the dance music scene which started in 1987. Hippies were behind the parties which echoed the raves in the UK. They also created several of what became the dance superclubs. These started as farmhouses which were venues for regular parties. Sound systems were added and admission was charged. Eventually roofs were added as noise laws were enforced.

Unlike Las Dalias, it is not possible to track the changes to any of the superclubs through one individual or family. There are, however, many of the original hippy rave organiser, deejays, club workers and others who, between them, can complete some of the stories. It is not an area where there is any shortage of material.

And, of course, there are the clubs, most spectacular of which is Privilege which started in the 1960s as the San Rafael Social Club. Later it became Ku and, after a change of ownership, Privilege – the biggest nightclub in the world with a capacity of 10,000.

3. Sex & Drugs

It is impossible to ignore the profound effect that illegal drugs have had on the island starting, of course, with the hippies who brought LSD and cannabis to the island. Later Ecstasy was at the heart of the dance music scene. It is not just the consumption of drugs, but the quantities of cash involved, that have had an impact. Many of the restaurants, bars, hotels and clubs were bought with drugs money. They also offer an easy means of laundering funds because they run on cash. Many of the big dealers are well known, in fact I’ve met a couple of them. I could certainly write or talk about them in what would have to be a very discreet way.

Sex is also vitally important to Ibiza, not just because of the combination of youth, sun, music, drugs and alcohol. It has one of the world’s longest established open gay scenes. The Calle de la virgin (Street of the Virgin) in Ibiza Town is the focus for an amazing night-time parade of transvestites, tanned torsos and fetish queens. The big clubs also have nights which are aimed at the gay community, but the island’s tolerance works both ways and heterosexuals are certainly not made to feel unwelcome. In fact, gays have arguably done as much as the hippies to create the modern Ibiza. There are certainly plenty around who would be happy to talk.

More surprising is the success of strip clubs in Ibiza. With all the naked flesh on show on the island’s beaches during the day, who would have thought that anybody would be willing to pay for more of the same at night? Ibiza’s top strip club, the Blue Rose, was started by the daughters of a German lawyer and his American fashion designer wife who dropped out on the island in the 1970s. The daughters went to LA and on the basis of what they saw there decided to start a strip club in Ibiza. It remains a family affair with mother designing costumes and daughter doing choreography. All should be available for interview.

4. Hotels, bars and restaurants

Some of the hippy homes gradually metamorphosed into hotels, best known of which is Pike’s. Aussie traveller Tony Pike bought a 15th century finca in the 1970s, kept adding bits until it became a five-star resort much-loved by rock stars and deejays. It was also the setting for the video of Wham’s Club Tropicana. Tony Pike still runs the place and gives great interviews.

Upmarket bar and restaurant Bambudha Grove developed in a similar way. John Moon, another travelling hippy, started a small restaurant which gradually grew into a hybrid eating place, bar and club. He’s a fascinating character who has been at the centre of the Ibizan hippy and music scene for years.

Although these are the two best known hip hospitality entrepreneurs, there are many others.

5. Art, architecture, fashion design, pottery

Ibiza’s art scene pre-dates the arrival of the hippies, but the two scenes have to some extent coalesced. Away from the concrete package holiday jungles there is a distinctive Ibicenco architecture which was a strong influence on Le Corbusier who visited the island early in his career. The island also has an enduring impact on world, but particularly Spanish, fashion through a group known as Ad Lib based in Ibiza Town. San Rafael has a street with nothing but potters, all producing work which is more art than craft. Elsewhere there are more sculptors and painters than you can shake a brush at.

6. The soul and future of Ibiza

Another link with the hippy past comes in a spiritual form. Ibiza is often described as “the yoga capital of Europe”. It is also not unusual to see Buddhist monks wondering past the quieter beaches as well as lots of New Age events round the full moon and so on. Many of these people try to live an existence which has minimal impact on the earth, recycling and minimising waste. This ecological awareness was strong enough to enable the island in 1999 to get its first left-of-centre government largely because the conservatives wanted to build a golf course in the middle of a national park. Last year, however, the conservatives were returned to power.

That division reflects the continuing debate about the future of the island. In 30 years it has gone from rags to riches. The question is: how does it keep that wealth. The conservatives want to build more golf courses and marinas while clamping down on the clubbers, hippies and anybody else who might upset the wealthy tourists they hope will come to those new marinas and golf courses. The clubbers and hippies have an uneasy alliance trying to retain the island’s hedonistic freedom. The hippies, though, are concerned about the rampant commercialism of the dance music scene and its impact on the environment.

It is a debate that will continue.

First thoughts about moving to Ibiza

The idea came to me as I sat unshaven in a grubby dressing gown in front of my computer. Rain was running down the windows and it was getting dark.

Although I had not got round to getting dressed, or even cleaning my teeth for that matter, as far as my world was concerned I was sitting in an office shiny, happy and probably in a suit. I can generally make a good impression on the phone.

There is little need for face-to-face communication for the company I run. This is perhaps strange because we are supposed to be in the communications business. Essentially penpusher, the company, is a word factory providing mostly product descriptions, case studies and e-newsletters.

We started it to cash in on the internet wave, reasoning that people would want websites that were well-written to go with their flashy designs. Unfortunately the bubble burst before we could make our millions.

So we ditched the office and went virtual. What that means is that instead of phoning clients from a room with people, you call them from a back bedroom. In practice, nobody knows the difference. You could be anywhere.

So what the hell am I doing in damp, chilly, miserable Britain? A good question.

When most people reach my age – 47 if you must know, although I think I look younger – they have things to tie them down. Kids are the usual reason, or elderly parents.

Despite years of trying and a course of IVF treatment that led to an infection nearly killed my wife, I am not going to be a parent. My mother died eight years ago and my father just before the Queen Mum’s funeral just last year, not that the two events were in any way related.

For a long time it seemed likely that the flexibility of my work would allow me to help him through his last days. In the end that was not necessary thanks to his best mate. It was, perhaps, as straightforward as these things ever can be.

Depression sounds like the easy option. However, maybe I am callous, but I like to think I am being rational. I see the combination of events as an opportunity for a new start.

For children of the middle classes, of which I am one, the death of your parents means a substantial nest egg. In theory I am against inherited wealth, but in practice who would turn down a lump sum to pay off all their debts?