Café Mambo

The first record on the rocks

The first vinyl to play on the rocks of Sant Antoni wasn't house: in June 1994, Javier Anadón opened Café Mambo with Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin'. He had bought a dilapidated finca on the west coast in March and, in two months, turned it into a bar facing the sea. The first party filled up by word of mouth. In August, Graeme Park was the first big DJ in a booth that, ever since, has functioned as a rite of passage on the island.

The sunset as a dancefloor

On the Sunset Strip, the terrace faces the bay of Portmany. It is not a dark nightclub: it is a bar-restaurant attached to the rocks, with tables by the sea and a VIP area around the booth. The public arrives during the day, has dinner, and stays when the sun goes down. Upstairs, the Mambo Radio studios broadcast from the house itself. It opens in season, every day, from 10:00 to 03:00, with DJ sets at sunset—officially free—that turn the sunset into the first chapter of the Ibizan night.

Superclub pre-party

Every summer, the booth warms up what later happens in the big clubs on the island. In 2009, Swedish House Mafia held their Mondays here before Masquerade Motel at Pacha. BBC Radio 1 has been broadcasting its Weekend in Ibiza since 1997, almost always from Mambo: Pete Tong convinced the station to bring the roadshow to the island. Through that intimate booth have passed Carl Cox, Sasha, Fatboy Slim, David Guetta, Roger Sanchez, Judge Jules, Boy George, Fisher, Camelphat, or Steve Aoki. In 2007, the DJ Awards named Mambo Best Ibiza Bar. Today it continues to be a pre-party for nights like Glitterbox at Amnesia or those at Hï Ibiza.

The family that didn't let go of the sun

The venue remains a family business. Javier, who arrived from Pamplona, passed the baton to his sons Christian and Alan Anadón, the Mambo Brothers, raised between that booth and the sunsets of the nineties. They manage the venue and maintain the original gesture: hospitality, electronic music, and a sunset that, three decades later, continues to fill the rocks of Sant Antoni.