Manila at Night: The Spirit of History, the History of Spirits

- Feb. 26, 2022, Saturday.

- I've always wanted to do a night tour of any city, and it has been on my mind for a few years now. I've definitely gone around cities around the word at night, but night tours are different since they add a bit of the spookiness in your regular tours. I normally don't like joining tours since I like the flexibility of going around alone. However, a night tour is probably one of the few times that I'll gladly join a tour, since I don't want to go off exploring the supernatural on my own. If this scares you right now, fear not. These night tours will only infuse the supernatural in their stories, but they don't necessarily let you (or force you) to do anything supernatural (like the Spirit Questors.) These kinds of tours are, still, very much historical.

- I recently discovered Intramuros After Dark (click here), headed by tour guide and history enthusiast Mr. Butch Pedalino. It took a while for me to reserve my slot because of the recent COVID-19 surge. Fortunately, when I was hesitating to take a slot, I was told that they were having a big promo - which made my decision about joining the tour a lot easier. (Do inquire them directly in case there are changes in the price and tour format.) To make the tour more fun, I invited my friend Justine to tag along. Intramuros After Dark is a walking tour, so if you decide to join, just make sure to wear comfortable shoes, bring water and maybe some snacks, and most importantly, an open mind. Tours by Intramuros After Dark are only available on the weekends, unless you wish to book a private/exclusive tour off schedule, which can be arranged.

- The tour began at Escolta around 5pm. The actual meeting place was the First United Building's museum, the First United Building Community Museum at the second floor. The building was originally built in 1928 as the Perez-Samanillo Building, until it was acquired by the Cojuancos and the Syliantengs in 1979. The small air-conditioned museum had various everyday things, photos, and documents from the Sylianteng family from as early as the Second World War. The Syliantengs have been a family of businessmen. Their current surname was derived from their patriarch, Sy Lian Teng, who established Cosmos Bazaar after migrating to the Philippines in the early 1900s. The family had plenty of highs and lows especially during the Japanese Occupation of Manila, but they were able to become successful after the war. Apart from eventually owning the building, at some point they also owned Berg's Department Store. It was one of the first department stores in the Philippines, first owned by the Berg family until it was sold to the Syliantengs. It was located at the ground floor of the First United Building, now occupied by the Hub: Make Lab.

The community museum. Most of the items were from the stores owned by the Syliantengs.

Yay for friendship!

The mysterious painting. It's a painting of Evelyn Berg Empie, daughter of the first owners of Berg's Department Store. She wasn't supposed to be smiling in the painting (as can be seen in a photograph in the museum that was used as a reference for the painting.) No on knows why she was painting with a smile.

Inspecting the artifacts.

Mr. Butch, our amazing guide.

The haunted telephone.

We were given a few minutes to roam at the Hub: Make Lab, which used to be Berg's Department Store. Saw this mannequin. The Hub: Make Lab is a quirky bazaar that honors locally-made products and Manila's past.

Mirror selfie!

Lobby of the First United Building. Plenty of celebrities rented spaces in the building, one of its long-time tenants was the late comedian, Dolphy.

- After sundown we headed out, and passed by the man-made canals of Manila that used to bring goods from Manila Bay and Pasig River to the smaller streets of old Manila. We also walked around Escolta, before heading towards the Pasig River. Escolta, by the way, had its boom during the American Colonial Era, and some of its buildings have retained their original look though they have been repurposed. Escolta used to be the "place to be", "to see people and be seen", and "to rub elbows with people." When business centers moved elsewhere starting from the 1960s onwards, Escolta lost its luster. (You may look at more photos of Escolta from one of my older blog entries: click here).

First United Building from the outside.

One of Manila's many man-made canals. (Manila was a bit like Venice in the old days, no?)

One of the famous filming locations in Escolta, usually by action films.

Formerly the headquarters of M.Y. San Corporation that sold ice cream and crackers. Interestingly, it is occupied by another ice cream store (Big Scoop) for the longest time.

Calvo Building, one of the haunted buildings in Escolta (most buildings in Escolta are haunted anyway.)

The now partially-demolished Capitol Theater (I posted a link to one of my older blogs of Escolta above, see how Capitol Theater looked before it was demolished!) 

- We passed by the Jones Bridge, which is one of the bridges that go over the Pasig River. It is also one of the oldest, with its first incarnation built in 1920. It was a plain-looking bridge for the longest time until it was renovated after 2016 when Isko Moreno became mayor. They tried to make it look like how it was in the olden days.

Jones Bridge at night.

Manila Post Office from Jones Bridge.

The New Chinatown Gate from Jones Bridge.

Lighting was so difficult omg.

- After crossing the bridge we went through a series of underpasses until we reached the Manila Post Office and Heroes Park. I had never visited Heroes Park before since it wasn't the safest place in Manila. Well, it's not perfectly safe today, but a lot of lights were installed as part of Isko Moreno's beautification projects of Manila. It is now a nicer place to visit, especially at night.

The post office was brightly lit. No, the colors do not represent any political party running in the May 2022 elections. The colors are based on the Philippine flag as there was a non-election-related event happening in front of the post office that night.

Me!

Justine took this nice photo of me and Mr. Butch. Oh by the way, Mr. Butch does not know that I teach history. HAHAHAHA. (But I still learned a lot from him!!)

What we all need right now.

A piece of the Berlin Wall (fragment 22) at the Heroes Park. This was donated by Germany to the Philippines. (Learn more about the Berlin Wall during my trip to Germany: click here).

Memorial for the "desaparecidos" or those who have disappeared during the Martial Law decades ago. A certain politician, whose family is related to the Martial Law and related atrocities, is running for president in this year's elections. Please vote wisely. 

The Manila City Hall at night.

Saw the musical fountains in front of the Andres Bonifacio Monument.

Andddd, speaking of the Andres Bonifacio monument, which by the way I saw for the first time up close. (I had always seen it from the car.)

One of the panels of the Manila underpass murals.

- The ghosts around the area, from the Post Office to the City Hall, had much to do with atrocities committed from the Spanish to the Japanese eras. In central Manila, it's easy to ignore as the thought of ghosts are often overshadowed by its bustling ambiance. However, when it comes to haunted Manila, nothing beats Intramuros.

- For those who don't know, Intramuros was a walled city ("intra" + "muros") that served as the beating heart of Manila in the Spanish era. It was established in 1571 and housed the elite and the powerful beings of Manila (i.e. the Spanish and the mestizos). Intramuros became flat after the bombings during the Battle of Manila in 1945. Similar to other Japanese colonies, it was also around this time when the "Rape of Manila" occurred, with countless civilians being victims by Japanese forces. Needless to say, Intramuros is overpopulated with ghosts with "bad deaths." 

Intramuros houses at night. Most of these were repurposed, or new buildings that had to be made to look like Spanish-era buildings.

Tour in action.

San Agustin Church, which I found out, was built with the help of a lot of early Chinese migrants due to their good relations with the Augustinians.

This is called "piedra china" or Chinese granite. The inscriptions were brought from China to the Philippines to help balance and weigh the boats they were on. The stones were later left in Manila. They may be from recycled tombstones, or the Chinese people on the boat to the Philippines.

Outside Casa Manila.

- I guess what made the tour a little bit creepier was that our other three tour companions decided to leave the tour midway due to various personal reasons, leaving me and Justine alone with the tour guide. Mr. Butch said that we were lucky as it seemed like a private tour from them on. Unfortunately the last part was the creepiest as he shared more ghost stories and creepy facts of various buildings such as BF Condominium and the Aduana. (I did not take too many photos until the end of the tour because I was really just creeped out.)

Manila Cathedral at night. Look at that velvet sky!

One of Jose Rizal's former dormitories when he was studying in the University of Santo Tomas, which had a branch across this structure. It is now an eatery.

- To cap off the tour, we had a short prayer, followed by a reminder to not go home directly as one would when visiting a wake. He also gave us small bags of salt at the start of the tour, to be used in a ritual cleansing right before going home at the end. It was around 9PM when we finished the tour. After Mr. Butch parted ways with us after crossing the Jones Bridge back to the Chinatown side, Justine and I wanted to make things a bit lighter. We decided to have dinner in Binondo since we had not eaten since the tour started at 5PM. 

Happy tourists, happy tummies. (Btw, this was in Cafe Mezzanine, one of my must-go restaurants in Binondo.)

- Overall it was a new experience to see Manila at night on foot (after the beautification efforts of the City Hall), and to hear stories that are not commonly told in history classes. I like the thrill of the creepy side of the tour but at the same time I'm not sure if I'll want to do it again in any city - knowing me, I probably will HAHAHAHA. That is, as long as I have company and I do not have to do anything related to the occult because that's a different matter altogether. I would definitely recommend this tour for the historically inclined who love urban legends! 

A "Flash Tour" of Escolta: In Honor of the Soon-to-be-Demolished Capitol Theater

- September 15, 2017, Friday.

- As a Manileno from the downtown area, Manila's historical areas are within my reach. Chances are, I've probably even visited them quite a few (or a lot) of times in my life. However, going around ever-changing Manila never ceases to bore me. Something's always happening, something's always changing. More importantly, there are some things that go away forever. One of these things is Manila's Capitol Theater.

- My mom told me two weeks ago about the news that the government gave a go signal to demolish Escolta's Capitol Theater. It didn't take long before my architect friends started telling me or posting their grievances online. Though the theater has been closed for a few decades now as people gradually favored cinemas inside malls, the Capitol Theater remains to be one of structures in Manila that was a witness to the city's history in the last century. (More on the theater later.)

- As a way to "mourn" over the building's fate, I decided to revisit Escolta once more. After all, I also realized that I had not visited Escolta in the last 4 to 5 years, so I thought it would be a good excuse to revisit this once-flamboyant-now-quiet part of downtown Manila.

- As what can be read in the countless articles and blogs written about Escolta, one would know that Escolta Street is one of the earliest streets in Manila - it existed since the Spanish colonial era in the 1500s - which eventually became the business hub of Manila.The word "Escolta" came from Spanish word "escoltar" or "to escort;" this refers to the Spanish-colonial-era practice of having escorts that would accompany the "gobernador-general" (governor-general) from Intramuros when he would pass through that street. Escolta is located in the district of Binondo, and so it is not a surprise why this street is so close to Manila's Chinatown - the oldest Chinatown in the world. The origins of the street's fame has its roots in the Galleon Trade; Escolta is located along the banks of the Pasig River, which is a subsidiary of the Manila Bay, and so foreign goods easily found their way in the stores that lined Escolta back then.

Streets of Escolta.

- Escolta eventually lost its glamor after the business hubs were relocated all over Metro Manila (hello Makati and Pasig, and you too, Bonifacio Global City.) Thankfully, there are different organizations that push for Escolta's renaissance. True enough, there were new, awesome, and artsy things in Escolta for its visitors.

- One thing I like about Escolta that it's just a straight line (since it is a street,) and so it is hard to get lost. Since I had little time (thanks to the earlier sunset of the -ber months) to go around after doing errand in Divisoria's fabric market in Ilaya that early afternoon, the fact that the street is one straight line made it easy for me to do my quick stroll along Escolta.

- My route was from west to east (from Binondo side to the entrance of Santa Cruz.) My first stop was the El Hogar Building at the end of Juan Luna Street and along the Pasig River; it is a common backdrop of many commercials in the Philippines. It is an American-Era building built in 1914 in the beaux-arts style (i.e. a combination of many traditional/classical styles, among other characteristics.) It was a wedding gift to Margarita Zobel de Ayala, and was used as an office building.

El Hogar.

Had to choose a shirt that looked "retro." (It is made from vintage Indonesian batik that my grandmother never got to use when she was still alive. No, we're not Indonesian, just the fabric. Hahahaha.)

- After walking from Juan Luna to Escolta (passing by the two giant Chinatown arches,) I found a nice spot to see the Manila Central Post Office across the river. It was close to the Commercial Bank and Trust Company Building (built 1965,) which, I have calling the "UFO Buidling" for obvious reasons.

Manila Central Post Office, built in 1926 in the neoclassical style.

I'm quite happy that the river's garbage doesn't show much (though the river still needs a lot more cleaning despite improvements to its cleanliness throughout the decades.)

UFO!!

HELLOWWWWW.

- A short walk from the "UFO Building" is the Capitol Theater. It was built in the 1930s in the art deco style (i.e. what I'd describe as a playful combination of modern, exotic, and geometric.) It was designed by national artist Juan Nakpil, the son of Julio Nakpil and Gregoria de Jesus, the widow of Andres Bonifacio. (This family is connected to the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista in Quiapo; click here to see the interior of Bahay Nakpil-Bautista.) My mom would tell me over and over again how she would watch movies here when she was a lot younger, especially when it would show Chinese movies. It was convenient for her and her family since they lived in Chinatown back then.

So long.

It is said that this theater was supposed to look like a Mesopotamian ziggurat (sort of like Mesopotamia's version of the pyramid.)

A Filipina in traditional clothes.

Other side of the facade.

- Despite the news of its demolition, my mom told me that I am not supposed to mourn much, since the new building that will rise in the place of Capitol Theater was ordered to retain the building's facade - perfectly. (This popular method of preserving and repurposing old buildings is, not surprisingly, called "facadism.") Of course, time will only tell how perfectly the facade will be retained.

- I had a brief ice cream stop to cool off at the Big Scoop ice cream parlor since I had been walking almost nonstop since I left my house after lunch (it was almost early evening when I had ice cream.) Walking further down the street, I passed by good ol' Calvo Building, which is frequently visited mainly because Uno Seafood Wharf Palace (a Chinese restaurant) is at the building's ground floor. The Calvo Building was built in 1938 in the beaux-arts style, and it used to house banks, law firms, a restaurant, and even the DZBB-AM radio station; this is GMA Network's flagship AM radio station.)

I think this is clear enough? ("Edificio" is Spanish for "building.")

Main hallway.

Calvo Building today.

Details of the building

- Today, apart from offices inside the building, it also houses the humble Calvo Museum. It was past closing time when I arrived, but I was able to visit it before. (I'm placing a photo I took a few years ago, for reference.) The small museum has antique bottle collections, as well as photos and other memorabilia from Manila's glorious past.

Inside the Calvo Museum, taken 2011.

- Finally, at the Sta. Cruz side of Escolta are the famed Regina Building and First United Building. The neoclassical beaux-arts Regina Building, built in 1915,  used to house insurance companies, but now houses freight forwarding companies. (More on the First United Building later.)

Escolta at sunset (left: Regina Building, right: First United Building.)

- Across the small bridge and right around the corner near the two buildings, one can find the Roman R. Santos Building, a surviving pre-World War II neoclassical building (built in 1894), mainly known for housing a branch of the Bank of the Philippine Islands at the ground floor. The Roman R. Santos Building is the face of Plaza Lacson, the plaza close to the LRT 1-Carriedo Station. The plaza was the heart of downtown Manila, and were the central terminal of the now-defunct tram system of Manila in the early 1900s was found.

At the back side of the Roman R. Santos Building.

Such a beauty.

- On the way back, I chanced upon the newly-opened art hub of the First United Building. This art deco building was built by Andres Luna de San Pedro, the son of Juan Luna, in 1928. It used to house various offices (and still does,) as well as a department store called Berg's Department Store. Now, the space that once was this department store is where the Saturday Market is held (I should visit this Saturday market soon, I heard it has a lot of artsy stuff and antiques!!) Also, there is a new art/bazaar space called "Hub: Make Lab" as well as a coffee shop inside it called "The Den." Had I known that there was a museum at the second floor of the building, I would have gone to check it out too. (In hindsight, it would have been closed by the time I arrived.)

At the building's ground floor.

A cultural hipster's paradise.

Lost in a jungle of art.

Some of the oldest elevators in Manila.

Stairs inside First United.

- I am sure that I did not cover all the buildings in Escolta, and if I had more time (maybe the whole day!!) I would have checked out more stuff in Escolta. However, I must say that going back to Escolta for a cultural stroll after many years (rather than just seeing the street from our car's window when passing by it) brought back a lot of memories. Of course, not memories of Escolta in its heyday (though that would be interesting,) but rather memories of when I was just starting to rediscover Manila during my college days, or visiting Escolta with friends who are also interested in history and culture. As for my mom and the other "oldies" of Manila who have experienced the glitz of Escolta, seeing Escolta brings back memories of going around the street such as shopping in the numerous stores (my mom always tells me about buying shoes in Sybel's) or watching films in Capitol Theater during the holidays or special occasions. Although Escolta today is far from what it was back then, and with buildings of historical and cultural value like Capitol Theater are being demolished one by one, in the end, what we will be left with are memories that people strive to keep alive, as well as tangible things that continue to stand the test of time.