There are a few places I can think of as “complex” as Central Manila, which by itself is considered the city’s intersecting point. On one hand, this place is home to two of the city’s iconic landmarks: the Post Office Building and the Metropolitan Theater. On the flipside, it’s one of the most convoluted places in the city, overtowered by flyovers which doesn’t really help relieve the area from unbearable traffic especially during rush hour. Then there is the open, green space straddling between the Post Office and Metropolitan Theater, which is interesting in itself. Back in the Spanish colonial era, this area was once known as part of Plaza…
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The Aduana/Intendencia Building
If there’s one thing that is disappointing to see other than disappeared landmarks, it would be those that have been neglected or being left to its own sad state. Sadly there are a number of such examples one can see in the metropolis. Manila’s historic walled city district we call Intramuros is home to some of these “neglected” structures. One of them which I am writing about today is a landmark that’s hard to miss, a few meters away from the southern bank of the Pasig River.
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Death: Chinese style at the Manila Chinese Cemetery
It’s that morbid time of the year once again. And continuing the tradition I started last year, the Urban Roamer is going to take you once again to some creepy place in the metropolis. Creepy and interesting at the same time. For this adventure, we are back at Manila’s old cemetery complex. While we visited the Catholic cemetery of La Loma the last time, this time we are at a neighboring cemetery known as the Manila Chinese Cemetery.
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Heritage and some Kapuso history: the Calvo Building at Escolta
Long before Makati’s Ayala Avenue, Manila’s premier street business for any business or commercial establishment would be that one street in Manila’s Binondo district known as Escolta. From the late 19th century to the 1960’s, Escolta was a thriving street of trade and commerce. At its height in the 1930’s the whole street was lined with elegant buildings from end to end, most of them sporting classy architecture that dominated and beautified Manila’s skyline. One of those buildings that rose during that period was a little building near the corner of Escolta and Calle Soda called the Calvo Building. (or to the Hispanics like the Calvo family who had it…