Situated along the banks of the rivers Pasig and San Juan, quite removed from the busy and traffic-laden streets of Manila’s Santa Mesa district is a community (more like a subdistrict or a sitio of sorts) known as Bacood. Bacood’s name comes from the Tagalog word “bakood” which would mean either an elevated area or a cane plantation. It has been said that the area back then served as a plantation for various crops. But in the early days, Bacood was known as Cordeleria, a Spanish term for a shop that sells ropes. This was because the place back then was the center of rope-making and selling activity in Manila…
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a history of rock and revolution: J&T Building
Right at the end of the service road of Ramon Magsaysay Blvd. (where most vehicles bound for Santol area pass through) stands one of the few skyscrapers that dominate the landscape of Santa Mesa district. Nowadays, this plain-looking building is home to some shipping and recruitment agencies and the preschool unit of STI Colleges. But who would have thought that this building has a colorful history of its own?
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Roaming in Old Sta. Mesa St.
Straddling between Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard and V. Mapa Street is a street with an interesting name: Old Sta. Mesa. Before the wisecrack questions are raised, yes it is old as it says it is. In fact, the area of Old Sta. Mesa is one of the oldest places in Manila’s geographic district of Santa Mesa, having served as the “poblacion” or town center of this suburb by the turn of the 20th century.
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España “waterworld”
This is not about an attraction located in España Boulevard in Manila. Even if it were an attraction, it’s not something people would be exactly proud of. I’m talking about that perennial problem of flooding along the stretch of España Boulevard, turning almost the entire length of the road into a sunken wasteland.