It is a sad fact, but Metro Manila direly needs not just a unified bus terminal that will house the different bus companies under one roof. It needs a modern terminal that takes into account the technologies present in today’s world. And if you’re a bit cynical, you’ll probably think this is something that’s a pipe dream as far as standards here go. Fortunately, such a dream can be realized. Most importantly, there is already a living, real example of this in the metropolis. You just have to check out the new bus terminal at Cubao’s Araneta Center.
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A Peek at the New Army and Navy Club
It’s been a long time since the Urban Roamer talked about the Army and Navy Club. If you missed it, you can check it out here. Since then, things have quieted down a bit, especially after the controversy that erupted regarding this building more than a couple of years ago. Now, it seems the work on the renovation/restoration (sort of) of the Army and Navy Club is almost complete and we can finally what has been done to the building, for the most part at least. Was the work faithful to the original structure? Were there any abominable changes made? Let’s find out. First things first, the edifice has been kept…
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The Rise and Decline of the Big Bookstores
From the mid-1990s until sometime in the mid-2000s, in the midst of the changing urban landscape that is sweeping across the metropolis, Manila went through what can be considered as a “golden age” as far as the bookstore industry is concerned with the rise of the so-called “big bookstores” in the metropolis. At the forefront of this golden age were two giant bookstores: Powerbooks and Fully Booked. Competition aside, these two bookstore giants that have managed to transform not only the bookstore business, but also the landscape of the metropolis as well. After years of being used to the traditional “bookstore” that retailers like National Book Store has to offer,…
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The Church That Gave Birth to a City: The St. Peter and Paul Church in Makati
While the Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church is considered as Makati’s oldest structure, it was actually not in that location where the Makati that we know today was born. In fact, during the time the aforementioned church was built, Makati as a settlement had not been established yet and was still considered part of the thriving Santa Ana settlement which used to be the site of the pre-Hispanic Kingdom of Namayan. The beginnings of Makati can be traced in 1608 (or 1607 as said in the marker), when the Jesuits received a donation of land from Captain Pedro de Brito, a military officer of the Spanish Crown who originally bought what was then a…
