This should have been published last month, during the anniversary of the founding of La Liga Filipina. But it’s history and national heroes’ month anyway so it’s still to get this out online today. Today, the whole stretch of Ilaya Street from Plaza Amado V. Hernadez to the intersection at Juan Luna Street is a scene of urban madness. For one, the street is not passable to vehicular traffic with all the stalls occupying the road itself. Walking along this stretch of road is also a…challenge, to say the least, as you navigate through the walkways that have become narrow because of those stalls while trying to be mindful of…
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A Tale of Two Tondo Plazas
Aside from the previously touched upon Plaza Amado V. Hernandez, there are at least a couple of plazas in Tondo that are significant in their own right. Let’s check out these two Tondo plazas and their respective histories and points of interest.
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At the heart of Tondo
What is there to say about Tondo? On second thought, maybe it’s a question that should not be asked in the first place. The thing about Tondo is that, to say the least, it is a place that evokes strong perceptions and sentiments. For one, there is the image of urban squalor and decay that has afflicted Manila and the metropolis in general. Then there is the atmosphere of “toughness” that has been the source of negative perceptions (thanks in part to its history as a den of crime and gangsters especially during the 1950s-60s), as well as positive ones (the “Tondo pride” as some may consider it). Being someone…
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Divisoria: Manila’s shopping mecca
Since it’s Christmas, the Urban Roamer presents to you one of Christmastime’s favorite shopping destinations. Then again, this place is an all-time favorite shopping destination Juan Dela Cruz Band’s “Divisoria” If there can only be one place that would be named as THE shopping mecca in the metropolis, it would not be some fancy mall or high-end shopping district. For many not only in Metro Manila but perhaps in the entire country as well, nothing equates shopping more than that famed district in Manila that we call “Divisoria.” But of course, Divisoria itself needs no further introduction. It has become such an iconic landmark destination that every one in the…
