It was supposed to be an uneventful tour day.

At around 11: 00 AM last September 26, I was wrapping the the Walls of THIS Content (Intramuros) walk when water started creeping in San Agustin Museum.

Oh wow, that’s something else. Realizing that the water was not going to go down any further, I told my group to take off their shoes, jump in the water and continue the last part of the tour.

We were going to finish this with or without my shoes on.

Of course,  typical of Filipino resilience, everyone jumps in and gleefully poses a pic for posterity.

I was so glad the participants were all locals.

The tour ends memorably for me and (Im pretty sure) for my group as well.

The courtyard of San Agustin was now flooded and water was seeping in the church.

There was a wedding going with a tricycle parked outside to carry the bride.

What a memorable wedding for the couple,  I thought.

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It was only around Sunday evening when we got our power backed that I realized the extent.

Water, water everywhere and even places which Ive never seen flooded in living memory like Makati and Binondo.

Im so glad I canceled my tour for Chinatown in the afternoon.

To all the victims, I pray for strength to all of us who were victims of this tragedy.

If you want to donate and help, you may direct your donations to these two following outlets:

1. Kaisa Heritage Center (Bahay Tsinoy Museum)

Anda Corner Cabildo Street , Intramuros

Tel:  526-6798 and 527-6083

2.  Binondo-Paco Volunteer Fire Brigade

1245 Paz Street, Paco

or at Cafe Mezanine

650 Ongpin Street, Binondo

Cash or Kind donations accepted. If you’d rather,you can also spare some time in repacking for relief goods at the Kaisa Heritage Center

I found myself being among the select few to be invited to the  Filipino and Proud series hosted by the Asia Society. On the menu was  Cristeta Comerford, the Filipino-American who just happens to be executive chef of the White House (yes, Obama and his family too).  It was an interesting one-hour talk where the chef shared nuggets of her life starting living as girl in Manila ( Sampaloc ) to eventually  being the lead kusinera of the most powerful kitchen in  America.

I learned one important lesson that day: When the telephone rings and you are eating, answer immediately as you never know who’s calling!

Could be Malacanang or the White House. You never know.

Also met the who’s who in the Philippine culinary industry: Glenda Baretto of Via Mare, Jesse Sinsioco of Le Souffle ( I had to tell her how much I enjoy her restaurant and kamias juice) , Gaita Fores of Cibo (I though she was really tall) ,  Mikey Fenix of Food Magazine and my fellow-kabalen Claude Tayag.

After that it was off the Fort with my fellow brods Ivan Henares and Anton Diaz together with Claude Tayag to try out a new French resto. Yet another culinary lesson from the master, this time, how to distinguish a good croissant from a bad one.

According to Claude, authentic ones are flaky on the top just like hopia.

So there.

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Hey, hey hey, thank you to John Landers of the  Toronto Star for the feature on Manila and yours truly.

Maraming Salamat!

A BIG thank you to Lonely Planet guidebook for your little blurb and having us grace (again) the pages of  the LP Philippines 2009 edition.

We first made it to the 2006 issue and look forward to seeing Old Manila Walks again in 2012.

Also to Metro Magazine for  the lovely double -page write up on Old Manila Walks.

You really captured the essence of every step we make.

And of Maricar Reyes too.

Finally,  maraming salamat to Maxim Magazine for your meaty two- page spread feature.

Everybody inside looked really sexy.

Except us.

But thanks anyways.

]]> http://manilastreetwalker.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/lovelier-the-second-time-around/feed/ 2 manilastreetwalker LP Philippines img005 img006 http://manilastreetwalker.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/talk-on-manila/ http://manilastreetwalker.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/talk-on-manila/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:36:44 +0000 manilastreetwalker http://manilastreetwalker.wordpress.com/?p=499 ]]>

Here is something VERY interesting to do on a Saturday morning.

I’d gladly wake up early for this.

I hope you would too.

—-

The Heritage Conservation society invites everyone to the 3rd Architectural Conservation Lecture entitled

AN INVENTORY OF MANILA’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE
by: Arch. Erik Akpedonu and Dr. Fernando N. Zialcita

Although many have been lost during World War II and up to now continue to be lost to mindless development at an alarming rate, Manila still has a comparatively rich and varied trove of buildings from the 1600s to today. If  properly conserved and utilized to their full potential, these structures could significantly contribute to the city’s attractiveness and be a source of national pride. Since June 2008, a team organized by the Institute of Philippine Culture of the Ateneo de Manila University has explored the streets of Manila’s various districts in order to document the city’s remaining architectural assets, highlight  the significance of each, and evaluate its present condition, originality and possible threats to its existence . The lecture reports on what has been done so far and discusses some of the distinctive features of each of the districts that were studied.  Second, it tallies heritage buildings that have been lost in recent decades and points out specific current threats to remaining vintage structures in each district.

WHEN: Saturday, 18 July 2009, 8 a.m. (registration)- 12:00 Noon

WHERE: Bukod Tannging Bulwagan, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Manila, Intramuros, Manila.

FEES: P500.00 /head

P300.00/head for HCS Members

P100.00/head for full time students

*inclusive of lecture entrance and lunch

For more information, contact our the HCS Secretariat  at 5212239 or hcs_secretariat@yahoo.com.

Look for Dorie

One  fine day this month, I found myself being flown to Cebu City with chef J.  Gamboa upon the invitation of the Cebu Chamber and Commerce Industry to be their guest panelist/speaker for the Cebu Business Month Tourism Congress.

As I had arrived a day earlier, I immediately set about to explore this southern city which I had last visited more than 15 years ago. First on on the agenda, a walk around  the historic core. My hosts (thank you for your hospitality!) must have sensed this before and they instinctively bought out a brochure and gave it to me.

Ah, right on the spot and just what I would have wanted.

This is Pasiyo Sa Kabilin, Cebu City’s own version of a DIY walking tour.  A project of the Cebu City Tourism Commission, this handy little leaflet maps and strings together the city’s chief historic sites, really a small collection but just as interesting nonetheless.

Similar to Manila, Cebu city’s historic districts is a bit tattered around the edges with ocassional broken pavement and tricycle smoke belchers to give your walk some local color. However surprises abound and old Cebu is showing signs of regentrification. There is newly opened Cathedral Museum, the newly restored Cathedral (small but elegant) the very pleasant Plaza Subu just right beside the Santo Nino Basilica.

For sure, there’s lots to be improved upon but at least this is the first step.

Grab a copy and take a stroll. There’s a story every step of the way.

A decade zips through as the Heritage Conservation Society celebrates its tenth anniversary.

How time flies indeed.  Ten years ago,  I was the same schmuck (only with less grey hair and trying to finish my university degree) who really believed in the advocacy of preserving one’s cultural and architectural heritage. Just a year after the HCS was established,  I was out of on the streets battling it out the Mayor Lito Atienza’s minions on the demolishing of the Jai Alai buiding along Taft Avenue.   Im glad that my school was on the same street and I could make my presence felt over this major cultural indignity.

Street battles aside, I tried to do my every little bit in support of this group’s cause:  writing for papers,  attending their seminars, paying my organization dues and spreading its message succinctly through Old Manila Walks .

This month, as the HCS celebrates her first 10 years, I will again show my support and I’d like to invite everyone who sincerely cares for country’s built heritage join us for  a birthday party and reunion on 20 June 2009. HCS wants to wants to celebrate this in a grand way.  Young as it is, the HCS can boast of a decade of enthusiastically promoting “pride of place” in the entire country.

The Board of Trustees and Gurus will host a benefit dinner at the Miramar Hotel (an Art Deco jewel!) on Roxas Boulevard at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, 20 June.

Artwork by leading Filipino artists will be raffled off, together with other precious collectibles.  To be auctioned off also is a selected artwork of National Artist nominee, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz.

Please contact the Secretariat (5212239, 5222497, 0917 8668853 or 0922 8712061) for reservation and tickets worth P2,000 each.  Proceeds will help ensure the continued operation of the Society, and the promotion of its conservation goals.

Let’s have a ball!

*Photo courtesy of  Ivan About Town

I am dedicating this tribute to fallen a grand dame.

For more than a century,  this stunning three-story bahay-na bato has stood at the corner of Madrid and Peñarubbia streets in the heart of Manila’s San Nicolas district.  Easily the grandest example colonial domestic architecture this side of Chinatown, this mansion eclipsed most of the period homes in terms of artistry, details and size.

It was a house that awed me as little boy growing up in Binondo,  its architectural merits carrying me through as I moved out of Chinatown,  learning to appreciate and love the very unique  qualities of our very own bahay-na-bato.

A few Saturdays ago (May 09 to be exact),  I was doing an impromptuu walking tour of  San Nicolas’ old houses  with a restoration architect and his friend when I saw this:

Sigh. The old lady has finally bitten the dust.  It feels sad.  Really sad.

This was, after all, a no ordinary house.  According to Eliza Agabin, a researcher from the UST Cultural Heritage  Studies program, this house ” was built in 1890 by a certain Don Lorenzo del Rosario.  From 1914 to 1919, the house was leased out to Instituto de Manila to hold elementary and high school classes. It was a school until 1919 when the Instituto moved to its own building at Sampaloc and expand to become The University of Manila. Around after the second World War, the house was leased to various tenants. “

Read on and mourn what we just lost.

” The Casa Vizantina, made primarily of local hardwood, is aesthetically significant for being representative of the prevailing late 19th century Floral style bahay na bato in Binondo. The characteristics are evident in the delicate embellishments on the facade, including neo-Byzantine elements like slender colonettes and round wooden arches. The facade is significant for its use of quality Philippine hardwood and the workmanship involved in its creation. The facade and the house, forms part of an aesthetically and architecturally important street scape in San Nicolas, Binondo.“

This part is even sadder when you realize what people had just taken apart.

“The house is one of the surviving three-story structures from the 19th century that was once common in areas like Binondo that still retains most of its original fabric.”

I can attest to this  stylistic rarity  as I’ve only seen two examples of this in my lifetime (in Chinatown) this and another one which  is now just a mere facade.

There is little ray of hope though.

My sources tell me that the house is being rebuilt in the controversial colonial homes theme park of Mr. Jerry Acuzar in Morong Bataan, something that my fellow namesake and heritage activist Ivan Henares takes a very, very strong stand against of.

I,  for one, am seeing a small light in this particular issue  , the structure itself hasnt been very well maintained in the last few decades. I once took a friend who literally picked up a wooden carved detail which fell off the house. It was a huge squatters camp with electrical wiring dangling dangerously near the wooden panels. A fire could have devoured the house in a couple of hours- easy.

Rather than have it fall into that worse fate, this is probably is the most doable current option to save it.  Not unless somebody is willing to put millions into it.

Still, it is with a heavy a heart that I document this unceremonious uprooting of  a physical link with Manila’s past.

I can only only hope (and pray!) that its architectural integrity is done right when it is resurrected in Morong.  We owe it in honor of the artistic legacy of our ancestral builders.

——————————————–

In 2005, I made a mini photo documentary of the houses in San Nicolas/Binondo-perhaps the biggest concentration of 19th century period homes in the city.  Let me again walk you through and see how architecturally rich this part of my city is.

Thanks to Out of Town Blog ,my fellow guide Carlos Celdran and Katrina Holigores for the photos. Thanks too to  Eliza Agabin for the info.

Thank you, Xie Xie and  Terimah Kasih to Singapore Airlines’ inflight magazine  Silver Kris for their lovely feature on Manila  and your truly!

Very edgy photos and really hip lay out.  Gives a really fun dimension to what we have to offer here.

Best of all, its written by a local citizen who’s passion for Manila is only matched by the humidity I’m currently sweating out in this capital I call my home.

Click below for link.

travel_manila_21

It’s summer and much as I like walking the streets of Manila, I do need to get out ones in a while and have  change of scenery.

Well,  I’ve just found a reason.  Old Manila Walks, in partnership with Ultimate Philippine Tours brings to you our flavors of the month with these special tour treats.

Ultimate Beach Culinary Tour of Anawangin – Bolinao – Hundred Islands

The ABCs of  Ilocos:  Antiques, Bagnet and Churches!