Manila 50 Years Ago

Circa 1960′s. Manila was clean; not over-crowded; simple, yet elegant; Manilenyos were disciplined. In short, Manila was beautiful.

The following “Old Manila” photos and the original captions were forwarded by “a simple Pinoy overseas who loves his dear old Pilipinas… ” via emails, and we thought of sharing them with you, as a sort of tribute to our City and its residents during Manila Day. We had to scale down the photos since these are not our property.

First picture was before the ’60′s Old Manila. The environment was still very clean during that time. Based on the oldmobiles, Studebakers, Buicks & Pontiacs, I must have been about 10 years old at that time. 1953 Ford on the street going through Jones Bridge leading to Binondo…

Enjoy, and Happy Manila Day ….

There were no Metro Aides, Bayani Fernando Cleaners, and stores cleaned their areas.  Pedestrians were also very disciplined. Very little “hukays” and Manholes were clean and were clearly visible to pedestrians. People were so disciplined.  Take a look at the Pedxings. I remember this part of Escolta as my Dad would buy us Boursege’s from Greg Shoes or Ang Tibay.  It could be much better looking than Colehaans and Ferragamos.  The streets were shiny, much like the streets of Singapore now.

LYRIC Theatre (in the photo below above), IDEAL, STATE, ODEON were the best theatres.  Environment inside and outside ….absolutely clean.  There were no double parking allowed and drivers followed.  Streets didn’t have 2 policemen and 4 Traffic Aides for each corner.  You’d be safe even if you held a clutch bag while shopping. Manholes were covered well and during those days, I remember them….as clean and polished, much like those you’d see in Champ Elysee’.  We could beat Paris. Ang ganda ng bayan natin noon.

Dencia’s was famous for Pansit Mami, much like Mamonluk or Ricebowl. P1.50 ang Mami, 10 sentimo ang coca cola.  5 centimo ang sarsaparilla. This was very near Villalobos and Carriedo. Look at the jeepneys.  They were not overloaded.

Pasig River was very clean.  The photographer must have taken this photo (below above)  October to December timeframe.  But Pasig , during summer would have beautiful water lilies, tiny Quiapo’s floating amidst white, yellow and purple water lilies that I remember.  Water from our rich and abundant rivers were emerald green and blue.  Napakalinis and walang amoy.  In fact, I know for a fact that a lot of private yachts would pass through our Pasig River from various parts of Rizal, Malabon and Marikina .  It was beautiful.

Shown is the old Agrifina Circle near the old Congress Building and Manila City Hall …. Manila was just a beautiful place.

If you’d take an L5 plane or a Piper Cab and take pictures of Dewey Boulevard (now Roxas Boulevard) from above, you’d be so proud to say, that the place is much better than Cote ’ d Azure.  My Dad would even bring soldiers sick of asthma from the PAF, so that they could do early morning breathing exercises at 5AM. Environment was just so very clean, air was refreshing, and take a look at the sea….wasn’t that a gift given to us during those days?!

1958 Chevy on the street… Sidewalks were not extended to suit the pedestrians.   Quiapo Church was a blessed monument.  Nagbibigayan ang mga drivers.  Bihira ang nag-gigitgitan.

Avenida Rizal was a treat to everyone.  There were no prostitutes nor body-brokers. Avenida was not a fickle place.  It was not  a “now a bistro boulevard, tomorrow a street; now a tiangge or night market and tomorrow a bistro boulevard”.  It was a simple avenida where everyone enjoyed to see what was “now showing”, what movie was “extended showing”, and if Otis or Good Earth had a big sale !!!   It was just a big clean place.

1960 Dodge on the street. Ayala Avenue in Makati City  was just like Wilshire Boulevard .  Clean and no pollution.  You can walk and enjoy the sun.  Napakalinis.  Walang masyadong Trash bins pero walang basura sa paligid, walang smoke belchers, walang tricycles ….

Even Parks like Fort Santiago was much better.  No vendors, no cafe’s.  There was not even an ATM machine.  Malinis ang paligid.

And then, we had more technocrats, more intelligent people educated here and.overseas, politicians who go on junkets abroad and never bothered to implement the advances made in other countries…..

What did we do to our environment ?

Sayang. maswerte kami noon.  Mas na mas maswerte kami noon.  We saw a country that was much cleaner, a much better place to live in and a truly healthy place.

——From a simple Pinoy overseas who loves his dear old Pilipinas…

——————————–

Napakaganda ng Maynila noong araw. Based on the watermark (bottom right) on the photos, they are copyrighted by Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, but whoever originally forwarded these via email, thank you very much for sharing. Sayang walang kuha ng Pandacan.

Related posts:

1. Joey Ayala at ang Bagong Lumad in Pandacan On May 29, 2010, Joey Ayala at ang Bagong...
2. Manila Weather: Bagyong (TS)Ondoy Signal #2 According to the news, many people are stranded in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.