What if by the sheer genius of the human mind, in the near future, the Time Machine so ingeniously conceived by the great H.G. Wells, come into a full reality?
With a push of the button, I can choose the era I wish to go to, be it the time of Rizal’s in Manila during the 19th century, or the time of the Renaissance in the old Europe.
But being a simple person, and not wishing to exchange my Manila with Rome or Paris, I would have been contented to travel back in time to my old Manila, the bustling and most beautiful city of the Far East.
Manila is a city so well loved by the poets, composers, and travellers, so that on moonlit nights, along the banks of the lovely Pasig River, countless poems, romances, and waltzes had been composed to glorify the city’s beauty.
Oh, how I would have loved to travel in those times riding a simple calesa, and admiring those beautiful, immaculate, and shy Maria Claras and Paulitas on the way to their conventos and colegios…Just as the Ibarras and the Isaganis in the Noli Me Tangere did.
I would have loved to experience the Manila of the bygone era when Filipino life was simple, gay, and peaceful, when the city's houses were built with hewn wood and tiled roofs.
And I would have loved to walk on the streets of cobblestones in the Intramuros; to admire the gothic lamp posts along Plaza Sta. Cruz; to shop in the posh bazaars along the Escolta; to ride the tranvias that plied the boulevards and thoroughfares, their bells clanging to let the Manilenos know of their coming; to fascinate the old Barong Tagalog and Balintawak costumes as worn by Filipinos when going to church; to exprience the pomp and revelry of the annual Manila Carnivals, watching the bulky mascot Billiken head the parade of beauteous Filipina candidates towards the Mehan Garden; to watch silent movies in the old cinema houses Ideal, Manila Grand Opera House, Lyric, Teatro Tivoli; to watch Borromeo Lou's famed vaudeville shows in the Stadium, where the young Katy dela Cruz, Diana Toytoy and Atang dela Rama perform live the zany can-can; and to ride the vintage cars to the Otel Fonda de Lala in the Binondo...
Yet, of course, we can no longer relive the times that had gone by. They exist only in our collective memories, through some old and musty history books, through the tales told to us by our old folks, and best of all, through vintage photographs.
This is the reason why I loved taking pictures of Manila. Photography has the unique ability to freeze time, to capture the essence of the moment. In my old age, I could look back at the time I was photographing those images. I can relive again the happy moments of my carefree years, gay, simple, and peaceful! Through my photos, my grandchildren can see the Manila of my era, just as I see the Manila of our past generations through old photographs.
Through the years, I have collected vintage photographs and images of Manila because only through them can I relive the Manila of the bygone days, the Manila I know through the tales told to me by my lolo and lola, and through the eyes of some unknown photographers living at the time.
They are images frozen in time, but only through them will I experience the Manila of the bygone days. I will regularly feature in this blog my large collection of Manila photographs from 1890s up to the 1960s. It is an exciting way to travel back into the Manila only our lolos and lolas had experienced.
Avenida Rizal during the roaring twenties (1922). How different it was then compared to now! The old Cine Ideal (owned by publishing magnate Don Alejandro Roces) which shows Silent Movies, can be seen at the left side of the photo. The Buicks, the Rolls Royces, and the lowly calesas plied Avenida Rizal during the olden days.
Manila's luxury shops were located along the Escolta. Some of the most popular stores then were La Estrella del Norte, La Puerta del Sol, Erlanger and Galinger's, Botica Boie, and H. E. Heacock's. This photo dates back to the year 1905, prior to the installation of the Tranvia or cable cars.
The Escolta when the Tranvia was installed. The Tranvia was owned and managed by the Meralco or Manila Electric Light and Railway Company (so you now know the original meaning of the Meralco), During the 1920s, the Tranvia was the cheapest form of commuting in Manila. For as little as 10 centavos, one could travel from Sta. Ana to Escolta, compared to the calesa's charge of fifty centavos(source: Lipang Kalabaw magazine 1922)
The Binondo is where the Chinese merchants concentrated their business(note the Chinaman with the shaved forehead near the caretela). The old Chinatown was then known as the Parian. 1922
The Plaza Sta. Cruz as it looked in the 1920s. The tranvia was then the King of the road. A Manila policeman in a traffic shade; people walking in all directions; calesas debarking passengers, and vintage cars parked waiting for their ilustrado owners; This is indeed the old Manila of the bygone era, so gay and romantic...
The Carriedo during the Japanese Occupation, 1944. The old Yupangco music store can be seen at the right of the photo. There is a small side-street there known as the Platerias where old stores still sell antique pianos, violins, and music sheets. I recently visited those old music stores and their interiors show the remnants of the old Manila days: vintage ceiling fans, old pianos, large frames of vintage sepia photos, and vintage music sheets( I was even able to buy a music sheet with an authentic signature by Maestro Nicanor Abelardo)
Looking back at this photo, a few blocks further would be the block where the SM Carriedo is now located. During the Japanese Occupation, when food supplies became scarce and money became worthless the Manilenos tried their best to survive, trading anything from old second-hand clothes to appliances, in exchange for a morsel of food.
I hope you have enjoyed this little Time Travel, which became possible only through some interesting vintage photographs. Oh, old photographs and memories!
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