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…
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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.
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June 24, 2010 at 7:38 am |
nice one kiko…. i like the old manila… clean and simple, parang new jersey lang
June 24, 2010 at 9:34 am |
FYI: jeepneys before are also known as AC Jeeps or Auto Calesa Jeeps. The fare in Pandacan per person is PhP 0.10 (that’s from Taft to Beata) cents but on the photo above on the Binondo is PhP 0.15 cents per head.
June 24, 2010 at 12:32 pm |
Thanks for sharing. GANDA ng Maynila! Inabutan ko pa Odeon nun. actually a lot of the buildings in the images above are still there, unfortunately, sira sira na ang iba, if not condemn, e kailangan na major repairs. Maganda sana ma restore ung iba for historical value’s sake. Isa pang pinakamahalaga ang revival ng ilog Pasig.
July 3, 2010 at 1:33 pm |
Ang GANDA!!!!! Oh, my Gosh! it is very CLEAN, SIMPLE, WIDE (not crowded) And PEACEFUL! i-compare niyo naman ngayon! pwede nang ilagay ang mga pictures ng manila dati and manila ngayon sa SPOT THE DIFFERENCE!
July 6, 2010 at 5:03 pm |
Habang pinagmamasdan ko yung mga pictures parang nakakalungkot…
Ang laki na ng pagkakaiba sa ngayon. karugtong nyan ang laki ng pinagkaiba ng
ugali ng mga tao noon sa ngayon.
Medyo mahirap tanggapin pero ang pagiging gahaman ng tao ang dahilan kung
bakit “MAGANDA DATI” ang buntong hininga natin sa bawat larawan.
November 9, 2010 at 4:49 pm |
why do you have to watermark it with pandacan crap when these clearly are archived photos of the University of Wisconsin Libraries you do not own these photos so dont deface it.
January 16, 2011 at 11:28 am |
Hi! Thanks for posting these pictures, I didn’t know that Manila was that clean and spacious 50 years ago. So beautiful. Laidback atmosphere. Now it’s a concrete jungle. But I still love it.
February 3, 2011 at 11:58 am |
Hi Bro,
Respectfully asking for your permisssion to use these pics in some of my talk materials.
Thanks.
February 4, 2011 at 3:30 am |
Sure, Jojo no problem. Go ahead. If you want the clean version (without the watermark), I’ll email it to you or add us via facebook (search “Pandacan Pandakan” without the quotes).
March 7, 2011 at 9:15 am |
I would like to add some more info about your pictures at Jones Bridge.. going to Binondo ang pangalan ng street na yan ay Quintin Paredes-at yun building sa kanan ay” La Estrella del Norte”every hour may madidinig kang” Ding- dang- ding- dong – napakasarap pakingan then sa left naman ay RCA -Insular life building dyan din yun DZRH radio station.,ESCOLTA- the best place to stroll- sayang at wala na sa picture na ito ang ” Syvels – isang sikat na men store–” Dencias kitchen– higit na kilala ang Dencia sa KARE-KARE–at Oceanic Commercial–isang sikat na jewelry store– dalawang sinehan lang ang matatagpuan sa Escolta ang LYRIC at CAPITOL theaters- ang picture ay kuha lang noong mid 60s kung kayat wala ang binanggit ko. at doon naman sa picture na maraming jeepney -ang mga jeep na ito ay patungong Divissoria -ang larawang ito ay sa kanto ng Carriedo at Evangelista street patungong Avenida Rizal at sa likod ng kumuha ng picture na ito ay Plaza Miranda – Quiapo Church.. Akoy isang NEWSBOY at Gala ko ang buong kamaynilaan kung kayat nailalarawan ko sa inyo ang” KAGANDAHAN”–ng –”MAYNILA”" == cholo17m @yahoo.com
March 10, 2011 at 11:41 am |
salamat po mister cholo… baka may larawan po kayo diyan na pwede rin natin i-share… you have more knowledge about it, your story is much more accurate than us.
God Bless po
May 5, 2011 at 5:26 pm |
hi. im teary eyed na masaya when i saw old manila. unfortunately, for the youth of today, puro mall, internet cafe, electronic gadgets na lng ang ngpapligaya. dati, npakasimple ng buhay. hndi complikado. mas magagalang mga tao. ngayon, mga balahura. tnx for reminding us our beautiful past thru these pics. sana you can send them thru my email.
September 2, 2011 at 9:25 am |
September 18, 2011 at 12:34 am |
It was Manila at it’s most heyday! Did you see anyone wearing flip-flops, shorts, spaghetti strap blouse, sleeveless or sando
September 18, 2011 at 1:21 am |
Continuation.
Ang mentality ng mga tao noon, as I recall, was if your going to the downtown, parks, public or private places in the city, you must dress appropriately clean and decent. Nakakahiya at walang wala pag naka rubber shoes lng noon, tsinelas pa!
Mayor Villegas was the mayor na naabutan ko. I remember the free nutribans, klim, tsamporado, etc. that was free to students. Mayor Villegas sent dentists, nurses to all schools in Manila to treat the students for FREE! I think Mr Villegas was the last good mayor in Manila.
Why Manila became like this today?…Many reasons, among them are the short-sighted Mayors, past and present, who didn’t have any master plan for the future generations of Manila residents, the Manilenians also – of course not all – who keeps repeating on voting these kinds of traditional politicians for just a day’s meal!
It’s not too late, Manila can be great again! With a good cause and a collective efforts of manilenians for the betterment of Manila, we can see those pictures again…back to the future style!
September 18, 2011 at 1:53 am |
Guys, naalala nyo pa ba na meron malaking coffee pot at coffee mug sa taas ng building yata ng Jai Alai or Masagana Telamart yata yun, sa Taft avenue, in front of Luneta. It was an advertisement of a chocolate product Hershey yata yun. Yung pitcher (coffee pot) ay gumagalaw para magsalin ng hot chocolate dun sa tasa, back and forth, continuously every lapse of time. Napalaking pitcher nun at tasa na makikia mo from a far distance. Sa bahay namin sa Tomas Claudio, pag pumanhik kami sa bubong ng mga kababata ko, nakikita namin yun!
Is there any one of you out there na may picture nun? That was so vivid and alive in my mind that I will never forget about it. I wud like to have a copy of it,…if you don’t mind? Tnx in advance.
September 19, 2011 at 10:48 pm |
Hello Melquisedec, di ko na ata maalala yang pic na sinasabi mo. :P Si Andres, matalas photographic memory nyan, sana nga lang makahanap sya ng pic.
September 19, 2011 at 1:31 pm |
@Melquisedec C. Reyes, we will try to find that pic