Places that I remember and miss : Sison's Ice Cream--- wasn't this somewhere in the Sampaloc area and they had cheaper cheese ice cream than Magnolia about 20 years ago?
Speaking of ice cream, I also wonder what happened to Dairy Queen that used to be somewhere at Taft Avenue where the best seller 20 (or 25??) years ago was the "Vanilla Twist"?
Remember when San Juan and Quezon City didn't seem to have the "glitter" of Manila and SM was NOT a mall but a shoe store?
Remember when Cubao had the New Frontier theatre? What about Chopsticks Chinese restaurant in Cubao? Remember when Cusina Italiana was "in"? Remember the COD Christmas exhibits that we used to go to when we were younger at Cubao? What about the great steaks at Jusmag (now Scout Borromeo, near ABS-CNN?) Does anyone remember a small restaurant that was a hit in the late 70's called "Pastelleria Espanola"?
Those were the days when there were TREES almost everywhere. Everyone seemed to have a garden no matter how small. Those were the days when RAM meant an animal (usually read about in the Bible), there was no AIDS (that word used to mean help), people smoked but didn't die of Cancer, water was not bought and if someone sold you "bottled water" then, you would conclude that the seller was rather insane. No one asked you then how is your "hard disk drive" particularly if you are a man!
Dogs where not "dressed" then, even if it was cold. The vets did not make huge money when you had a new puppy and you needed something like 500 plus pesos for the complete three times 5-in-1 vaccine. Dogs were not called "my babies" and there were no graveyard for pets then.
People knew how to be happy with only about 4 channels and no cable. The stereo and the old LP records were great and the "boombox" was considered extremely modern. CD cassettes were IN and also considered modern stuff. The Betamax was IN even if it was direly lacking in digital quality.
There were no cell phones, not even the analog types which started to come out only in the 1980s. Kids from the late 60's and 70's were happy with the simple game of "game and Watch" which was a hit.. Students even in private schools played "piko" and "pick up sticks".
Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys were IN by the time one was in the 5th grade. Eleven year olds knew how to read. Education was better then and the literacy rates were almost a hundred percent. Remember REAL libraries? (There was no "google" or "wikipedia" then). Tigerbeat Magazine was "in" and there was Bobby Sherman, Davy Jones, Donny and Marie and the Partridge Family that most people loved (this was the "lost era" after the Beatles)... Remember when kids could walk in the streets without fear of being harassed, raped or murdered? Remember when the best rice was 2.50/ kilo?
Remember when a "baon" of 2 pesos was HUGE even if you ate at the school cafeteria? Remember those punched out "meal tickets" at school? Remember the Apollo 11 moon landing "lunchbox"? Remember the days when there were no computers and one had to write by hand and actually mail a letter or card?
Remember when there were telegrams? Recall those days of carbon paper and "snail mail". Sure, it seemed too inconvenient but why does it seem that most were happier then? I guess it's because "stuff" can never REALLY make us happy :)
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I miss the old Selecta in the old can :)
How about the churros and thick hot chocolate at Cibeles, or are they still around?
They have churros at Dulicinea sa Tomas Morato and sarap pa rin. Melts in your mouth.
Sana may free ringtong dito po....
I remember when I was a kid we had that radio and my favorite commercial was this jingle of the "Palmolive Shampoo Powder...". I remember this one, Pablum for babies? I missed it. And what about the family being gathered in the sala after supper for the Rosary prayer. We didn't have TV then. Ah, nostalgia. The world will never be the same again.
Thanks for your comments on my blog Ma'am Guia. I totally agree with you on that.:)
I miss Penthouse Live, chorizo de Bilbao, at nagpaparinig ako kay Blogsurdities na miss ko si Martin and Pops. Blogsurdities please get in touch o lagay mo naman sa site mo yung latest "breakdown " video ni Martin.
I miss the days when there was the Love Bus. Matagal na yun.
Huy! wag nyo gawin chat room ito! lmao!
I miss the days when everything was so cheap, Manila was not congested, and you can walk the streets without fear of getting pick-pocketed or having your bag snatched from you. Hay! Where are those times?
Oh my! I don't actually remember all those places but I remember JUSMAG and SM although I didn't know it was a shoe store before it became a mega mall of sorts.
We had a house in San Juan (Blumentritt st) decades ago; it was an imposing house that nobody would miss if one knew the old Blumentritt street; my parents said it was relatively old; what I remember vividly was that it had many many rooms and had a massive staircase leading to the 2nd floor and there was a partly open third floor from which one had a view of the surroundings; a rooftop veranda of some kind - it was my favourite space in the house.
There was another big and old house (or to me then, it appeared old) with a huge and ornate iron portal for a driveway which impressed me; I remember its beautiful front garden with many flowers and huge trees. (If my memory doesn't fail me, it looked like a vast Spanish house.)
My mother said people thought our house and that of our neigbour's were haunted so people stayed away (hahha). At that time, some parts of the old Blumentritt street could be called "upscale" (or so my Mom said).
There was a biscuit factory somewhere on the same street (can't remember the name anymore).
In 1996, during a brief visit to the Philippines (same year I met your son for the first time) I drove past Blumentritt out of curiosity for the first time after we left in 1962 but was shocked at how different it was from my memories when I was a toddler. I decided I wouldn't return again. Gone was our former house and our neighbour's house as well. The place had been transformed completely. I felt very disappointed.
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