Welcome Google visitors! If you're looking for old Manila pictures from the 1950s to the 1970s, you've come to the right place.
You'll see a collection of nostalgic photos when Manila was in its heyday. Just a quick note, I don't take credit for these photos. Somebody just sent them to me and I felt that it was important that I share it in the hopes that other people will see how beautiful Manila was and hopefully help bring it back to its former glory.
Manila when it was the most beautiful city in Asia in the 1950s to 1970s
The photos must have been taken in different years, from the mid 1950's to the mid 1960's, judging from the car models (though some cars are pre 1950'd). Where is O'Henry's Coffee and Donut shop in Plaza Sta Cruz (Plaza near Escolta & Reina Regente)?
Can you recognize the cars? Chevy Bel-air 1958, Simca 1961-62s, Toyopet 1960s, VW Beetle 1960's, early 1960's Mercedez Benz 220...
Take note, naka sapatos ang mga tao, walang naka tsinelas kahit sa Avenida. It's clean and the people are very disciplined.
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| Jones Bridge, Manila |
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. The streets were shiny, much like the streets of Singapore now.
LYRIC Theatre (in the photo below), 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.
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| Lyric Theatre |
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.
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| Dencia's |
Pasig was very clean. The photographer must have taken this photo (below) 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
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| Pasig River |
Manila was just a beautiful place.
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| Manila |
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. 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?!
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| Roxas Blvd., formerly Dewey Blvd. |
Sidewalks were not extended to suit the pedestrians. Quiapo Church was a blessed monument. Nagbibigayan ang mga drivers. Bihira ang nag-gigitgitan.
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| Quiapo Church |
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.
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| Rizal Ave., also known as Avenida |
Ayala Avenue 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.
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| Ayala Avenue |
Even Parks like Fort Santiago was much better. No vendors, no cafe’s. There was not even an ATM machine. Malinis ang paligid.
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| Fort Santiago |
And then, we progressed. We had more technocrats, more intelligent people educated here and....stateside. What did we do to our environment ?
Sayang. We saw a country that was much cleaner, a much better place to live in and a truly healthy place. Will it ever gain back to its former glory?
Question
Did you enjoy learning what Manila looked like back in the 1950 to the 1970? It's quite a change isn't it? Would you like to see more of old Manila? Check out the second part of my post with More Photos of Manila - The most Beautiful City in Asia 1950's to the mid 1970's..
Comments
Now the beauty of the past is at least preserved in pictures. I'm going to show these to my kids and tell them that sometime in the past, Manila is a very beautiful city.
I'm glad you enjoyed them. But I can't take credit for the photos. I only found them and shared them.
Manila was a beautiful city. I remember that even as late as the early 80's, during Marcos' time. It was still clean because of the Metro Aides and it wasn't over populated as it is now.
The air was cooler too and it didn't smell as bad as it does now due to the pollution and garbage all around.
I got inspired to do some design work because of the pics
thanks for the nostalgic memories.
those were the good old days the young once were talking about.
It was not beautiful in terms of tall and advanced-looking buildings, modern cars, and the like. It was beautiful in a simple and unworldly way. The people looked educated and disciplined. They looked peaceful and secured. The streets were clean. Who would want to leave a country as beautiful as this?
I feel bad for myself and for my generation as well for we haven't got the chance to experience living in a country like this. We didn't even have the chance to see its beauty.
Well thank you for sharing these pictures with us. I was really moved. Hope our newly elected government fulfill their promises. Im still hopeful.
my family are based in cebu now. i hope it doesn't follow suit and become another overpopulated metropolis.
I actually remember passing by Escolta in the early 80's. My mom use to take me there and we used to watch movies at a movie theatre there. I remember how it was nice even in the early 80's. Of course, not as nice as it was in the 50s' to the 70's.
There was a bit of a revival in the late 90's in Escolta when a bunch of new buildings were put up and Mayor Lim established a college there. But I don't think it went any further than that. Too bad, it wasn't developed further.
The Philippines, especially the Manila Mayors, more especially Atienza hates anything old. He'd rather destroy what's old and gives character to the city and replace it with new.
Just see how he destroyed Plaza Binondo removing all the trees and grass and replacing them with tiles and concrete. And people wonder why Manila's air is so polluted.
Thanks for posting these pics!!
i jope someday, somehow i could owned a couple of old pictures of manila most especially intramuros, escolta, quiapo, sta. cruz or even roxas boulivard. i love manila the place before.
i'm great full you've posted this pictures. hope you post somemore.
The photos are amazing.
ISA LANG ANG MASASABI KO ANG PANGLABAS NA KAGANDAHAN AY REPLEKSION NG KABUTIHANG LOOB. MARAMING SALAMAT MGA KAPATID AT KAPAMILYA.
GANYAN TALAGA ANG BUHAY :> HAYYYYS
If people continue doing what they are doing now, what would Manila look like in ten years time?
we now? sigh
I wish Manila would look like this again.. All i see are trash, slums and of course hoodlums who prey on the people.. i long to walk the streets of Manila without having to cover my nose, without having to be afraid that someone's going to take my belongings, without having to see slums and so on.. Looks impossible right now though..
Thanks for posting the pictures :)
Thanks for visiting. I'm glad you all liked the photos. I hope I have inspired some of you to realized what Manila was before and hopefully, what I can be again.
If you want to see more photos. Please visit this.
http://palaisip.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-photos-of-manila-most-beautiful.html
if you don't mind, I'm sharing this on FB. Actually, i did before the comment.
I share your feelings. I used to walk along Escolta with my mom looking for books or just browsing. Sometimes we go and watch a movie at a the Lyric theater. We frequently go to Avenida and watch movies at Odeon. I was safe to walk or take a calesa back then without having to worry whether you'll be mugged or have your bag snatched.
It wasn't so polluted and it was cooler too as there's not a whole bunch of jeepneys with their hot engines plying the streets.
Those were the days.
Please share your website.
hango mula sa http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=332198557923
Ibinahagi ko ang iyong blog sa FB wall ng aking akda: http://www.facebook.com/minsan.may.isang.puta
Maraming salamat.
people (educated and non educated) as in all, just didnt seem to care.
it only takes one to bring a mess. it takes everyone to have peace and order.
There is always a time to start.
Hopefully the good people of Metro Manila sees this.
Thanks for posting....
Mabuhay ka!
Mid-rise buildings with narrow streets, complete with very nice architecture. It actually make sense because a lot of the people who created it studied in or was exposed to Madrid and other European cities.
Spain afterall did not just "colonized" these people in Nipa Huts. They also gave Europe to us - the architecture, the science, the engineering, etc.
The European style was also very prominent to the Americans in the pre-skyscraper era.
like Thailand vs Phillipines for example in the 60s, Phil is richer and more prosperous, but they don't conduct birth control. Both country have around 25million people in these times.
Today Thailand is booming with 57 mill people compared to Phil's 100mlll people,,, poverty, unemployment, crime rate, urban chaos all of these problems aroused
Anyway, I don't mean to be epal...
You said, "Avenida Rizal was a threat to everyone." ...maybe you mean "treat" (?) :-)
Simple. Because that was just right after the American period. All these roads, all these canals, all these buildings, the Americans constructed for us for FREE.
We would be as rich as Japan if we allowed the Americans to stay. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai were nothing in the 1950's compared to American Manila.
Now look at us. We are the Nairobi of Asia. If you were to ask me, I would vote to have the Philippines annexed by the USA. We share a history. We should be together in one country.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/69656716@N00/pool/with/3511914223/
PS: Thank you for the photos. :D
- Bisaya
Too bad we had to let National Pride get into our heads and seek for independence at a time when we didn't know how to even run our country. Everything went haywire after mismanagement.
sayang...
siya nga pala, ang larawan pagkatapos ng 'Dewey Boulevard' (Roxas blvd) ay Sta. Cruz Church at hindi Quiapo..
everything was good back then...during my time i was studying in MIT everything is different...nothing resembles to these photos unless the landmarks placed there for a long time...
We can still make our environment clean, if we work together. Filipinos need to learn the importance of clean environment.
"There is always a time to start"
omg i wasn't aware that's how wonderful manila before...
it's a shame how it transformed today. (shakes head)
oh well, what's done is done...
we can only return what was before,
if we have enough funds and no corruption from petty to big scale.
i wonder when will that be. :/
anyway, thank you for writing this up and sharing the photos that's been passed to you.
it's pleasing to eyes. <3
Yes, It was Marcos.
Then the Aquino government just destroyed everything until now.
nakakalungkot pero let's not lose hope in improving the state of this city. The government must put up more effort in restoring our city's glorious days. Dapat malaman din ng mga lokal kung paano ang kanilang mga ginagawa ay makaaapekto sa kanilang kapaligiran.
Leadership, political will and discipline has a vital role in this. :)
I'm still young and have vague memories of other cities in the Philippines as a child, but there are some cities that have the capacity and ability to pause and take alternative pathways to development.
such a great place to live in! :3
how about now?
It would be interesting to see pictures of the same locations as they are today to see the drastic comparison compared to the pictures above in this article. I would love to see them.
Until late 80's na nakikita kong Hindi handa ang government na ma-handle ng malaking responsibility. Nabigla Yata sila...
Ngayon kuntento na Yata ang mag Tao magpunta, mamasyal, magpalamig at mag jogging na lang sa mall....
Even with a large population. There's still a way to create and maintain a place. It's just seems most of filipino now a days are really allergic in the word
....."DISCIPLINE".....
Anyway, along the way I grew up. And got a job. And travelled more. And yes, I've since been to Manila.
And was baffled.
This Manila i saw was nothing like what Angela described!
Where was this "American Manila" she assured me of?!
I LOVED Manila, don't get me wrong - people are so affectionate and they treated my old parents with such tenderness and kindness, and i LOVED the shopping.
But I had come to see what my friend Angela told me all those years ago, and it simply wasn't there.
I continued to be baffled.
Until now.
Looking at these photos, i now get it! As "Rebel" said, Americans built so much of the city and so during that time even in the late 80's, Manila looked so much like SMALL TOWN USA!
Wow, it looked so modern, and so beautiful and sooooooooooo American!!!
I can now finally picture what Angela must've seen all those years ago.
And sadly, I find myself now STILL jealous of Angela - for she got to see Manila with her own eyes, during its heyday.