Makati Memories

Two weeks ago, we featured Makati of the Seventies. This hit a chord with many readers. A whole generation of young urban professionals and "village people" grew up in and around the area. I received a number of e-mails from former Makati career guys and gals. Some wrote from abroad saying that they missed those days and the places and structures that are now gone.

I managed to unearth some more pictures, which we feature in today’s piece. A great shot I found was one of Colonel Velasques and Mr. McMicking on the roof of the new Ayala Building. They are shown surveying a panoramic view of a young Makati. Only the Insular Life building was visible on the Salcedo Village side of the development while none of the smog was even hinted at in the direction of Highway 54 (EDSA).

Most of the initial buildings in Makati were actually the factories and commercial offices on or near Buendia. In the Fifties, a lot of light manufacturing and pharmaceutical concerns made the move to a more spacious Makati. The town was being planned as an integrated new suburb to old Manila – and it was near enough to be convenient. The Ayala formula worked and within a decade it was bustling with life.

A number of these buildings around the Buendia end of Makati are still there. Squibb, Zuellig, Cafe Puro and others are vestiges of the city’s immediate past. Many have left and these old industrial lots (or brownfields, as planners call them) are being redeveloped into restaurants, condominiums and other mixed-use developments. The drainage can do with some improvement and certain parts of the district are frayed with the informality of marginal settlements and the grey-area concerns (or neglect) of the local government unit.

Much of the readers’ memories centered around the Makati Commercial Center. I had a chance last week to talk to one of those responsible for the old open-air mall, landscape architect IP Santos, who is a legend in the profession. One of his first major projects when he came back from studies and practice in the United States was the Makati Commercial Center.

Santos made sure that a comfortable, pleasant and art-filled environment was created for shoppers. He brought back the latest trends from Southern California, where he had practiced. His experience with retail design and pedestrian malls was a blessing for the new center of Makati. IP, as he is known to most, insisted on Filipino sculptures to embellish his landscape architectural design. He brought in a veritable who’s who in the field of art – Napoleon Abueva, Arturo Luz, Ed Castrillo, Solomon Saprid, Elizabeth Chan and Juvenal Sanso among others.

IP designed a linear landscape with lots of water, seating, great sculpture and great access to the various low-level shopping structures that made up the early complex. Many can remember Maranaw Mall, Angela Arcade, Lising Commercial, Assandas, the Automat, Makati Supermarket. I usually went to the Post Office Arcade because my favorite bookstores, PECO (Philippine Education Company) and Erehwon, were there. (I wonder where they are now?)

Alot of memories also centered around the elegant Rizal Theater. The theater was a masterpiece of architect Juan Nakpil. Nakpil had always wanted to design a great theater (what architect worth his salt wouldn’t?). He had prepared numerous designs for other projects that were never built – among them the Rizal Memorial Theater, which was to be built on the Luneta for the birth centennial of Jose Rizal in 1961. This large theater had a curved facade enhanced with vertical concrete fins that also allowed sunlight to filter into a double-height lobby. The theater never got beyond the drawing stage.

Almost immediately after Nakpil got his chance, he was commissioned to do a theater and cinema for the Ayalas in the new district of Makati. Nakpil resurrected his older design, simplifying it by changing the original domed roof for a flat roof. The design retained the dark flytower at the back where Nakpil mounted the building’s name – the famous signature of Rizal.

The theater was the center of the Center Makati. Its ultra-modern marquee advertised movies, plays, concerts, gala events and all manner of social gatherings. The Repertory Philippines mounted many of its productions here. The theater also saw musicals, classical dance and modern funk. It was the venue of choice this side of Manila. The Philam theater held court in central Manila. Both theaters lorded it over the cultural scene until the CCP was built.

Still, the Rizal Theater endured and would do so until the last decade of the century. It had a short life of 30 or so years but it became the soul of Makati. It gave cultural color to the drab grey-flannel mien of money-making Makati. It provided many nights of entertainment and escape for tired workers and executives. Many miss the old dame.

Across from the Rizal also rose a blocky modernist structure, the Ayala Museum. It was so abstract that it took a while for people to warm up to. The structure was built in the "brutalist" phase of Leandro Locsin’s practice and is one of his smallest buildings. The interior spaces were very small scaled, good for the exhibits and collections in the first few years but it soon needed more storage and functional areas. In the final phase of its life, it extended to the back and incorporated the Greenbelt Park into its fabric. Makati folk enjoyed this amenity immensely.

The museum is now gone. It will be replaced by a larger and more modern facility designed by Locsin’s office. The whole Greeenbelt is undergoing a metamorphosis that is slowly blossoming into a lush, landscaped, people-friendly, colorful oasis. But the transformation is still incomplete. In the meanwhile the museum is temporarily housed at the Glorietta Mall – and gaining good visitorship!

Makati is constantly changing. Unlike the rest of the metropolis, however, this change has generally been good. Makati’s building owners, residents and the Ayala Corporation all want to ensure that what had been started half a century ago will not deteriorate. The change and the improvement are all welcome in Makati. Second-level and underground pedestrian walkways are heaven-sent, providing weather protection and comfort underfoot for everyone. Plush-seat cineplexes now serve the needs of those who need their fantasy/action/drama/comedy fix. Offices are now mixed with condos and cafes are springing up everywhere.

Yes, the future is perky. But I still miss dining at Laila’s after a show at Rizal, browsing through books I could not (then) afford at Erehwon, enjoying San Mguel beer (there was no other at the time) on the only sidewalk cafe beside the old Sulu restaurant then driving back home to Pasig in 15 minutes just after rush hour. How can we bring all that back?

Maybe we can’t but nevertheless – enjoy your holidays and remember…there are only 11 days left till Christmas! If you haven’t done your shopping by now you might as well escape to some far flung corner of the globe where Christmas is not the Merry Mayhem it is here. Once again, take care, it’s kinda crazy out there now!

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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at citysensephilstar@hotmail.com.