ChinoyLife Heritage Trails

Maundy Thursday has always been a tradition for Stephen to give educational

lesson about history in his neighborhood  by means of a walking tour in the

Streets of San Nicholas. one of the oldest neighborhood in Manila.

this is my first time to join and here is my story.

I went with my friend Almarie to Binondo and waited for the group in our 

meeting place just at the Binondo Plaza. words cannot completely describe

what we all enjoyed. pictures are  not enough. thats why I decided to just

cover this via a thirteen part video I hope you bear with me.

San Nicolas District is found right along the north bank of the Ilog Pasig River,
mention  San Nicolas and one may be clueless, because they know its big brother
the much famous neighbor Binondo and the much popular discount shopping paradise
Divisoria, which is actually an area thats part of San Nicolas but has grown more
prominent than the district itself because of  Bargain and best deals.

So we crossed towards one of the oldest bridge in Manila. called San Fernando
and we offically entered San Nicolas disrict(just after the bridge)

if capiz windows, floral arches, and old colonial Spanish homes  attracts

you, then try to visit this district, before all houses are gone. it is observed
that every year an old house gets to be demolished to give way for progress.

so you see, just a short walk from the Church, you will come across fascinating
and awesome vintage houses take lots of shots while you still can.
San Nicolas has played in Manila’s history and development, its role as the city’s
business and commercial hub,  Its location is also a favored factor given its
proximity to the Pasig River and the Manila Bay as trade at the time was being
carried out by the boats delivering goods to and from the port.

Group shot by Richmond Chi

after the picture taking our 3 hour walk started... just click on each video to 

watch how we progressed, first we went to the old Panciteria in San Nicolas 

bridge  then from there, we progressed inside the corners of Camba, Jaboneros, 

Elcano and to take photos and videos of what we observed. this is the perfect 

time since a fewer cars are around and most shops and businesses are closed.

oh by the way, I went with friends from AHP.

part 1 

this video has a small introduction of what to expect in the tour and then 

a visit to Panciteria Macanista de Buen Gusto, probably the oldest structure in

the whole of Manila, this tells about  chapter 25 of El Fili (Tawanan at Iyakan )

about the 14 students who decided to gather and “celebrate” at the Panciteria 

Macanista de Buen Gusto, a restaurant whose name roughly translates to “

yummy Chinese foods from Macau"

part 2
One of Binondo’s legends revolves around the venerated image of the Santo
Cristo de Longos.  The story goes that in the 16th century a deaf-mute Chinese
was drawing water from a well in the barrio of Longos. When he pulled out the
pail, he found a blackened corpus, an image of the crucified Christ. He began
shouting about his discovery as he miraculously gain his speech.

The original image of the Santo Cristo is displayed in a glass-covered niche
near the side entrance of church of Binondo. A shrine located in San Nicholas
District was built on the site of the old well of barrio Longos where the miraculous
image of Christ was found by the deaf-mute Chinese. The main street of the old
barrio of Longos was named Santo Cristo.

Since this district survive the American liberation bombing , this has a largest

concentration of Spanish era homes. and you could see century old street signs

during the Spanish period, street signs were etched in the walls of houses.
San Nicolas has numerous examples of such signs still intact

the sunico foundry

part 3 in this video we started going to the corners of San Nicholas

and here, you will hear the story of the longos  to the 

1935 Ides O’Racca Building, a prewar building in San Nicolas which has 

suffered from damage in a recent fire and then finally to the oldest house in 

Elcano for our picture taking(this shot is from Rache Go)

and so we walked further along the streets of Madrid, Lara, Elcano, 

Lavezares, Camba, San Nicolas, Barcelona. the main concern here is

Memory vs modernity. sad to say the government will choose development

and progress and will just give demolition permits to the big developers.

this is part 4 picture taking pictures

part 5 which talks about the Hilario Sunico house. and another 

classic sample of an old house which is inherited to the chidren

then the whole house is divided to 4 parts, then as the kids grew 

up, one of them decided to renovate a portion of the divided 

house, to a much modern look. also in the video is the house 

at 294-296 Lara St.

Part 6 Talks about the 100+ years 1908 Ilang Ilang restaurant 

(551 Ilang ilang St. San Nicolas, Manila) 

this eatery got its name from the street where it is located,  

It was originally a noodle shop opened by a cook from

Xiamen named Mr Nua and his son Eng Guan, and became 

a fully licensed restaurant in 1945. 

Part 7 contiuation..

this district became a bustling commercial business, residential area,

many Chinese families stay and do their businesses under one roof. Those

residences that have managed to survive until today gives you a glimpse 

of this districts' colorful heritage  and unique character 

to continue with my video... this is part 8  featuring the old 

Casa Tribunal de Naturales, or the tribunal house catering to the 

local natives of Manila, there is a separate one for businessmen.

Part 9

  

Sunico foundry (1st part)

Sunico foundry (2nd part) then walk to the fire Station number 1

you can see here one of the oldest of (5)arch(es) of Chinatown 

and now look at this Chinese temple

theres a secret story behind it that I did not record on video

its a private temple built at the top floor.

PEDRO GUEVARRA ELEM SCHOOL

Our next stop is the Pedro Guevarra Elementary School

We met Wilven Infante ,a school teacher at the Pedro Guevara 

Elementary School on San Fernando Street in the San Nicolas 

district in Manila. Pedro Guevara Elementary School sits on top of 

what used to be the eighth parian, the Alcaiceria de San Fernando.

(the Alcaiceria sold all kinds of products from various parts of the world.) 

Built in 1762, it was intended to be a place where traders from China 

would come to do business and pay their customs duties. 

In 1783, another Alcaiceria was opened across the river in the Walled

 City, so the Chinese traders shifted their trade there, leaving Alcaiceria 

de San Fernando to focus on foreign traders aside from the Chinese as 

Spain opened Manila to world trade. 

A classroom was set aside as exhibit space. Infante designed the display 

cases and explanatory panels. this is the actual classroom.

Whenever construction or repair work was done on the school ground, 

porcelain shards, old bricks and bottles were unearthed. With what he 

has gathered, he put up a museum inside the school. he had successfully 

collected these artifacts, precious china wares from the qing dynasty, kept

and collected these and preserved these reminders of Binondo’s past... 

Chinese porcelain ware, some of the more interesting items were from 

other parts of the world. Among them were the glazed ceramic bottles 

that once held ginger beer. Another was a rare ink bottle. a glass bottle 

from the 1820s. manufactured in Bristol, England in the factory of 

Henry Ricketts.

there is a scale model of the Alcaiceria based on the the original plans. 

Using cardboard and glue.

the school grounds still has more artifacts waiting to be uncovered, we 

just need more opportunities to dig around the school inside the museum.

this is the last video. and our last stop. Urbiztondo and the house
of General Antonio Luna

photo ops courtesy of Mike Lu

Knowing our heritage gives us a glimpse of what we were, where we came from,
how  we used to do things, how we survived as a people, and what we may become.
Such connections can inspire us to aspire for greater heights, while learning lessons
from the mistakes of  the past.

this concludes the annual Maundy Thursday Chinoy Life history Trail
Thanks to Mike Lu, Rache Go, and Stephen Pamorada for showing us
your neighborhood for telling us stories of the tsinoy families that lived
in this oldest Chinoy district.

pls dont forget to put hastag #SanNicolasTour #ChinoylifeHeritageTrails #CLF
on your post.
One Love. this is your LOVERBOY Dennis signing out.