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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2011 7:55:02 GMT 8
Most of the prewar buildings were wood apparently, there may have been one or two that were brick or made of some large blocks.
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Post by The Phantom on Aug 17, 2011 2:50:54 GMT 8
VERY busy main roads converge on that area okla, it is difficult to get around if you are driving or walking, but it can be done if lots of sweat is not a problem to you.
That part of Manila is around or next to Luneta Park, a re-beautified huge park, a former parade grounds before the war.
So much of the past within walking distance there;
The Army Navy Club with it's original swimming pool and grounds (formerly attached underground to the U.S. Embassy).
The Elks Lodge, now a Children's Museum right next to U.S. Embassy and Army Navy Club.
The U.S. Embassy (formerly the High Commissioner's office) of course, with it's new massive addition tripling it's size.
THE Manila Hotel.
Manila City Hall, (Mac Arthur's window speech location still there today, but not noted)
Intramuros of course and all the history within.
Dept. of Tourism Building.
The old Congress Building, now a museum.
The old Manila Main Post Office, still in operation.
The Metropolitan Opera House, falling down again I'm afraid, to close to the main road into Quiapo?
The G.S.I.S. Building?
There are still several bomb, shell and small arms damaged buildings inside Intramuros.
Paco Park, an old Spanish Cemetery, lots of hard fighting done there also.
I walk this area every year.
I stopped taking pictures because I stopped looking at what I was seeing at the time, and was just looking for the next picture. Sounds like a personal problem.............
The new Mall is right next to the Government building, G.S. I.S.?, and just a block from the former Sternberg Hospital. The L.R.T. stops right in front of that building also.
The Mall took my old YMCA away from me! I stayed there many times in the 70's when in Peace Corps. Like they say, cheap, clean rooms............
The old YMCA was certainly a throwback to the past, clay tennis courts in back, a pool? It was a huge building for Manila back then, big outdoor grounds.
I worked for a YMCA Branch in Lucena, Quezon Province for a time. I have a nice Citation from the National Chapter on my wall behind me for my efforts on their behalf.
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Post by okla on Aug 17, 2011 7:21:23 GMT 8
Hey Phantom....I have long wondered if the baseball stadium is still in existence. The newsreel footage that I recently was watching depicted an American Sherman tank firing at Japanese troops in one of the "dugouts" and grandstands. Don't know if the dugout was the one on third base or first base line or whether that section of the grand stand was reserved or general admission, lol. It does seem to me that I once saw a post war photo of that revamped arena, but not sure. It's senility, don't you see? ? The Army-Navy Club was mentioned in pre-war books and articles many times. Many galas were supposedly held there, I think, when a new ship arrived from the states bearing "new folks", both civilian and military. Do you know if MacArthur's penthouse still exists in the present day Manila Hotel? If so, that would have to be an interesting tour. I am sure that you and ole' Fots can handle all the inconvenieces and deliver some good stuff to us of the "great unwashed". Cheers. Don't forget that pic of you two guys.
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Post by The Phantom on Aug 18, 2011 2:47:57 GMT 8
I believe the baseball stadium is still in existence okla, think fots got some photo's of it recently?
Think Babe Ruth hit a home run there, the feat was written on the outfield fence in one of the old pictures ? ............................................... Alas, the Army Navy Club (which is right on Manila Bay, straight across Luneta Park from the Manila Hotel) that I saw a few years ago was worse for ware.
It now belongs to the Philippine Government?, and I think the upkeep is prohibitive, (it's a very old building in a tropical climate), as there are open windows where the air conditioners were removed, open to the elements with no effort to close them off.
The front grounds were fenced off and also in disrepair. Maybe it has changed now that was 2 years ago when I last visited.
You could go to the pool area then which is between the building and the bay. Some clay tennis courts near building and the pool.
They now have some open air restaurants next to the pool where you can pick a live fish from a tank and have it cooked for you right there. A popular place.
I was able to enter the Army Navy Club back in 2001 and was in awe at it's old world construction, lots of dark woods, magnificent staircase etc.
The Manila Hotel is of similar construction in rich woods, in the hotel's original old section. There is a massive addition attached to the north side of the original hotel.
Mac Arthur's old quarters in the penthouse were destroyed by the Japanese, on purpose, as the Americans and Filipino's attacked Manila. Lots of Mac Arthur's former possessions were still in his rooms but destroyed by fire as he discovered when he reentered the Hotel after it was retaken.
Mac Arthur's Penthouse complex is available for you to stay in okla, for only $6,000.00 a night! 2001 prices that is.
That was the price I was quoted in 2001 when I toured Mac Arthur's Penthouse and rooms for P1000.00.
A beautiful, statuesque Filipina took my friend and I on the tour. The rooms take up a large part of the western top of the OLD Hotel with a view of Manila Bay and the Harbor, north, south and west.
His rooms were fully air-conditioned, a real novelty at the time. No pictures, I know.......... there was a huge bed room, a large meeting room, with a huge mahogany table, thousands of books on the walls around this room.........and a living area with high backed leather chairs and expensive davenports in view.
My friend from my working days was on the tour with me and wanted a picture, his camera, of him sitting on Mac Arthur's bed.
I got the beautiful Filipina to sit next to him for the photo but he realized his wife would see the photo and got up AND RAN TO ANOTHER ROOM BEFORE I COULD GET THE SHOT! Yeah, I'm like that............
Even though Mac Arthur's original room and contents were burned up in 1945, the room was redone as close as possible to the original room and before he died, Mac Arthur return one last time to the Philippines and his family stayed in his old rooms one last time.
The Manila Hotel had been owned by American's for a long time, not sure when that stopped.........but recently it was up for sale and bought by a Chinese group? But there is a law in the Philippines that historical structures must remain in Philippine hands, so the purchase was overturned and it was bought by a group of Filipino's.
I took my father in law , I'm married to a Filipina now for 36 year, to the Manila Hotel a few years ago before he died, and he didn't like the place, saying that for to long it was only for foreigners and the rich and well connected. He had fought in the hills of Pampanga during the war and was buried with full military honors a couple of years ago.
Trivia question...........
Who stayed in Mac Arthur's rooms during the Japanese occupation?
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Post by The Phantom on Aug 18, 2011 2:51:30 GMT 8
Not sure you would want our pictures okla, we're a motley crew............
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Post by okla on Aug 18, 2011 9:40:15 GMT 8
Hey Phantom....Thanks much for the update to my questions. I had always heard that the good General lived like a sultan or potentate prior to the outbreak of war. But on reflection, that is what he considered himself to be or felt it was the image he must project. Probably thought that was what the orientals expected. Commanded respect, etc. or some such thing. He certainly thought he understood the Asian mind. I have my wonders about that. Maybe he did, may he didn't. As for the resident of the General's quarters....I gotta say it had to be the Japanese Commander. Maybe Yamashita for a time. Maybe Homma before he was recalled. I truly want to say it was Fots, but know that this wasn't possible since he was probably crawling around in some underground cavity,etc conversing with spiders and bats. Give me a hint.
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Post by darthdract on Aug 18, 2011 15:32:46 GMT 8
Wow I never knew There was a hospital near the City Hall, I always learn something new from this thread
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Post by batteryboy on Aug 19, 2011 10:17:06 GMT 8
Japanese Occupants (non permanent) of MacArthur Suite:
- Lt. Gen Masaharu Homma (on propaganda) - Premiere Hideki Tojo (on visit) - Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi (on visit) - Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama (on visit) - Lt. General Tomoyuki Yamashita (may have stayed longer)
When Homma was inspecting Bataan, his chief of staff Lt. Gen. Masami Maeda was said to have used the suite, but I believe it was more of the club houses as he liked to play the game. He was replaced Major-General Takaji Wachi.
FWIW,
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Post by okla on Aug 19, 2011 21:17:57 GMT 8
Hey Battery...Many thanks for the info. You always have the "poop from group" readily at hand. Certainly keeps me from having to dig it up on my own. Always appreciated. Cheers. Postscript...I hadn't realized that Tojo ever visited the PI. Seems that I learn something each and every day on the forum. I love it.
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Post by The Phantom on Aug 20, 2011 1:22:07 GMT 8
Thanks Battery, some topnotch residents on the Japanese side.
You win an all expenses paid trip to Manila, unless you live on a hill near the Marikina river, and there is a new Mall not far away...........And you have access to the M.R.T. Darn the fine print.
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