Wednesday, July 02, 2008
DIVISORIA
It isn't exactly the most photogenic part of town but Divisoria has got to be the hub of commerce serving the entire country. Many dry goods, farmed produce, seafoods, and all sorts of locally-produced and exported merchandise pass through here.
I've decided to feature photos of items sold right along the streets because the various malls in the area do not allow the use of any photographic equipment inside. The main reason: smuggled pirated and counterfeit products from China and other Asian countries are allegedly sold in the stores inside those malls -- such as fake iPods and iPhones, DVD movies, various designer fashion accessories, top brand athletic footwear, and etc.
I rarely venture into Divisoria. I find it as nothing more than one gigantic tiangge or marketplace congested with people, shoulder-to-shoulder. However, many of Manila's savvy shoppers -- young and old alike -- always make it a point to make Divisoria their first stop whenever in the market for something.
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Please note:
I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.
Thank you!
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I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.
Thank you!
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Labels: Divisoria, life in Manila
posted by Señor Enrique at 10:46 AM
| 17 comments
Thursday, August 10, 2006
TUTUBAN
The Tutuban Center Mall (pictured above) is located at the forefront of Divisoria at Claro M. Recto Avenue (formerly Azcarraga Street) right off Jose Abad Santos Avenue. It is near Tutuban Railroad Station whose trains run from Manila to Dagupan, Pangasinan. In 1886 the Manila Railway Company commissioned the Fleming Company to help build this railroad. The tracks cut across Tondo, which uprooted many impoverished residents from their homes, including the family of our national hero, Andres Bonifacio. To this day, over a hundred years later, the trains still run through the Tutuban station.
This area is and has always been one of Manila’s bustling commercial hubs. From Divisoria’s wholesale distributors to myriad retailers selling various kinds of items such as clothes, jewelry, and housewares at bargain prices. The Tutuban Center Mall has stores that offer most of these items, including many assortments of foodstuffs and delicacies, as well as a wide array of local handicrafts
The name Tutuban means the place where they make tuba (defined by Milkphish of Bughaw as an alcoholic drink made from palm flower sap, though native to the Philippines, is widely sold in the cities of Mexico by street vendors called Tuberos).
Labels: Divisoria, Manila history
posted by Señor Enrique at 10:27 AM
| 20 comments
