It was Sunday morning, and I was stuck in Oregon without a vehicle. Since I had to pick up the van from the main house, I decided to hop on a bus through Taft Avenue, Quiapo and Espana to get to Quezon City. I haven't taken the bus for ages; luckily the traffic was very light, and the trip was over in a jiffy. The trip was a reverie of sorts; passing by the Metropolitan Theater in Plaza Lawton gave me a melancholy feeling. While I had not seen the theater during its glory days (that was right before the war), I had frequented the place right after it was renovated in the late seventies. At that time, the art deco structure gave me a splendid impression as to why Manila was named the Pearl of the Orient! Alas, today, the building is in utter decay; I took these pictures from the bus, and asked myself why such cultural landmarks are left to rot. If I remember correctly, a television station used to rent the theater in the early nineties, but the repair and maintenance costs must have been enormous. Such a pity, such a waste!
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