Where Streets Have No Names

BLAME IT ON GLOBALIZATION? Old streets are now becoming mere alleys

WE USUALLY GO TO THE MALLS every time we go out. There’s that attraction always in it: it’s clean, well-lighted, cozy, and, considering the weather outside, is a cool place to hang out with friends and families. Over the years, it has been the go-to spot to meet up, be it business or pleasure, because that’s where everybody goes. 

Not the case back then. Malls might be the word-of-mouth for those who want to meet or do some intimate gathering, yet years ago people initially do their businesses outside, literally at times. 

Of course, there were no malls to laze around during those days. And at that time, the streets of San Pedro, Magallanes and Claveria have become by-words every time you think of buying a particular product or watching the latest movie flick. And you can just imagine the horde of people sauntering around these once busy streets, which has this festive mood even, especially on weekends.

Now, these streets are like ghost towns on a regular day, save for the traffic jams they give during rush hours. But nobody pays so much attention to them anymore, unless if you have gone through strolling in these super malls from Lanang to Ecoland that you start thinking about giving these streets a shot, say, scouring for your favorite perfume. 

Magallanes was once a hectic avenue. Thanks in part to the presence of one Rizal Memorial Colleges (RMC) back in the day that the street was replete with students and young professionals eager to make it big in a booming city like Davao. Today, however, the street is a mere afterthought. If not for the presence of Grand Men Seng Hotel, it would have been reduced to a big alley.

There were a lot of movie theaters in Claveria in the early 90s, and it had its apex during the heydays of Terminator and Rambo, where people gather in bunches and hang out until the last full show. From the now-defunct Maguindanao Hotel to Acacia, basically the whole stretch of Claveria, things happen even when it’s late at night. Right now, though, if not for the routing scheme of the city’s traffic group and a part of that Roxas nightlife, Claveria would have been a diversion road.  

San Pedro had a lofty reputation as the main business hub of the city. It still is but in a slightly different manner. From window shoppers to fixers to pawnbrokers to bystanders, everything and everyone you can think of can be found in San Pedro Street. Now, its name is synonymous with contingency. You think of San Pedro lately in terms of exhausting your entire hunt for that commodity from these malls and came out empty-handed, and you have no choice but to go to San Pedro and take your chance. 

There are other streets in Davao that has somehow lost its once vibrant atmosphere, like some parts of Uyanguren or Ilustre, but these three aforementioned places have had their time already. Try standing outside Ponciano street even on a Saturday afternoon and it looked dreary. The fanfare of business and pleasure has now shifted to more cosmopolitan sections of Davao like Bajada or Lanang, which is quite ironic since these were isolated places back then. And it is unthinkable to see them morphed into a sophisticated intersection most of the main stirrings of the city take place. 

Only time will tell what will happen to these almost forgotten streets of Davao. Unless the city’s development office finds a way to bring back at least a trace of their once vivacious environment, we will never see again the flair and the drama that goes with being in the city from the scenes of these streets. 

Davao is celebrating its foundation as a city this month, and what better way to have that vibe again on these very same streets than going to a mall and merely look at their glory from a lifeless exhibit.