It's unforgivable that this structure is gone. In other countries, this would have been a "listed" building, a heritage site, and preserved for posterity. Ano ba'ng nandiyan ngayon? I seem to remember so many buses parked, last time I saw it several months ago. I also recall several Art Deco buildings in old Baguio that aren't there anymore. Dun sa malapit sa Burnham Park, may isang soda fountain that was so very '50s...
It's unforgivable that this structure is gone. In other countries, this would have been a "listed" building, a heritage site, and preserved for posterity. Ano ba'ng nandiyan ngayon? I seem to remember so many buses parked, last time I saw it several months ago. I also recall several Art Deco buildings in old Baguio that aren't there anymore. Dun sa malapit sa Burnham Park, may isang soda fountain that was so very '50s...
Mayor Peter Rey wanted (or wants) to put up a P200-M building on the site. It is supposed to house a parking lot, shops, restaurants and a multi-purpose hall. They seemed to have scaled down their plans after some Baguio residents raised an outcry. We want a more "natural park" over a built-up park. The Juliana Apartments building, now rundown and seemingly abandoned, along Chanum St. near Burnham is one of the vestiges of the old Baguio. It was posted on ebay as being up for sale.
I think I remember the Juliana Apartments. Nearby, or even within it, was the old Coca-Cola branch office, headed by Mr. Paz, whose son Reynaldo was my classmate at St. Louis Elementary School. But I could be thinking of another building near Burnham Park.
Back in 1988, we had our office, the Center for Nationalist Studies for Northern Luzon (CNSNL) at the third floor of Juliana Apartments. High ceilings, wide windows (no grills), thick wooden floors, heavy and solid foundations as you climbed the old stairs and musty smell of the corridors were reminders of olde Baguio. It barely heaved during the 1990 earthquake as I hid under the office tables listening to the grumbling and shaking of new buildings nearby. I couldn't believe this majestic building would house, many years later, the country bar Wild, Wild West, and much much later, turn into the station of 3-H bus line!
Here's a photo inside the auditorium. During one of the weekend dances held there, my grandfather Dr. Jose Carino, then city mayor, takes centerstage with my grandmother in the evening's main dance.