The Urban Roamer has talked about the Army and Navy Club a number of times now, bearing witness to its sorry state, a then-unknown future, and its renaissance-in-progress. And after years of work, the Army and Navy Club reopened recently, this time as a new hotel near Rizal Park named, Rizal Park Hotel. The hotel actually opened back in July this year though from what I understand, there are still some parts of the hotel that are yet to be finished. But it is seeing a good flurry of activity since its opening, despite the competition from nearby hotels, most notably the other historic hotel named after the park area, and the Grand Dame located…
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A Peek at the New Army and Navy Club
It’s been a long time since the Urban Roamer talked about the Army and Navy Club. If you missed it, you can check it out here. Since then, things have quieted down a bit, especially after the controversy that erupted regarding this building more than a couple of years ago. Now, it seems the work on the renovation/restoration (sort of) of the Army and Navy Club is almost complete and we can finally what has been done to the building, for the most part at least. Was the work faithful to the original structure? Were there any abominable changes made? Let’s find out. First things first, the edifice has been kept…
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A Monument Mural For Manila’s Hero
Bonifacio Day is around the corner, and the Urban Roamer would not be remiss if we do not pay tribute to the memory of this great and tragic figure in our history. In the past Bonifacio Day editions of this site, the Urban Roamer has already visited the famed Monumento in Caloocan, the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista where his widow lived, and the Museo ng Katipunan in San Juan. For this year’s Bonifacio Day edition, it is time we look at another famed Bonifacio landmark in the City of Manila. I am of course talking about the Bonifacio Monument and Mural located at Mehan Garden, right across the Manila City Hall.
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Remembering Leon Maria Guerrero
With so much buzz going on at this time of writing regarding the Philippines’ new foreign policy direction (which is, at the very least, leaning away from a traditional pro-US stance) as stated by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, the Urban Roamer can’t help but be reminded of a figure in our history who, more than 60 years ago, held a somewhat similar view on what the Philippines’ foreign policy should be. And for this story, we shall be roaming to the area around Plaza Nuestra Señora de Guia in Ermita, Manila, where this story began about 101 years ago.
