Anyone who comes across Chona S. Trinidad’s collection of essays entitled Nostalgia: Remembering the Streets of Manila for the first time will immediately notice that the stories take the point of view of someone who has lived all her life in Manila. All the streets, she names them, and tells their stories—the houses and buildings that stood there, the people who lived there, the things that happened there. If Trinidad’s essays grant something of worth to the reader, it would be the gift of memory. With firm resolve, she writes: “As I head back for home I am filled with mixed emotions, promising myself I will record these memories in a book.”  

 

            Hence, this book. And that sentence I just quoted is from the essay, “Memories of Quiapo,” in the section of the book that bears the same title. But her stories of Quiapo do not actually begin there. They begin in an earlier part where she names the streets of Manila, as promised in the book’s subtitle.  

 

            Three essays in the first part of the book put the spotlight on Quiapo: “R. Hidalgo, Quiapo: Old and New,” “Return to R. Hidalgo,” and “Plaza Miranda: The Way We Were.” The first essay is, as she puts it, about “a leisurely stroll [that] turned out into a sentimental journey,” as she took a walk along R. Hidalgo where Manila’s “Filipinos of Spanish ancestry” used to live: “the Paternos, Ocampos, Zamoras, Nakpils, Aranetas, Zaragozas and others.” The second essay is on the music culture of R. Hidalgo, pioneered by the late piano teacher, Victoria Lobregat, who opened a school on that very street. She was the teacher of National Artist for Music, Jose Maceda. The third essay takes Plaza Miranda as the starting point from which the writer takes us to different streets in Manila: Echague St., renamed Carlos Palanca; Carriedo, named after the galleon trader, Don Francisco Carriedo; Mendoza St., known for its lechon and liver sauce. 

 

            The center of the book brings us deeper into the writer’s memory. “Quiapo of My Childhood” recounts how the fiesta in honor of the Black Nazarene used to be celebrated: “Sumptuous spreads are served. The only difference being that dishes served these days are not like those old, treasured recipes that families took pride in preparing…. I do miss the old days and the exquisite flavors of heirloom dishes and desserts.”  

 

            “Quiapo’s Rich and Populous History,” “The Undesirables at Quiapo Church,” and “Quiapo in the New Millennium” track down centuries of religious life in Quiapo, from its founding by Augustinian missionaries to the burgeoning marketplace this faith mecca has now become: