Where is the new Luneta or where do folks meet in Manila?

LEFT - Not Luneta.

Pinoy Balikbayans visiting Manila find it hard to resist the urge to go to Luneta. The last time I saw Luneta was in 2005, during the tail end of the Holiday Season, when we stopped briefly by the Bay, on the way home from an evening at Intramuros.

Relatives boasted of the new and improved Intramuros where, during our incursion there, a "rondalla" was playing Filipino classics by an old Church, and a mini fair of food, art works and "parol" display was taking place.

One time when a sister and her son from Ohio came visiting, I took them to Luneta and Fort Santiago and gave my Fil-American nephew some lessons in Philippine history.

But my precious memories of Luneta are those from my childhood. Those occasional early Sunday mornings when my father drove the whole family in his 50's Pontiac so we could " maka- sagap ng hanging dagat."

Yes, if anyone in the family had a serious cough, then a trip to Luneta to breathe and savour the salty air from Manila Bay was the solution.

And it was really very pleasant and cold to stroll at the Luneta those years. I remember Luneta being a vast expanse of trees, clear blue waters, and a whole wide stretch of clean highway, then known as Dewey Boulevard. There was even a ferry ride in the Bay (we called it lancha) that I remember taking as a child.

Farther from the main Luneta, one could see the night club strip, there was the original Aristocrat's Restaurant and the once famous Bayside.

The next time Luneta entered my consciousness was in early high school when the Japanese Garden had been constructed; it became a main attraction at the Park, together with the fancy skating rink. My cousin who acted as my father's driver would sneak us out in the evenings and we would watch grown up guys and gals do their tricks at the rink.
Then, Doroy Valencia made Concert at the Park happen.
We saw it live occasionally but watched it regularly on television.

When Imelda Marcos built the Cultural Centre and the Folk Arts Theatre, these structures and their countless productions became the new reasons to visit Luneta

But for some young folks who owned cars, the area around the Cultural Centre became an attractive place for trysts with the beloved. And of course, there were the ever present "balot" vendors.

When one reminisces about Luneta after a long abscence from the Philippines, one could not help but hear Rico J. Puno's Tagalog version of "Memories....Namamasyal pa sa Luneta, kahit walang pera... "

I think Rico J. was singing about a Luneta which later deteriorated into a cheap, sometimes sleazy park, where vagrants slept, where illegal vendors peddled, where lovers settled for few stolen moments - the time when the "classic" memories of Old Luneta had faded away.

But in 2005 and more so now, Luneta had been resurrected and reinvigorated, so I heard.

But for folks who only frequent the sassy cafes and resto of Makati and Bo-Glo, where is your new Luneta?