Back in the 70s up till the mid-80s, the premiere street in Davao City was without question, Ilustre Street. Upon entering it from San Pedro Street, one is right away greeted on the right by the white fences that corral the equally-white old style wooden mansion of the Garcias, an old-rich clan of political lineage.
Directly across it, on the opposite side of the entry into Ilustre, is the Golden theater, one of that family’s three cinemas. The other two, Garmon and Galaxy theaters, are situated in the heart of Ilustre Street and facing each other. Just like the city’s two other leading cinema houses along San Pedro, namely Crest and Lyric Theaters, they only featured dominantly first-run English films. Alas, during those years, Tagalog films were relegated to the moviehouses along Claveria and Uyanguren, most of which also featured second-run films on a regular basis.
Along the stretch of this relatively short street is likewise found a concentration of retail stores and other business establishments, which in the day, catered to the middle and upper segments of Davao society. Being such, on the weekends, it’s the go-to place for those interested in the latest in fashion garments and apparel. (however, back then and till today, most of the cheapest deals could be had at Uyanguren street.) Also at the time, huge department stores had still not gained a strong foothold on the local business so that, big stores such as Borgaily’s and Felidian lorded it over the smaller competition. Gaisano Claveria, fronting Life theater (infamous in the 70s for showing soft-porn or bomba films) was still a regular sized department store and grocery at that time.
In terms of food, the most popular in Ilustre had to be the Lizada’s Aming Bahay, located beside Galaxy, which featured the utmost in popular Filipino dishes, although one local fare that for a time became a bestseller was its affordable Steak ala Pobre. The street likewise featured a healthy sprinkling of several popular soda fountains, mixing with salons, barbershops and novelty stores.
Alas, this is where this writer’s limited recollection of Ilustre Street ends. While it stems from an earlier conversation with an old classmate, much of what I recall couldn’t all be validated as yet because I’m not anymore sure of their accuracy. I’m sure old timers in their yuletide reunions this month can help so that we can have a total picture of the past for the next gens of Dabawenyos.
For sure, Davao in the old days, in the eyes of us young at the time, was a boom town that wasn’t really booming as fast as other cities. Transformation was slow and steady but deliberate, unlike today’s; you miss visiting a particular area for a while and by the time you return, the old facade’s either already remodeled or the whole place is totally changed. Still, we owe the city our gratitude and promise that its memory is not forgotten or worse, mistakenly retold.
