Back To The 70's

[starbuck911]

Near Ma Mon Luk was a Chinese resto HONG NING...which cooked really great chinese cuisine at low budget prices reason why it was our favorite resto along that vicinity. They used to have a branch also beside a vocational school also along Aurora Blvd. extension.

 

Ahhh...sa Hong Ning din ako kumakain dati when I used to watch films in that vicinity. Back then, happy na 'ko sa Beef Rice nila.

 

Come to think of it, I once had a classmate in college that belonged to the Ma Mon Luk clan. We sometimes didn't call him by his first name cuz it was more fun to say his surname. Patent na kasi, eh.

[acl]

ma mon luk has a new branch in greenhills but its called masuki. its along ortigas ave. corner madison st. its at the 2nd level of a new building which i can't recall. the other branch is in benavidez st. in manila also named masuki

[sliderule]

In high school, me and my brother would watch movies in Cubao. I lived in Mandaluyong at that time and all we needed was 1 green 5 peso bill each and a fistful of change. The coins were for jeepney and bus fares of course. In 1975, bus fare from Crossing to Cubao was a measly 20 centavos. Movie tickets would be 3.50 lang yata, so there'd be just enough cash to buy a Vendo dispensed soda, but not enough for popcorn. In those days, the sight of an orange colored twenty peso bill would make me feel rich, and the red 50 peso bill was just overwhelming! On those rare days we would splurge on ice cream in Magnolia in that old Quezon theatre (banana splits and chocolate cobblers!).

 

When the Love Bus arrived, I would actually take an ordinary bus to Makati, then take the Love Bus from Makati to Araneta Coliseum. What cheap thrills! Once I rode the wrong bus and ended up in Escolta!

 

Favorite haunt was the record store in Unimart. Albums were 20 pesos lang. I would borrow albums from my friends and "tape" them on TDK C-90 cassettes. Pag may pera, I would splurge on BASF or Memorex. I'd travel to Stop and Shop in Sta Mesa and pay someone to record great albums on cassette tapes, 30 pesos an album yata. I still have a treasured Billy Cobham album ("Crosswinds") that I got from there. Had quiet a collection of albums by the mid-80's, stack them on top of each other and they'd probably be as tall as me. If someone told me back then that all the songs in all my albums would fit in a device called an iPod Nano, I'd probably think they were nuts! Ha!

[willow_boy]

Near Ma Mon Luk was a Chinese resto HONG NING...which cooked really great chinese cuisine at low budget prices reason why it was our favorite resto along that vicinity. They used to have a branch also beside a vocational school also along Aurora Blvd. extension.

 

Malapit din sa Hong Ning was Little Quiapo if one wanted Filipino dishes. Masarap ang halu-halo and palabok doon. :cool: Correct me if I'm wrong pero I think Little Quiapo was also housed in the same building as Hong Ning.

 

Hmmm.... all this talk about restos is making me hungry.

[willow_boy]

Favorite haunt was the record store in Unimart. Albums were 20 pesos lang. I would borrow albums from my friends and "tape" them on TDK C-90 cassettes. Pag may pera, I would splurge on BASF or Memorex. I'd travel to Stop and Shop in Sta Mesa and pay someone to record great albums on cassette tapes, 30 pesos an album yata. I still have a treasured Billy Cobham album ("Crosswinds") that I got from there. Had quiet a collection of albums by the mid-80's, stack them on top of each other and they'd probably be as tall as me. If someone told me back then that all the songs in all my albums would fit in a device called an iPod Nano, I'd probably think they were nuts! Ha!

 

Mr. sliderule, kumusta?

 

I do remember those days when I would save part of my school allowance para lang maka-bili ako ng mga albums. P20 seemed like quite a bit of money in those days. I also remember na alagang-alaga ko rin iyong needle ng turntable ko because I wanted to get the best and clearest sound possible out of the records that I bought. :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Speaking of albums, I miss the art of the album cover. A lot of album covers were very artsy then because the cover was not just thought of as a marketing effort but also a form of artistic expression. With the shift from the big albums to CDs, we kind of lost that art. It's never the same. One could appreciate the details in the album covers a lot better than gazing at a small CD. Just my opinion about this lost art.

Edited July 26, 2006 by willow_boy

[starbuck911]

When the Love Bus arrived, I would actually take an ordinary bus to Makati, then take the Love Bus from Makati to Araneta Coliseum. What cheap thrills! Once I rode the wrong bus and ended up in Escolta!

 

Favorite haunt was the record store in Unimart. Albums were 20 pesos lang. I would borrow albums from my friends and "tape" them on TDK C-90 cassettes. Pag may pera, I would splurge on BASF or Memorex. I'd travel to Stop and Shop in Sta Mesa and pay someone to record great albums on cassette tapes, 30 pesos an album yata. I still have a treasured Billy Cobham album ("Crosswinds") that I got from there. Had quiet a collection of albums by the mid-80's, stack them on top of each other and they'd probably be as tall as me. If someone told me back then that all the songs in all my albums would fit in a device called an iPod Nano, I'd probably think they were nuts! Ha!

 

Nice post! I could relate to just about everything said. I also used to take the Love Bus from Makati to Cubao during early HS days with a friend/classmate on numerous occasions just to watch kung-fu flicks. This was around the time I had to play my cards right as to when I could "make takas" the family car. :evil:

 

The record store in Unimart was probably the last one where I picked up an "imported" lp. I remember it well.....an early Jean-Luc Ponty album where he plays the music of Frank Zappa (a rare one for today's standards). Earlier on, I used to pick-up imported lp's at Sagex (Lising Commercial Center) and House of Stereo in Maranaw (my first regular store) and Cartimar before that (my 1st lp from there was Jethro Tull's Stand Up). Even then, I've been told by (older) collectors that Sta. Mesa preceded all these places. I regret not having to go there when I had the chance, but I made-up for it eventually. For local lp's, Alemars and Unimart were the tops for me after Maranaw declined. By the end of the 70's, Shoe Mart had a record line-up to match Alemars, but they came into the game when the prices of local releases went from 18 to 20 pesos. Nag-reklamo na kami diyan, hehe........Believe it or not, a few of my Maxell and TDK cassettes have survived after approx. 30 years. None of the Memorex tapes survived long. BASF's, Sony's, and even Fuji's turned out to have a longer shelf life than Memorex (which sold on it's 'transparent' look), but Maxell and TDK have proven themselves to be the most consistent of cassettes. When I started with reel-to-reel, I used BASF and Ampex.

[storm]

The owner or one of the owners of Masuki died and was buried yesterday.

 

I had a friend who's last name is also a Mamonluk. I have not seen him for more than 25 years na. Tambayan namin noon ay either Coronado Lanes in Cubao or Green Lanes in Ghills.

 

Kumakain din kami jan ng mga classmates ko sa Hong Ning.

 

Kapag kulang pera ko ay sa Jollibee kami kumakain ng gf ko noon. Kapag me budget ay sa Tropical Hut or sa Goldilocks. Mas mura kasi sa Jollibee.

 

We bought our records then either sa Farmers or sa Rustans. They called us every time they have a new collection.

 

Magaganda noon ang waitresses sa Shakeys in Ali Mall. Magaganda rin ang mga salesladies ng SM.

 

My open reel tapes then were mostly 3M. My cassettes, either TDK or Maxell. I bought either the TDK SA (super avilyn?) or Maxell UD or UDII (ultra dynamic).

[starbuck911]

We bought our records then either sa Farmers or sa Rustans. They called us every time they have a new collection.

 

How could I forget Rustan's? The one in Makati had it's record dept. just beside the Young VIP section for a while. I know I still have records I bought there. Don't ask me which ones...

[KayaK]

How could I forget Rustan's? The one in Makati had it's record dept. just beside the Young VIP section for a while. I know I still have records I bought there. Don't ask me which ones...

 

in the car today, i was radio station hopping and found one that was playing "do the hustle". first thing that came to my mind as i enjoyed the tune was this thread. sino ba naman hindi mapapa-indak sa atin dito sa classic 70s hit na 'to. :cool:

[storm]

The Hustle by Van McKoy (not sure of the spelling). Tut-tut-tut-turut-tut-tutut. Tapos we'll say "ginahasa" instead of "do the hustle"

[Magaling]

Speaking of albums, I miss the art of the album cover. A lot of album covers were very artsy then because the cover was not just thought of as a marketing effort but also a form of artistic expression. With the shift from the big albums to CDs, we kind of lost that art. It's never the same. One could appreciate the details in the album covers a lot better than gazing at a small CD. Just my opinion about this lost art.

 

Not to mention that when you buy those disco albums, sa loob meron pang kasamang instructional pictures (remember those Pareng Storm?)showing the various dance steps...Sa ganyan kami magpipinsan natuto ng el bimbo, hustle, swing etc. aside from watching Penthouse Seven of course.

[Magaling]

If someone told me back then that all the songs in all my albums would fit in a device called an iPod Nano, I'd probably think they were nuts! Ha!

 

Hahahaha! :thumbsupsmiley:

[storm]

Not to mention that when you buy those disco albums, sa loob meron pang kasamang instructional pictures (remember those Pareng Storm?)showing the various dance steps...Sa ganyan kami magpipinsan natuto ng el bimbo, hustle, swing etc. aside from watching Penthouse Seven of course.

 

Oo nga. I concur. Hehehehe. I want to add lang the Salsa and LA Walk.

 

Kami natuto sa Soul Train tsaka sa mga balikbayan. Natuto ako ng swing from Balikbayan cousins of our disco friends. The New York style was the best then so we called it the New York Hustle. We incorporated ballet and jazz for the lifts and dips and some fox trots for the close turns. :cool:

 

Now I'm a mere shadow of my former self.

[Mandrake]

ma mon luk has a new branch in greenhills but its called masuki. its along ortigas ave. corner madison st. its at the 2nd level of a new building which i can't recall. the other branch is in benavidez st. in manila also named masuki

 

the last time i was home in May this year my driver and I squeezed our van way into the very small parking area fronting the original "command HQ" of MA MON LUK along quezon ave. just to fill our hungry tummies with their traditional mami and old school steaming bola-bola siopao. For a neat price of P500, that made our day! They even gave us a free re-fill of their hot soup.

 

Funny thing was the ambiance of the place practically never changed over the years. Hanging conspicuously on their walls are b & w pictures dating as far back as the late 50s of celebrities who have eaten here. How time flies over the years and so many have come and gone, but MA MON LUK still packs them in and continues to endure! :cool:

 

After that sumptuous merienda, we drove our way right turn to Banawe passing by the place once called SPINDLE, where Rico J used to have his nightly concerts in the late 70s. Man, I miss those times! :cool:

[sliderule]

Mr. sliderule, kumusta?

 

I do remember those days when I would save part of my school allowance para lang maka-bili ako ng mga albums. P20 seemed like quite a bit of money in those days. I also remember na alagang-alaga ko rin iyong needle ng turntable ko because I wanted to get the best and clearest sound possible out of the records that I bought. :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Speaking of albums, I miss the art of the album cover. A lot of album covers were very artsy then because the cover was not just thought of as a marketing effort but also a form of artistic expression. With the shift from the big albums to CDs, we kind of lost that art. It's never the same. One could appreciate the details in the album covers a lot better than gazing at a small CD. Just my opinion about this lost art.

 

 

OK lang pareng willow boy, thanks for asking.

 

If you're still into vinyl, or say you want to burn songs for LPs into a CD, there's this place in Makati Cinema Square called Be-Bop. They have a hell of a collection ! Reminds me of the Sta Mesa Stop and Shop days. Only problem is, he has so much albums crammped in a tiny shop so it's hard to browse. But if you know exactly what you're looking for, chances are he has it. So far I've had Tom Scott albums (Intimate Strangers, New York Connection, Apple Juice), Joe Jackson (Big World) and Leroy Hutson (Hutson) burned. As far as I know, theer's no place in the world where one can buy CD versions of those, not even in amazon.com. I've often suggested that they create a catalogue for easier reference but they haven't done it yet. In case you're visiting, it's in the basement 1 of Makati Cinema Square where the bingo place is.

 

Kainis lang yung plaka pag marami ng scratches >:-(