Let’s count up, starting from number 5.
5. Pre-renovation era (1989 to 2000) Greenbelt 1, including the public restroom beside the outside food stalls
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| This was the old entrance facing AIM; notice it's called Greenbelt 1 by this time. The shops and restaurants on the right side aren't there anymore; they were replaced by Rustan's Supermarket and a BPI branch. |
When I worked in my first ad agency in the mid-90s, it was within walking distance from Greenbelt 1. Back then it was just “Greenbelt” because there were no 2 to 5 yet. It had two movie houses, shops and restaurants, and was much smaller than the sprawling corridors it has today which connects it to Greenbelt 5. Back then, the men’s bathrooms inside the movie theaters were cruisy with yuppies and white-collar workers. Once I hooked up with a middle-aged guy who was standing at the back; he was only wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. When things got hot and heavy, he invited me over to his place—he had a condo unit near Greenbelt. Eventually I found out he was the business (and domestic, I assumed) partner of a local couturier more known for his wedding gown designs. (He wasn’t among the more popular, upper tier designers often mentioned in society pages; in fact, I never heard of him until after my hook-up. But he did have a shop in Glorietta before. I don’t see it nowadays.) Interesting also is a public bathroom that serviced the patrons of a number of food stalls and small-sized eateries located in an outside area beside what is now Rustan’s Supermarket and BPI (the food area is now occupied by the multi-level steel parking building between Greenbelt 1 and the stand-alone McDonald’s). Those bathrooms were near the lockers of the Greenbelt security guards; they’d often use the bathroom to change in and out of their uniforms. I suspect they all knew what was happening there, especially at night. I never saw any of them participate in the happenings; I guess they were just being careful not to be spotted by their fellow guards (never shit where you eat, and all that jazz). But they sometimes provided a short but sweet feast for wandering gay eyes whenever they took off their sandos or pulled down their pants. Late at night, when it was only the night shift roaming the premises, the action inside that bathroom could get pretty active. However, the roving guards made it a point to always drop by the bathroom during their rounds, so often a look out was needed. But you know how resourceful, resilient, or just plain persistent cruising gays could get. Whenever a guard appeared, the gay guys scattered and disappeared. Once the guard left, everyone reappeared and flocked back to feast. Just like cockroaches.
4. Coronet, Remar, and Diamond Theaters
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| Their old logos. |
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| With the advent of multiple theatres in malls, Coronet... |
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| ...and Remar were reduced to showing second-run and sex movies. |
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| Aurora Boulevard heading towards EDSA, pre-LRT2. Look closely to the right side of the photo; you can see the signage of Coronet. |
This triumvirate of movie theaters stands in a row along Aurora Boulevard, one beside the other. Each theater has its own appeal: Coronet has a small restroom, so it’s busiest at the orchestra wall and side aisles; Remar’s restroom has no urinals, but instead has a long wall with running water (easier to take a peek at the junk of the guy beside you); and Diamond had the biggest orchestra floor space. That made all three very cruisy; one can surely hook up every time one goes to any of the movie theaters.
3. Quezon Theater 2
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| I couldn't find an old photo online. This church replaced the old Quezon theatre. (On the right side off-frame is the multi-storeyed National Book Store Cubao branch.) |
Theater 2 was cruiser-friendlier compared to Theater 1 because of its layout. It was on the second floor, and one had to go up winding staircases and two escalators to get to its orchestra lobby, then another flight of stairs and escalator to get to the lodge/balcony area. It wasn’t audience-friendly and didn’t encourage loitering. So one knew that the guys hanging around were there to do one thing: aura-han. Also, the owners often showed the less-popular movies in Theater 2; the major hits were placed in the bigger Theater 1. That meant less ordinary audiences, more cruisers.
2. Slimmer’s World Pasig (along Marcos Highway; sorry, no photo available) – Because its location was not public transportation-friendly, that branch was rarely crowded, and most of its clients were car owners. I would only go there during weekends, but every time I went there, I always got hot-and-heavy action inside their wet area. While fewer people meant slimmer (pun intended) pickings, it also meant that when cruisers got lucky, they could take all the time in the world in its cruise-friendly sauna. The sauna was located at the farthest corner of the shower stalls; a noisy door separated the stalls from the lockers. All cruisers needed to do was to either turn off the light or drape a towel over the lamp inside the sauna; from the outside, no one can see what kinky things occurred inside. The noisy door gave cruisers an initial audio warning. And one needed to traverse the whole row of shower stalls to get into the sauna; that distance gave cruisers additional few seconds to disengage. P.S. – The only Marikina-based celebrity I saw working out there was a former member of a musical act that featured kids. But he was just all-business, not minding anyone but his trainer and a few acquaintances. After his workout, he took a quick shower then was gone.
1. Ali Mall 3 & 4
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| This is the facade where cinemas 1 & 2 were located; 3 & 4 were situated at the back, on the P. Tuason side. |
The best time to cruise was during the last full show (or you can start cruising during the screening before it). These two theaters were seemingly designed to be hada-friendly—when you enter the bathroom, you need to turn a corner before you get to the bathroom proper. This allowed cruisers inside the bathroom precious few seconds to disengage from any overt sexual activity so that any unwanted newcomer (a straight guy or a roving guard) won’t be able to catch anyone in the act. Plus, the cubicles were pushed way back from the entrance; that allowed cruisers more warning time and buffer distance. I found it the most-friendly hada place too. The LFS crowd was more game, more adventurous. Some even got off giving a free show to the people around them. P.S. – I actually witnessed a celebrity cruising in Ali Mall. Back then, he was still mainly a theater actor, so he wasn’t as well-known as he is now. It was years later when TV soaps regularly hired him to play supporting roles (the bida’s uncle, father, boss, etc.) that he became familiar to the telenovela audience. Clue: A huge blockbuster indie movie made him a household name.
When I made more gay friends, I started hearing of legendary hada places all over the metro: Ugarte Field (now Ayala Triangle); the areas around Araneta Coliseum (cruising gays and callboys would lean against the steel dividers on the sidewalks, trying to entice pedestrians and those with cars passing by, thus the term “bakal boys”); the whole of Quezon Circle, but specifically the areas around the restaurants (a cluster of trees nearby, the parking lot in front of the restos); the lagoon within UP Diliman’s Sunken Garden; particular movie theaters in the Manila district (the patrons there do not bother pretending to watch the movie, and the people running them just turn a blind eye). I’ve only experienced Quezon Circle (the wildest was on a Good Friday). Maybe some of you can share your old haunts/hunting grounds during the pre-online years.
Where did you make hada?
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