IMHO

A Crowd Favorite

Baguio City's Session Road
Men's Health Philippines, June 2006 ed.

It’s no Ayala Avenue or Roxas Boulevard, but Baguio City’s most prominent thoroughfare could rival the busiest Manila street in terms of pedestrian traffic alone, not to mention mastodonic vehicular snarls. The renowned urban planner Daniel J. Burnham, tasked with developing a health resort town for overheating American colonizers, drew up plans for this mountain city with a population of 25,000 in mind: a century later it seems that 25,000 people are walking up or down Session Road on any given day, at almost any given hour. Considering that it hardly spans a kilometer from end to end, that’s quite a crowd for a normal day in the City of Pines – an experience definitely not for the agoraphobic!

According to Attorney Pablito Sanidad, National Chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and longtime Baguio resident, Session Road derives its name from the fact that it used to lead up to the old Baden-Powell Hall, where the Philippine Commission held its sessions from April 22 to June 11, 1904. Hardly surprising that the Islands’ Governor General Luke Wright and the rest of the Commissioners chose to escape the capital’s heat during the summer of 1904, and that Baguio City’s main artery of commercial activity would forever bear testament to the historic legislative and executive sessions that took place at the top of the incline.

A marker by what is now the Baden-Powell Inn, right beside the numerous bus terminals on Governor Pack, now stands as the only visible evidence that anything of remote historical significance ever took place on Session Road. Nowadays, the only sessions that regularly take place in the vicinity are the jam sessions at Ayuyang, a favorite watering hole of reggae, folk, and indigenous Filipino music fans and artists alike – on a good night you can catch local legends like Joey “Pepe” Smith and Joey Ayala performing to an appreciative Baguio audience (or just being part of it).

Of course, there are also the bingo sessions on the uppermost level of SM Baguio, which looms imposingly over Session, and the entirety of the city for that matter: its newest and most conspicuous landmark is perhaps a slightly perturbing allegory of modern day life and times in the City of Pines.

At least it took a good deal of the attention away from the monstrosity that is the concrete pine tree at the top of Session, which serves as a vehicular rotunda as well as an incomprehensible waste of money, time, and cement; it’s so ugly it cannot even be looked at as charmingly kitsch.

Fortunately, honest-to-goodness art still manages to make its mark, even on Session; after all, Baguio City is well-known for being a haven of artists – apparently the comfortable climate is conducive to creativity. Session’s sidewalks, if you look closely, are peppered with works of art – mosaics of scrap glazed tiles painstakingly assembled in place of erstwhile potholes by Kawayan de Guia and other city-based artists.

De Guia’s artistic inclinations are not unexpected: he is the son of celebrated alternative filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik (of the prominent Baguio City de Guia clan), who in turn is the nephew of the late Victor Oteyza, one of the country’s pioneering modernists. VOCAS (an acronym for the “Victor Oteyza Community Art Space”) on the sixth floor of the family-owned La Azotea Building was put up in Oteyza’s honor – it is probably the single most astonishing establishment on Session. The 19th-century capiz window exteriors of La Azotea, as well as the hodgepodge of commercial tenants occupying its lower floors, give no indication that the cavernous penthouse up a flight of rickety hardwood stairs is a jaw-dropping art installation that can only perhaps be described as a Cordillera Neverland, or what it would look like if Peter Pan were an Ibaloi tribesman. As if the place weren’t enough of an attraction in itself, VOCAS also features art and photo exhibits, a vegetarian restaurant, Oh My Gulay! as well as a great balcony view of the streets of BC.

Sometimes the art on Session is the building itself: some structures remain architectural masterpieces despite the disasters wrought by nature and man. Session Road was devastated in the course of the hostilities of the Second World War, and new structures rose up from the ruins, some better-looking than others. The relatively new, Cruz-owned Puso ng Baguio building is an interesting combination of Baroque and Victorian architecture, with a touch of the owners’ colorful Bulacan whimsy. The Antipolo Building reminds one of Quiapo’s 1920-inspired edifices, and is still in pretty good shape, which is more than can be said for a good portion of the infrastructure along Session. Unfortunately, just like Quiapo, some parts of historic Session have gone the thrift-shop route: art deco meets ukay-ukay.

If old clothes don’t catch your fancy, then perhaps old haunts will – Session Road’s nostalgic staples are still there, for the most part: the unassuming Luisa’s Café, a favorite haunt of prominent personalities; Star Café and Restaurant, famous for its pansit canton and freshly baked soft cinnamon rolls; and Rumours Bar, which was a popular night-time destination in the ‘80s and is apparently still very much in business.

“Newer” kids on the block, which seem to be steadily maintaining popularity with Session Road habitues, are Pizza Volante, at the old Session Theater, known for its long hours and excellent fare; Bruno’s Café and Restaurant (102 Session Road), which provides an unimpeded front-row view of the sidewalk cavalcade and is popular with the non-Filipino crowd; and the multitude of establishments at the deceptively one-dimensional Porta Vaga.

Prudence would dictate that Session Road and its chaotic crowds best be avoided – the Baguio City experience would be all the more pleasant without having to travel through the throngs. Then again, without a few times traversing the length and height of Session, the Baguio City experience wouldn’t be quite the same. After all, those 25,000 people on Session Road at any one time, at almost any given hour, couldn’t all possibly be wrong.

posted by Honey Oliveros @ 10:30 PM