San Pablo City Blog

Fat Larrie's, January 25, 2009

2009-01-26T14:40:00.005+08:00

We had our regular Komikero meeting yesterday beside Sampalok Lake. It's an artists group that meets there every last Sunday of the month. And ever since we discovered Fat Larrie's across the top of the stairs more than a year ago, we've been going there regularly at lunchtime.

Jonas wrote about them here last July 2008:
http://foodmayhem.blogspot.com/2008/07/fat-larries.html

And when I have guests from Manila, I would bring them there. I brought my French comics friend Ivan Brun for a snack and a drink there last January 2. See this video? This was shot there.

The last time I was there before yesterday was January 13, 2009 where me, Jonas and Johnny ate and hung out.

I always thought it was one of the better places to eat at San Pablo because the food was great, the service was nothing to complain about, and the ambiance beside the lake was something you can't get anywhere else.

Yesterday we had a particularly large group of people from Manila for a visit and as usual, I brought them to Fat Larrie's for lunch. And it turned out to be the single worst eating experience I've had in any place, be it San Pablo, Manila or abroad.

For one thing, the waiters weren't sure if they could allow us to connect our tables. That was puzzling because connecting tables should be typical for restaurants that receive a large amount of patrons.

They later agreed to connect two tables together. I kept wondering why they were hesitant to do it and later we learned it's about the billing, but more on that later.

For one thing, the waiter had little idea of what was available and what was not. And every order we gave, he kept going back to the kitchen to ask if it was available or not. And it was kind of frustrating that more and more items on the menu were not available on that day.

A friend of mine was kept waiting for 10 minutes before being told that his order wasn't available. Even worse, two guys was told their order wasn't available AN HOUR after they had ordered.

The waiting time was frustratingly long. Some were getting their orders 45 minutes to an hour after they ordered. We were starting to wonder if they were just using one stove in there. Frustratingly, they even brought out an order than nobody ordered. Take note that during our entire time there, nobody else was eating there except us. So we should have had their entire attention.

A few of the guys who had already finished eating wanted to leave and explore the lake and wanted to pay. However, the waiters billed the entire table, including those who haven't even been served their food yet.

I had mine an hour and 15 minutes after I had ordered it, a grilled tuna steak. And even though it took them that long, the steak wasn't even close to being cooked. Only the surface was singed and browned. The inside was still red and bloody all throughout. I thought about returning it and have them cook it, but how long will it take them this time? I decided to eat it. I eat raw tuna anyway whenever I eat sushi. Since it wasn't sushi, it was horrible, but almost everyone was already finished, and I didn't want to hold anyone up.

My friend Jonas got his order an hour and 20 minutes after he ordered it, and he said that it was not completely cooked. Jonas is a normally patient guy, but he was really steamed by this time and was really ready to cancel his order go and eat isaw down the stairs rather than wait another minute. He was already miffed about there not being any softdrinks that wasn't lite earlier on. He had to go to a sari sari store nearby just to get his regular coke in a plastic bag and straw.

To be honest, if we weren't with friends, enjoying each other's company, allowing us to keep our cool and humor, it would have turned really ugly.

I don't know what happened to Fat Larrie's yesterday for them to be so incompetent and lousy with their service. Understaffed? Regular chef called in sick? What? It's never happened before, and I'm really scratching my head over it.

In any case, Fat Larrie's chose the wrongest day of the year for their service to suck because a lot of these guys are bloggers like me, who will not hesitate to write about this experience online.

Me, as a San Pablo resident and host to these group of people, I felt terribly embarrassed. I will no longer be eating there, and neither will my friends.

Fat Larrie Sunday Experience
Jonas Diego
http://foodmayhem.blogspot.com/2009/01/fat-larrie-sunday-experience.html

San Pablo Coco Festival 2009 Video

2009-01-15T15:22:00.004+08:00

For a larger, clearer video, go to You Tube at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QaAik1wA-o

And then click on "Watch in High Quality".

You can also watch a good quality version here:

San Pablo City Coco Festival 2009 from komikero on Vimeo.

Cocofest 2009 Pictures!

2009-01-14T18:24:00.002+08:00

Winner: Float Competition

Winner: Masquerade Parade

More photos at my Multiply account here.

Video coming soon!

Sta Catalina Lot for Sale

2009-01-10T11:14:00.002+08:00

LOT FOR SALE
Barangay Sta. Catalina, San Pablo City
2,360 Square meters
P500 Per square meter

Sta. Catalina is far from the City Proper, and the lot itself can be accessed not by a road but by footpath. It's use has been mostly agricultural including raising of chickens and growing of fruit bearing trees. There is a small shack that's been used for storage and living quarters of the caretakers.

In the lot at the moment are (give or take a few):

20 Coconut Trees
15 Lanzones Trees
2 Anonas Tree
1 Star Apple Tree
1 Deep Well
1 Small shack
Banana trees and gabi plants.

The lot can be used fully for residential purposes like the neighboring lots.

*DIRECT BUYERS ONLY!*

Contact: Doroteo L. Alanguilan
(049)5629891

Puregold San Pablo City: First Impressions

2008-12-16T14:41:00.007+08:00

I love to grocery. I find it relaxing. And of course, I find it nice that I can go to a grocery and buy stuff. But it's cooler when I can find and buy different and unusual things.

My favorite grocery in San Pablo so far has been the one at ULTIMART. It's bright and air conditioned, the aisles are wide enough for two carts to pass by each other, and best of all, once in a while you can find things you won't find at other San Pablo groceries. Stuff like frozen salmon, parmesan cheese and jalapeno dips. But even then, it's still painfully lacking in other stuff I want to buy in San Pablo, which is present in major groceries in Manila. Like fresh herbs. Exotic cold cuts and cheese.

So I did anticipate the opening of Puregold here in San Pablo. I didn't know about Puregold before. Apparently, it's a huge nationwide chain of groceries. I saw the start of construction at this big empty lot at Sambat, near the intersection of Rizal Avenue and the fork going to Alaminos and the other one going to Calauan.

By November, I thought that they still had a long way to go before it opened. When I heard they were opening on December 13, I didn't believe it. I thought it just wasn't possible. There was still a lot of building to do before this was anywhere near finished. The building being constructed was HUGE. This was by far the biggest grocery here in San Pablo, and by far one of the biggest buildings here ever.

But open on time they did, and with much hoopla, at 2pm on December 13. I wasn't able to go because I had a thing at my parents' house. I heard there were a lot of people, not only because San Pablo denizens just love checking out new stuff (remember the mob that greeted the opening of Pizza Hut a few years ago?), and also because celebrities were there. I didn't know most of them, but I do know Andrew E.

Naturally, it caused a huge traffic jam. Not only is this right next to an intersection, but it's right along San Pablo's most major road.

I waited a few days for the flurry of people to subside and then I went.

Going to Puregold from Central School was pure murder. In fairness, it was horrid traffic not because of Puregold but because of asphalting of Rizal Avenue.

SHOCK AND HORROR! They asphalted OVER the railroad tracks! That seems to cement (or rather asphalt), my observation that the trains won't be coming here to San Pablo anymore. They haven't for a while. Not since the horrid accident of a few years ago that claimed several lives.

Upon arriving at Puregold, I was immediately impressed by how huge it is. At least by San Pablo city standards. San Pablo has never seen anything like this before. At a Jollibee being constructed on the left side of the building I happened to saw San Pablo mayor Vic Amante.

Inside the building, it's one huge open area that seems bigger on the inside than it is outside. Strange I know. It's very bright and the air conditioning sufficiently cool as I like it.

There are a few food stalls open with ample seats and tables where people can rest and eat. There's stands for hot dogs, shawarma, pizza, balls, roast chicken, and there's a spot of "Plato Wraps", which I recognize from malls in Manila. It's not open yet though. The grocery area is a great big mixed area. There's canned goods, frozen goods, and all the other stuff one can see at a typical grocery. Surpringly, there's also small and big appliances, there's furniture, there's hardware stuff, clothes, school and office supplies, household supplies and kitchenware. Literally anything that you could possibly need you can find there.

Impressive as everything was, I was kind of disappointed that those items I was hoping was there, wasn't. And that's stuff like fresh herbs like basil and oregano. Not the bottled ones like from McCormick ok? Fresh ones in bags. I was also looking for stuff like Mozzarella and velveeta cheese, frozen salmon and some exotic cold cuts... stuff that you can normally see at an SM or Robinson's grocery.

Well, the place is huge and they have ample space for everything so I'm sure they'll stock with those things eventually. They've been open for like only three days so far anyway, so it's probably too early to complain.

I do have to comment on the look of the building. Sorry, but I just don't like the color. GREEN? What is this, PureGREEN? Because really, that's how some people are already calling it. Puregreen. I'm sure they did this to attract attention, but it just looks BADUY. They could have just used neutral colors and just made the lettering stand out. They could erect a very tall sign board, like the one Mcdonald's has at the Public Market.

NOW ON TO MUCH DEEPER ISSUES.

How does Puregold affect the commerce of San Pablo City? Will it kill the public market and other groceries? All of this is debatable at this point, and we won't see how it will change things this early. In a year or so we can probably tell for sure.

Right now all we have is opinion, so this is mine:

On opening day lots of people can still be found at CENTRO and ULTIMART and there were still lots of people at the public market, so in all probability fears of adverse effects of Puregold may be unjustified. But I do believe it's still to early to tell.

The presence of this grocery gives the residents of San Pablo and nearby areas more choices, but I also think it's an opportunity for retailers to try and find ways to entice their customers through better quality of product and service. For instance, I was in the town yesterday looking for something. The guy at this store I went to was so friendly and accommodating that I desperately wanted to buy SOMETHING from his store although they didn't have what I needed. I would definitely go back one day to buy something, in spite of Puregold being there. I can't say the same for other stores in town.

I think it's worth going to the grocery and see what they don't offer, and offer that instead. And with a SMILE. Because that's how people will be able to compete with huge corporate entities like that.

Imagine what it would be like if SM built a branch here in San Pablo.I mean... what if they built a branch at that huge area in San Rafael? You know, at RIVERINA? It's huge enough to affect everything. Even Puregold.

San Pablo City from the Air

2008-11-13T20:05:00.004+08:00

Photograph of Mt. Banahaw and Mt. San Cristobal with San Pablo City in the foreground. Palakpakin and Sampalok Lake, as well as the town proper are clearly visible. This was taken by a friend of mine, Rene Enriquez on his flight to Manila from Dumaguete last October 27, 2008.

Any Good Japanese Food Places in San Pablo?

2008-09-18T14:10:00.002+08:00

As the title asks. I've recently become quite addicted to Japanese food, specially Sushi and Sashimi. And since I live in San Pablo City, the places where I can find these things are severely limited.

Homono Japanese Food, formerly located near the SSS Building near the corner of M. Paulino and Balagtas, used to serve the best Japanese food in San Pablo. I live far from there but I take the trouble to take the trip just to go there. But it has since closed and moved beside Laguna College, open only it seems, when there's classes. Unfortunately, when I had someone go there to buy some Japanese food, it turns out they're no longer serving.

An alternative is Spaghetti House, located near Doctor's Hospital along Mabini, a food place that is probably the best kept secret in San Pablo. Their spaghetti is the best I ever tasted (except of course, spaghetti I cooked myself. he.he.). The great thing is, they also serve Japanese food.

Unfortunately, it's not always available. Every two of three times I would go there to order it, the person preparing it is not there, which is just frustrating. If you want some great spaghetti though, forget Jollibee! Go to Spaghetti house!

But for Japanese food, I honestly don't know where to go. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you know of a place where I can order it in San Pablo?

There is this old lady that sells sushi at the palengke, going around the stalls carrying her bilao of sushi. Which is just weird. I find it hard trusting such delicate food as sushi to an ambulatory vendor. I think she's the same woman who I used to see selling sushi at the entrance to Ultimart.

A proper restaurant is what I'm looking for. Any help would be very much apprecaited! :D

San Pablo City High Res in Google Earth... Kind Of

2008-06-25T21:13:00.003+08:00

If you haven't had the chance to download Google's fantastic free program "Google Earth", please do so here.

Basically, Google Earth is a virtual world globe on your computer. Google Earth is so detailed that you can zoom in into cities anywhere in the world and see the streets, the buildings, the vehicles, landmarks, and so on.

Not every part of the world can be seen in high resolution though, and for the longest time, San Pablo City can only been seen as a low res image... until recently. Kind of.

Below is how San Pablo looks on Google Earth now:

You will notice that the image is split in the middle with a definite line. The left section in dull green-grey and the right section in bright green. This means that you can zoom in on the left section and see more detailed images.

Zooming in you can see streets, houses, trees, etc.

In this zoom you can see the National Highway and the San Pablo diversion road. You can also see the Caltex gas station, San Pablo City Medical Center, the post office in San Roque, etc. This sattelite photo is from 2001 so new structures, like the Chowking and the new 7-11 are not there yet.

Hopefully, Google Earth will finally show San Pablo entirely in high resolution, and update their photos with more recent ones.

Typhoon Frank Hits San Pablo

2008-06-24T07:58:00.003+08:00

Typhoon Frank (international name FENGSHEN) hit San Pablo on the early morning of June 22, 2008. Thankfully, it didn't do much damage, at least in the neighborhood where I am at, except to down a few trees and knock out electricity for a day. I heard of some other areas in San Pablo that still has no electricity. But I hear of no grim news, the same kind of news that has befallen our fellow countrymen elsewhere, like in Iloilo. We here in San Pablo got lucky, this time.

I made a video blog about it at You Tube, which has gotten a lot of views. I guess it would be understandable because a lot of people outside of the Philippines, specially Filipinos and those who are involved with Filipinos in some way or the other, would be very concerned.

[vlog] Typhoon Frank, June 22, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVQl10KmEHI

I wish I could have gotten some footage of the typhoon itself at its height, but it was in the middle of the night and it was just too dark.

Here are the honors that I got for the video today...

Honors for this video (8)
#95 - Most Discussed (Today) - People & Blogs
#81 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs - Australia
#46 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs - Canada
#78 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs - United Kingdom
#34 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs - Ireland
#55 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs - New Zealand
#53 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs
#14 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs - South Korea

New Updates!

2008-06-17T19:42:00.005+08:00

It's been a while since I updated this blog. I think it's about time I start again. I've been taking a lot of photos of San Pablo, but in an effort to keep things up to date, I will only be using the newest photos in my entries.

The photo above was taken today at Sampalok Lake.

Here is the video version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-4SPgW8dc

There have been a lot of changes at Sampalok Lake, and I think most of them are good. The one thing that concerns me greatly is the development of the open area beside the stairs. Here is a photo taken today from the platform looking down the lake:

The restaurant at the bottom was constructed last year. I'm concerned because I really don't know what this new construction will look like or what it's purpose is. I'm guessing it might be commercial, probably another restaurant. Since nothing can be done about this anymore, that the local government didn't see fit to buy this property and develop it as a cultural landmark, I can only hope that this structure will not obstruct the view of the lake from the platform. We'll see.

Sa Mangga

2007-01-02T08:11:00.000+08:00

Last December 31, I took my camera out to the plaza to take videos of the large mango tree. This tree, right at the center of the plaza has been around for as long as people remember. It has become a true landmark, eclipsing to some extent, the Rizal monument located next to it.

It was badly damaged last September 28, 2006, because of the strong winds brought by Typhoon Milenyo. You can see full extent of the damage in the 2nd and third segments of this video.

For high resolution versions, click here.

San Pablo City Archive Project

2006-12-23T15:57:00.000+08:00

The San Pablo City Archive Project
Introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNJVArta82c

A high resolution version of this video can be dowloaded at Archive.org here.

Taking my intentions for putting up this blog to the extreme, I've taken up a personal project (refer to above) that would endeavor to archive moving snapshots of San Pablo City life from this time for the benefit of future San Pablo residents many decades from now. I've talked in length about the purpose of this project in the video above.

If you have a slow connection, click on the arrow above, then click pause. Wait for the video to load completely, and then click on play once again.

The first installment of the archive concentrates on the San Pablo City Public Market and Shopping Mall.

San Pablo City Public Market and Shopping Mall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbCn2PvIB0k

A high resolution version of this video can be downloaded here.

J. Bros Theater

2006-12-11T08:44:00.000+08:00

Newer at the time than Supreme, J. Bros theater was the cinema we in the family now preferred to go to. I was particularly fascinated by the vending machine in the 2nd Floor Lobby. Back in the late 70's, I'd never seen one before and I was facinated to see a cop drop from inside, ice would follow, then my drink. I thought it was fantastic!

As previously mentioned, 2 movies were shown one after the other. The following week, a new duo of movies will be shown. But if once in a rare while that a movie made really good money, they'd extend that for another week. I would often times find out which movies will be shown next because tricycles would often carry announcements at the back.

The last time I watched at J. Bros was sometime in the early 90's. "Ghost" was doubled with "Rocky V". Since I really liked both movies, I thought that was a terrific combination.

J. Bros has been closed as well, I figure, almost at the same time as Supreme did. Now, it's a NOVO, a grocery/department store selling cheap imported goods.

Supreme Theater

2006-12-10T11:21:00.000+08:00

Supreme Theater, located along Bonifacio, corner Burgos, is no longer so Supreme. In fact, it is now closed and have been for at least a couple of years. Although it still retains the original structure, it's now been converted into an "ukay ukay" or a 2nd hand clothing store.

I still remember going to the movies with my family in the 70's. I was just a young boy, and the ocassion to watch movies at the theater was always a time of great excitement. Supreme was the one of the two theaters in San Pablo we patronized (the other being J. Bros but more of that in a later post).I can even remember watching "Towering Inferno" at Supreme, and I remember it to have been a one of a kind experience because it's one of those very rare times when they only showed ONE movie that week. At San Pablo theaters, they usually show 2 movies one after the other. Sometimes their choices were weird (James Bond doubled with a crazy neo-Western Italian movie dubbed in English, or Star Wars doubled with a horror movie).

One of the unique things about watching movies in San Pablo is that they have a paging system wherein you can page a relative, friend, wife, husband, etc. who you believe to be watching the movie. Their names will be flashed at the bottom of the screen like a subtitle asking them to go home, or cook or whatever. It was so much a part of the viewing experience, that I thought nothing of it. Now I think it's hilarious.

The owners or managers of these theaters, in the face of dwindling patronage, saw it probably fit to start showing bold movies to maintain a profit. That was probably a mistake, because in the light of the growing home video market, people, specially MEN, would rather watch bold movies at the privacy of their own home for reasons only MEN would know and understand. This then drove away the families even more and closure becomes inevitable.

I often entertained the fantasy that if I became a billionnaire, I would buy Supreme, and restore it to its former glory. I would upgrade the video and sound quality to the latest standards, show only blockbuster movies, and be one of the theaters in the country to show them first, make it guaranteed seating and close the doors as soon as the movie opens, and last but not least important, I will install a cellphone signal jamming system (because it's hopeless to discipline people with cellphones inside the theater).

Well, if I only had billions of pesos.

Sta. Rita's Newspaper and Magazine Store

2006-12-08T13:12:00.000+08:00

The many old landmarks of San Pablo are quickly disappearing. One landmark that many San Pablo old timers will definitely remember is Sta. Rita's Newspaper and Magazine Store along Bonifacio. Thankfully, it's still there. Well, at least HALF of it is still there.

Sta. Rita's was once double this size, encompassing the space where the green gate on the left of the 2nd photo is located. I still remember going here when I was young. My parents would buy things like Mod Magazine, Newspapers and Liwayway, and I would ask them to buy me song hits and komiks. Today, I still buy my Liwayway weekly here, although I miss the old, much larger Sta. Rita.

Incidentally, that signboard is new, around maybe a year old, replacing the old signboard that has been there for decades. It still had the 4-digit phone numbers commonly used in the old days. More than once I entertained the notion of actually asking them for that signboard, offering to get them a new one in exchange. I never got the chance or the courage to ask, until I saw they had replaced the sign... actually, I think they just painted over it.

Tiangge in December

2006-12-07T12:28:00.000+08:00

Tiangge season started early this holiday season. I remember them usually popping up a few days before the start of the Fiesta week in early January.

In the background (specially in the 2nd photo) is the giant mango tree ("SM" or "Sa Mangga") that was severely damaged due to Typhoon Milenyo last September. That tree has been there for as long as I can remember. It's been there for as long as anyone in San Pablo still alive today can remember. Over at the Museo ng San Pablo blog, there's even a photo of the tree back in the 1930's.

Sampalok Lake Photos

2006-12-06T11:09:00.000+08:00

This is a series of photos I took of and around Sampalok Lake on October of 2003.

A lot of people were surprised, and at times disbelieving that this was actually taken at Sampalok Lake. But yes it was. This is a view that you can't see from the viewing deck though, as it actually overlooks the east. To see this view, one needs to travel to the other side of the lake at sunset.

San Pablo City Videos

2006-12-05T19:46:00.000+08:00

Here is a collection of my San Pablo Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIKjJaiy4Sk
San Pablo City: 2006
Created March 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn7YH-o_ScA
Typhoon Milenyo
Created September 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWwM2yBPvqU
San Pablo City: Public Market and Grocery
Created October 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXwOB6VmV2k
Komikero Artists Group Archives #1: Traveling!
Created October 2006
Scenes from Lake Pandin, Lake Yambo, Doña Leonila Park and some scenes in Majayjay, Laguna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIVtW-Imuzg
San Pablo City: November 1, 2006

My San Pablo City Blog

2006-12-05T18:36:00.000+08:00

I wonder why I haven't thought of this before. I already have a blog about my work which can be found here, and a personal blog which can be found here.

But there's another subject that is of great interest to me that I can't seem to fit in those two groups, and that is my hometown of San Pablo City. No, not the one in San Francisco, USA, but right here in Laguna in the Philippines, the City of the Seven Lakes.

I was born right here in San Pablo, at Doctor's Hospital in 1968. I loved growing up here, and I hated being forced to move to Manila when Ateneo de San Pablo closed so we could continue our studies in the big city.

After graduating from San Beda College (High School) and University of Sto Tomas (Architecture), and practicing both architecture and comic book illustration for a few years, I moved back to San Pablo City for good.

What can I say? I love living here more than anywhere else. This is HOME to me. I love taking pictures and videos of it.

In this blog I will be uploading the many photographs and videos I make about San Pablo, and once in a while I'll be sharing some news, whatever news that I manage to find out that is.