Dagupan or bust

visiting Dagupan in the '50s

 ( and beyond)

At a certain point in my childhood, I began to hate my hometown ( I was wrong of course ).

"This place is the pits, it is a swamp full of crocs, it is so boring!.."

So for sheer escapism,  every Friday, I always asked my Daddy then.."can we go to Dagupan tommorow?"

Since my dad always said YES to most requests from his children, we would wake up early the next day so we can spend lots of time in the city.

I frequently saw  movies with my dad in Dagupan. And  always, it is an action movie from Hollywood.

 After the movie, I would go a few doors away into a restaurant called SANITARY RESTAURANT. My Mom, going there for the first time said, "They should call this place UNSANITARY RESTAURANT." But my dad loved it. It is a greasepoon place, it has a certain appeal to certain people. Besides there was always free soup to whatever menu you ordered. We always ordered their PANCIT GUISADO then and my, I still could feel the taste of those noodles as I write.

Then came the day when I found that I can ride the Pantranco by myself and from that day on, I was a weekly visitor to this commercial center in Pangasinan sans my dad. That would cut the expenses, I supposed.

At that time, there were just 2 ways to go to Dagupan: The Binalonan Liner ( owned by ex mayor Guico, I heard ) on the same route as the Pantranco.  It was Asingan-Binalonan-Manaoag-San Jacinto-Mangaldan then Dagupan. It was a straight ride, no hassle in switching to another bus. Besides you can always flag the bus which passed by in front our house. On on your way back, you can always bang the side of the bus loudly for the driver to hear or scream: PARA!!!! Almost always, the bus would stop dead on in front of our house.

The other way, of course, is to take a jeep to Urdaneta. Then take either a bus or one of those mini busses to Dagupan. Those small busses are driven by speed maniacs who could traverse Urdaneta-Dagupan in 30 minutes! I always waited for the ride to go up the bridge at Sta. Barbara  because it was quite elevated and when it went down,  I felt like riding in a roller coaster. After Sta. Barbara is Calasiao and then you would know that Dagupan is already very near.

The first thing I would do is to check the posters pasted on the building walls. Each theatre would be plastering their ads in each conspicous place and Dagupan Theatre then seemed to be the one carrying the action movies: which was always a fare for 12 year-olds: something to brag to the other kids the following Monday in class.

After the movie would be lunch. Soon I found that there are other eateries in Dagupan aside from SANITARY. There was De Luxe, New Asia ( the pancit con caldo here is yummy!) and in the market area, you have the Eli Nito. The place is small but sealed tightly. That means you can eat your lunch safely without being bugged by those pesky houseflies.

Then in the afternoon I spent the remaining hours, walking about in Bugallon street. I visit the comic store ( Marigold or Agsalud's ) Or go to the lobbies of the other theatres there to check what is on for next Sunday. While walking I would be muching on the fried peanuts with garlic that the vendors sell on the sidewalk. They tasted good, even if the peanuts were there uncovered and exposed to the swirling dust on the sidewalk!

When the clock struck 3:00 pm, I know it is time to walk back to the Pantranco station. I have to catch the last trip to San Jose or Tayug that passed through Asingan.

Otherwise, man..It would be a long hike from wherever last town you are stuck in back to Asingan.--#