BRIDGING THE GAP
Business establishments at Ledesma and Rizal Streets, 1920s
Among the leading streets in Iloilo in the downtown area in the late 1920s was Ledesma Street whose entry point is at Plazoleta Gay and whose length covers all the way to the Tanza area. Such entry point is where J. M. Basa, Iznart and Arroyo Streets intersect. Based on the 1927 Iloilo Telephone Directory and other printed materials of that period, Ledesma Street was where some photo studios, drugstores, different kinds of stores, stables, some manufacturing firms, and funeral parlors were situated.
The photo studios operating in Ledesma Street were the Royal Studio and the well-known Agar Studio. The street also had its share of drugstores, namely: Escarilla Drug Store, Mesa Drug Co., and Panay Drug Store. The big stores, on the other hand, were Tan Chiao Shanghai Bazar, Ing An & Co., and Sy Toco & Joc Jing & Co. There was also a lending institution called Centro de Agencias, and a surveying office named Gonzales Surveying Co.
Significantly, a few small-scale factories were operating at Ledesma Street. They were the Linda Shoe Factory, the office of the Vargas Plow Factory, and La Oliva, an ice-cream factory churning out Sorbete Especial owned by Tomas Olivares. There were also stables, called La Fortuna Stable and Iloilo Livery Stable that took care of the transportation needs of the people. To provide services for the dead, there were Funenaria La Fe and Funenaria P. del Rosario Jr. Furthermore, there was a shop for the repair of batteries -- the Iloilo Battery Services.
Other establishments that were operating at Ledesma Street in the late 1920s cannot be categorized for lack of information. These were El 55, owned by Boon Bleng & Co; La Graciosa, by Hoc Jing & Co.; La Manzana, Sucursa, by Look Sing & Co.; and Yu Chico & Co. Then, there was the office of Go Po and The National.
Rizal Street, on its part, had also a number of establishments lining its sides. There were the Bilbao Hotel, and the corresponding Bilbao Stable and Garage, for those looking for means of transportation around the town and its suburbs, either in cars or horse-drawn carriages. There was also a store that offered electrical materials and equipment called Acme Electrical Co. The offices of the Manila Cattle Trading Co., Inc. that was engaged in the buy-and-sale of livestock in Panay, and of the Lezama, Garcia and Co. were found here. For printing needs, there was the La Defensa Imprenta in Rizal Street, and for tin works, here was located the Iloilo Tin and Work Shop.
As it was in the 1920s, Ledesma Street today is one of the major thoroughfares of Iloilo City, graced by a lot of large and small establishments, the biggest of which is Robinsons mall. It has retained its reputation as one of the major commercial arteries of the City of Iloilo. Rizal Street, on its part, has become the home of business establishments specializing on furniture and other home fixtures. It is also here where one finds the sprawling campus of the University of Iloilo and the side portion of Gaisano Iloilo. Somewhere along its length is the Iloilo Central Market and at its far end is the Iloilo Terminal Market, formerly known as Supermarket.