Rizal Avenue

At the northern end of the avenue is the Bonifacio Monument roundabout. Vehicles coming from Rizal Avenue's northbound carriageway can turn right into EDSA (Circumferential Road 4); its northern logical extension would be the MacArthur Highway (Manila North Road; continuation of Radial Road 9), which terminates at Aparri, Cagayan. Vehicles from Samson Road (EDSA's logical western extension) enter the avenue to its southbound carriageway.

The avenue also provides access to the entrance and exit gates of the Manila Chinese Cemetery. The San Lazaro Compound (which hosts the San Lazaro Hospital, the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center and the Department of Health) and the Archdiocesan Shrine of Espiritu Santo are the other landmarks along the avenue.

Along the avenue are several shopping malls, including SM City Grand Central, DiviMall Monumento, North Mall, Tayuman Center Mall, Odeon Terminal Mall, Emerald Circle Avenida, Good Earth Plaza, and Isetann Carriedo. In front of Isetann is Plaza Lacson. South of Plaza Lacson is MacArthur Bridge, then Taft Avenue (Radial Road 2). Quiapo Church is an eastbound walk from the square, although this part of the street has been pedestrianized.

Nine LRTA Line 1 stations are located at Rizal Avenue as its main landmarks. They are, from north to south:

• Monumento
• 5th Avenue
• R. Papa
• Abad Santos
• Blumentritt
• Tayuman
• Bambang
• Doroteo Jose
• Carriedo

In addition, the LRTA Line 2 system crosses the avenue at Recto Avenue, and the Recto station is a short walk away from the avenue. The Philippine National Railways also crosses Rizal Avenue Extension, with Blumentritt railway station a short walk away.

Avenida Rizal was created by Manila city ordinance in 1911 from two parallel streets in the city – Calle Dulumbayan (from Tagalog dulo ng bayan, meaning "the edge of town", and the area of the same name) and Calle Salcedo. It also occupied the old Calle Cervantes, Calzada de San Lazaro, and Camino á Gagalaḡin in Santa Cruz.^[1][2]

Once planned to terminate at the Manila Chinese Cemetery at the north,^[3] the road was lengthened in the next two decades up to the adjacent then-municipality of Caloocan, then part of Rizal province, where the then-new monument honoring Andres Bonifacio, now known as Monumento, is located. The extension was originally referred to as Manuguit Extension, and Rizal Avenue Extension's name had also reached further north up to Polo, Bulacan (now Valenzuela, Metro Manila).^[4] The avenue was designated Route 3A and a part of Manila North Road (Highway 3 or Route 3) that connects Manila to northern Luzon.^[5][6] It became Manila's longest street during that time. Before and right after World War II, the avenue was center of the city's social life, with the street lined with shops, restaurants and movie theaters. The theaters were designed by the prominent architects of the day, many of whom would become National Artists.^[7][8] Its section between Calle Carriedo and Calle Blumentritt was also one of the routes of tranvia until 1945.^[9]

Two National Artists for Architecture, Pablo Antonio and Juan Nakpil, created several movie theaters along the avenue. Antonio designed the Galaxy, the Ideal, the Scala and the Lyric theaters, while Nakpil designed the Capitol, the Ever and the Avenue theaters. As the years went by, the area was victimized by urban renewal.

By the 1960s, economic activities shifted from the downtown area of Manila to Makati. The departure of business and the rich residents from Manila to the suburbs and the increase in low-skilled rural migrants looking for jobs led to the deterioration of the old business districts, including Rizal Avenue. The construction of the LRTA Line 1 system in the 1980s, which required the closure of Rizal Avenue to vehicular traffic, essentially killed business along the route. The cinemas themselves resorted to showing double-feature B-movies and soft porn as people transferred to the newer and more modern Ortigas Center and the Ayala Center.^[7] In the early 1980s, the construction of the LRT Line 1 viaduct traversing along the avenue occurred, and operations commenced in 1985.^[10]

In 2000, during the term of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, the stretch from Recto Avenue to Carriedo Street was transformed into a pedestrian-only area by paving the road with bricks as part of an urban renewal project. It rerouted vehicular traffic to secondary roads like Tomas Mapúa and Doroteo Jose Streets.^[7][11] The project included painting the buildings and the LRT Line 1 system. The Ideal Theater was previously demolished, and the Galaxy, Scala, and Lyric theaters were already misused. The lower level of the Ever Theater was converted into stalls, while the upper levels were abandoned. Only the refurbished Capitol Theater remained until its demolition in 2020.^[7] Initially intended to be temporary, the pedestrianization of Rizal Avenue was completed in 2003 but persisted until 2008.^[11][12] The Avenue Theater, which survived the Battle of Manila in 1945, was demolished in 2006 to give way to a parking area. The costs of maintaining the facility were too high compared to converting it into a parking area. The National Historical Institute (NHI) and several private entities tried to prevent the building from being torn down.^[7]

One of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim's first decisions after winning the elections of 2007 was to reopen the pedestrian-only section of Rizal Avenue, which has elicited complaints from shopkeepers due to decreased traffic of people, and from commuters, which caused traffic jams on secondary streets.^[12] Since the cost of the tiles for the pedestrianization was about ₱40 (equivalent to ₱65.11 in 2021) each, the tiles were carefully removed for them to be used in future projects.^[11] On July 17, 2007, Lim attended the ceremony reopening the closed portion of Rizal Avenue, and it has remained open to this day.^[12]

On September 15, 2016, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada declared a parking ban on the avenue's stretch in the city.^[13] During the term of his successor, Isko Moreno, the stretch was also lighted up with new street lights from 2021 to 2022 as part of the city's street lighting program.^[14][15][16]

"Rizal Avenue" and its variations, such as "Rizal Street", are among the most common street names in the Philippines. They usually serve as the main street of a town or city. In towns and cities in the Luzon mainland, the street that leads to Manila is usually called "Rizal Street". These include J.P. Rizal Avenue in Makati, Rizal Avenue in Olongapo, and some segments of the Pan-Philippine Highway.

• Standalone movie theaters of the Philippines
• University Belt

 

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