From here on, not a few people will regard December 31, 2019 as an unforgettable day not only because it marked the end of the year or even the end of this decade. The day also marked the end of an era for many baby boomers, martial law babies and even Generation X’ers.

It’s because Harrison Plaza Shopping Complex, that sprawling and familiar two-storey structure located in Malate, Manila will officially cease operations. The mall’s impending demise has been an open secret since last year when it was reported that the existing lease contract of longtime owners, the Martel family with the city government of Manila was bought out by SM Prime Holdings.

Stall owners play farewell songs while they prepare to pack up and vacate Harrison Plaza for the last time on new year's eve, December 31, 2019. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Watch more in Watch more in iWant or TFC.tv

A memo circulated by mall manager Erik Martel last November 14 informing tenants of the mall’s closure by the end of the year also served as an advisory for them to pull out all their items until January 31, 2020 when Harrison Plaza will be officially padlocked and turned over to its new owners.

For many who grew up going to this mall including this writer, Harrison Plaza or simply HP was more than just a shopping center. As cliché as it sounds, it was in fact a way of life for many.

Dubbed “the country’s first one-stop shopping mall,” a claim that was not publicly disputed but not totally accurate given that Ali Mall in Cubao opened just a year before (not that it matters now), HP sadly failed to evolve with the times and over the past two decades evoked nothing more than nostalgia as new and more modern malls claimed its once premier status.

But back in its heyday that began when it opened in 1976, there was nothing quite like HP, especially for those who lived in close to it. For impressionable preteens such as myself at the time, going there was way more exciting than heading to Luneta Park, the Manila Zoo and other kid-friendly attractions in the city.

PANOORIN: Sa huling araw ng Harrison Plaza sa Maynila na itinuturing na kauna-unahang shopping mall sa bansa...nagbalik ala-ala ang ilang mga suking parokyano nito. pic.twitter.com/WpmM0iPOXM — Johnson L. Manabat (@JohnsonManabat) December 31, 2019

Imagine that everything you want but not necessarily need all in one roof. HP was that and sometimes even more. It was the mall closest to the schools that I went to in elementary (Malate Catholic School), high school (Araullo High School) and college (Adamson University) so yes, I practically grew up here. Even when I started my first regular job at the Philippine National Bank (PNB) in Escolta, Manila, HP was still my go-to mall.

I’m sure a lot of people who grew up with HP have their own fond memories of this shopping complex. But for me, HP played a big role during the best part of my youth, my preteen and teen years in the mid to late 70s and early 80s.

Just how much of a big deal HP was to me? Look at it this way. There were days when I was in bulakbol mode and didn’t go to school at all and just hung around there, still wearing my school uniform.

Since I became old enough to go to school by myself, I always looked forward to stopping by there on certain days since it was just along my way. Not that I ever had the money to buy all the things I saw there, which at the time basically consisted of replicas of those iconic Sesame Street muppets in that toy store called Small World and those nifty items such as those fake cigarettes and cool x-ray specs sold at the aptly named novelty shop, Fun House.

Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News Scenes from the last day of Harrison Plaza's commercial operations. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News

I did manage to buy my first t-shirt there when I saved enough money just to buy something, anything at HP. I remember it was a sale item: a white shirt that spoofed the iconic Morton Salt logo but instead said Moron Salt. I never got to wear it, though, because it was too large for my then skinny frame and yes, I didn’t know I could ask for my size. Still, I was very proud of that first purchase and have been looking for a similar t-shirt since.

I yearned to wear some of the ready-to-wear brands such as Levi’s, Wrangler and Jazzie, which had their own specialty stores. But the only brand that catered to kids at the time was Gimbel’s which was the first pair of jeans my mom bought for me at HP. As for shoes, well, kids such as I were big on Adidas sneakers, which fortunately was manufactured by Rubberworld Philippines here and carried by HP’s own department store.

HP was also very instrumental in shaping my love of music. Despite never owning a turntable or record player (as it was also known) in my entire life, the mall was where I became fascinated with vinyl records. HP had Music Nook and Sound Off, record stores that back then were known as record bars. But those stores did not allow customers (at least non-buying ones such as myself) to thoroughly browse their vinyl offerings.

Fortunately, Alemar’s, a bookstore that was then known as National Book Store’s biggest competitor, had an area for vinyl records where anyone can browse for as long as they want and that allowed me closer access to classic albums by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin as well as hot acts of the mid-70s such as Peter Frampton, The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. Although my exposure to music was limited to radio and jukeboxes near my home and school, reading the credits (i.e. composers, producers) and lyrics included in vinyl releases contributed to my musical awakening.

As bookstores go, the HP branches of National and Alemar’s also carried imported music magazines such as Rolling Stone, Creem and Circus as well as, of course, the Philippines’ very own Jingle Chordbook, all of which inspired me to become a writer myself. I spent a lot of time in these bookstores just reading articles and record reviews in “open” copies (OK, I sometimes open them myself) of these magazines since I cannot afford them. Maybe window shoppers such as I were one of the reasons why bookstores now have “no private reading” signs.

I also spent a lot of time in the amusement area of HP that included a more modern-looking jukebox complete with disco lights that “charged” P1 per song, which I thought was steep since I only needed 25 centavos to get my music fix in carinderia jukeboxes.

And then there was the skating rink, which gave Ali Mall’s Skatetown a good run for its money. HP’s skating rink also played the dance (OK, disco) hits of the day and some that I fondly remembered included Alan O’ Day’s “Undercover Angel,” Paul Nicholas’ “Heaven on the 7th Floor” and Abba’s “Nina Pretty Ballerina.”

My favorite then was “I Just Want To Be Your Everything,” the debut single by the late Andy Gibb. It was the song that a cute teen with Caucasian (read: tisay) features gracefully skated to. She was probably older than I by two or three years but I was still mesmerized by both the song and the way she skated to it. I never learned to skate but I came back to the skating rink, hoping to see her again. No such luck, unfortunately.

HP’s amusement areas also housed its arcade video games including groundbreaking titles such as “Space Invaders,” “Pacman,” “Galaxian” and my personal favorite, “Breakout,” which I think I played to death along with other games who were hooked to it at the one. HP even had a “Le Mans” go-kart racing area just outside one of its entrances.

And then there was the cinemas. HP was one of the pioneers of malls with multiple theaters or multiplexes as we now call them. I was there when the mall’s first two cinemas opened with the 1976 remake of “King Kong” starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange. Other films that were blockbusters in the mall included the original “Star Wars: A New Hope” and its sequel, “The Empire Strikes Back”, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “E.T. The Extraterrestrial” and James Bond flicks such as “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker.”

Before HP, my family watched movies at stand-alone theaters in Rizal Avenue and Recto, and our favorites included Avenue, State and Odeon. When the one-stop mall that HP helped pioneer became a hit, it also marked the beginning of the end for these stand-alone cinemas as theater patrons preferred to watch movies at malls where they can also dine nearby after the screening.

There were plenty of fast food and fine dining restos at HP in its heyday including the then popular pizza place The Italian Village, a Magnolia Ice Cream house and much later Yum Yum Tree, which were among my favorites. Since there were no Jollibees and McDos yet when HP first opened, this was where I discovered fast food faves such as 3M Pizza, Bread Connection and Orange Julius, which were sold at stalls at the mall’s then resident supermarket, Queen’s.

Queen’s was also where I sometimes accompanied my mom (and sometimes my dad) to buy groceries.

In later years, HP underwent numerous transformations. First it was expanded to Shopper’s World, a large warehouse type of department store built right beside it. More cinemas were also added before a big fire in 1981 razed just about everything I remembered about its original incarnation.

A smaller shopping center called The Old Mill was built along the land area HP occupied, while the main mall took some time to be rebuilt. When it re-opened, HP had a different look as more contemporary establishments such as Rustan’s (later Shopwise) and SM started supplanting its in-house shops.

The once brightly lit mall took on a more dimly lit appearance as its relatively upscale appeal also began to wane especially with the proliferation of tiangge stores that openly sold “replicas” of just about everything at dirt cheap prices.

Despite attracting established fast-food brands such as McDonald’s, Jollibee, Pizza Hut, Chowking and many more, HP fell way behind SM and Robinsons malls in terms of aesthetics and functionality. The cinemas began to close for good and improvements became few and far between and not as close to the level of its more modern counterparts.

Over the years, HP declined in ways considered unfathomable for those of us who were there during its glory years. As surprising as it was to some, HP’s eventual demise was not totally unexpected. I was able to visit the mall only a few times since the 2000s began and other than my fond memories, there was really not much else I could hold on to every time I went there. There was not enough reason for me to dine or shop there and certainly no reason to simply take the end-to-end strolls that I once did in my youth.

But while HP will be closed by the end of 2019, it will take another month before the new reported owners, SM Prime Holdings, will probably start demolishing the structure. It could also take another two years before the rumored condominium that will take its place will open.

I’d like to think that if true, such a condominium will not take all of the sprawling land area that the now phased-out mall occupied. Who knows? Maybe there will still be some room for a commercial structure that while most likely smaller, will still bring back some of those fond memories — in homage at least in part to the original Harrison Plaza — the one-stop shopping mall that could.