Makati Central Square | A New Art Haven

The Makati Central Square sounded like a new place in Makati City, but it’s not brand new; entirely more of a retro place updated to look fresh and reinvigorated for people to explore it again. It’s like rediscovering an old friend or a hangout place some might have grown up passing through during their urban travels. Strangely, they renamed it since four old cinemas were reconstructed to be something else. It was originally known as the Makati Cinema Square, hence the name, and going back to its early years, it used to house four cinemas. But over time, those four cinemas had slowly been replaced by being them by something else. As they say, the only constant in life is change, and sometimes it might depend on the good or the bad.

The origin of the former Makati Cinema Square goes back to 1979. It is the very first shopping centre with a condominium built on top of it. This might be the first ever concept of a “Condo Mall” that has become standard to keep the shopping centre alive by having residents live on top of it, which their American counterparts have not thought about when most of the malls in that country started declining.

There have been changes over the last 25 years of MCS, and by the time 2018 rolled they renamed it to “Makati Central Square,” since they no longer have those four old cinemas. Well, some of them sort of still exist in another form or another. But to make it fresh and new again, the rename really made sense despite people who knew about it had been stuck to calling it by the original name.

The Street Art Haven

Abbreviated as MCS, the place continues to evolve through the times to keep its relevance and never loses its touch. The shopping centre still keeps its nostalgia, at the same time, it opens its doors to new ideas. Originally, MCS used to have a department store, which was the defunct Plaza Fair that is now a random generic department store. The old boiling alley is still around, and is what kept this place going among the old establishments that have been there from the start.

Speaking of opening their doors to new ideas and concepts, the changes really started with having local art galleries open up their new location. This started happening sometime in 2015. There have been local art galleries that have left this place, but have been replaced by new ones that occupy those spaces.

Nostalgic Memories of the 2000s

Besides that, local street art started showing up on roller doors with graffiti work, while the ambiance of the old MCS is still being kept. There have been many fond memories of going to this place growing up that are still nostalgic.

The early 2000s anime explosion comes to mind, since there was a time a Japanese Bookstore used to occupy a small stall, while the owner had a relative who opened an antique store across the hall that carried old Japanese toys in the mid-2000s. Those were great memories, making a trip to this place because nobody knew there was something to explore about this place.

Makati Central Square succeeded where Harrison Plaza failed, and it is evident how it was constructed and kept evolving with the times. You can’t keep an old lady down, and this place will continue to live on as it continues to evolve with its growing community that includes the local art scene and beyond.