Time out muna tayo sa mystery detective stories or Whodunit stories. Pero me short ghost story ako dito mamya. Those of you who grew up in Project 8, Quezon City in the 70s and 80s will remember the old look of Short Horn Road at the corner of Aberdeen Street. I mean, the one older than the picture shown above. The old Project 8. The good old days.
When I was a kid, my mom or grandma and I sometimes went to the Aberdeen grocery store right at the corner those two streets. The Fil-Chinese owner managed the store himself. If I remember right, he had only two salesgirls then. Then right across was Ariel's Barbershop (the house still stands there today as a motor spare parts shop) where I and my friend (kuya Jun Jimenez) often had our haircut---always a crew-cut.
Tapos, the long stretch of Shorthorn Road was lined with houses--all houses. No businesses yet, unlike today. Commercialized na sya ngayon. But back then, lalo na sa area ng Aberdeen, mga residences lang makikita. At syempre malaya pa noon ang Project 8 sa Covid 😄 Walang nagma-mask. Ang bawal lang during that time ay yung naka-simangot.
At that corner, smaller public jeeps made a left turn from Short Horn and went straight to a corner a bit far down the road that led back to Congressional Avenue. Those small jeeps plied the Munoz-Project 8-Road 14 route. If you lived farther back Congressional Avenue or Aberdeen Street, you took this jeep.
Sometimes, we also took that shortcut going to the chapel along Jersey Street when we walked all the way from Taas. I remember having a classmate in Lourdes School and St. Patrick School living there by the name of Carlo Regaliza---somewhere along Dexter or April Streets. They're probably living abroad now because they were kinda foreigners.
That shortcut is closed now.
Today, there's that "Unan" massage parlor and an eatery that looks interesting right at the corner (serves "kambing" dishes). Each time I pass by that place, I still remember the good old days, especially my childhood friends now gone, when we used to take Aberdeen Street for shortcuts on our bikes.
Click image above for more details.
At that corner, smaller public jeeps made a left turn from Short Horn and went straight to a corner a bit far down the road that led back to Congressional Avenue. Those small jeeps plied the Munoz-Project 8-Road 14 route. If you lived farther back Congressional Avenue or Aberdeen Street, you took this jeep.
I can remember how taking Aberdeen Street to get to Congressional Village at the corner of July Street used to have a shortcut going to Road 20 ending up near the Sto Cristo chapel and Personnel Street. We often took that shortcut when we were on our bikes coming from congressional Avenue.
Mystery on Road 20???
And Road 20 then had a touch of mystery especially late at night because there were not many houses yet (the area was full of tall talahib grass) and electric posts were not yet set up, so it was too dark. One time, going through Road 20 by bikes from a very late basketball game in Congressional Village, my friend and I kicked hard on our pedals to get to Personnel Street as fast as we could. In the corners of my eyes, I thought I saw a White Lady. But I wasn't sure. Anyway, that was a very long time ago.
The "mystery" was probably just in my mind.
Sometimes, we also took that shortcut going to the chapel along Jersey Street when we walked all the way from Taas. I remember having a classmate in Lourdes School and St. Patrick School living there by the name of Carlo Regaliza---somewhere along Dexter or April Streets. They're probably living abroad now because they were kinda foreigners.
That shortcut is closed now.
Today, there's that "Unan" massage parlor and an eatery that looks interesting right at the corner (serves "kambing" dishes). Each time I pass by that place, I still remember the good old days, especially my childhood friends now gone, when we used to take Aberdeen Street for shortcuts on our bikes.
