*** Dominican Beauty ***

[bachata]

Iglesia nuestra se?ora de la Altagracia.

 

[bachata]

Statue of Santiago city founder, "El patron Santiago".

JJ

 

[bachata]

What year is this foto from? And isn't the theater where that road is now?

That picture was taken back in the 80s before Pte. Balaguer started the construction of El Gran Teatro Del Cibao....
Av. Monumental was a continuation of Autopista Duarte by this time.

JJ

 

[bachata]

Calle Mella esquina Vicente Estrella (Calle Los Pinos) Santiago.

I can see the show-repair guy seating by the door in his shop.

Nothing to do, sow business!

JJ

I can see the "zapatero" shoes-repair guy...

JJ

 

[george1]

This was from an era when money was still worth something in this Country, thanks to the man in the center. Jefe, gracias por todo que Usted hizo!

 

[Chip]

"Ciudad Trujillo" - what a madman.

 

[Hillbilly]

Regarding that house.

This is one of those structures that really needs to be preserved..both for historical and cultural reasons.. they are the ones that give the city its charm...we don't need a bunch of cement buildings with no character besides the almighty DR$$$$$.....


HB

Thinking about it, this might be one of those few buildings that survived the 1863 (?) fire that was set to screw the Spaniards...Is it one owned by Popi Bermudez??

 

[PICHARDO]

Regarding that house.

This is one of those structures that really needs to be preserved..both for historical and cultural reasons.. they are the ones that give the city its charm...we don't need a bunch of cement buildings with no character besides the almighty DR$$$$$.....


HB

Thinking about it, this might be one of those few buildings that survived the 1863 (?) fire that was set to screw the Spaniards...Is it one owned by Popi Bermudez??

............................................

 

[Frank the Tank]

It was the only home that survived the intentional torching because they had stored water for the militias fighting around the area. The temp in the air provoked the massive amount of water in the tinacos to evaporate prematurely and the house turned into a vapor bath of sorts during the worst of the fire. There was no home next to either side as it had some "callejones" leading to two back wells around the rear.

This house served as the meeting and command post during the US intervention of the early 1900's in the central area of the country. From here guerrillas planned and carried out attacks on US units at will, and the house was never suspected as all doors were fully opened and the inside exposed. Little the US soldiers understood that the home was partitioned in a way that the house was split into two rooms, which allowed occupants to see to the outside, but blocked outsiders from looking into the hidden space.

There's a long history on that home that can fill books, much can be read upon in the records of the Archivo Historico de Santiago.

The house is in the same road that leads to the Fortaleza atop the hill.

That being the case, then the house should be landmarked and preserved.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Pichardo, please post more fotos of Santiago through the ages. They are great. Maybe I will make a new thread for just this purpose.

 

[PICHARDO]

Well, there's no such system setup here for that action to take place unless done by the gov or private citizens as a project.

There are homes with even more history than this one in the Santiago historic centre, keep in mind that what was burnt in the retreat was only the homes in the vicinity of the fortaleza. The rest of the city didn't burn at all.

Of the original founding families of the old City of Santiago (27), only 17 are still living in the city today. The others got killed completely by the Haitian troops or left to Cuba, PR and Spain.

The most interesting part is that out of those main 27 families that originally founded the city with the behest of 12 officers that served at the court of Regina Isabel La Catolica of Spain, are all linked via marriages and kids and therefore the largest and oldest families on Hispaniola.

 

[george1]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/61412783@N08/5585898979/" title="CHRISTMAS 2010 073 by richardchimby, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5028/5585898979_07f0ed00c8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="CHRISTMAS 2010 073"></a>

My beautiful wife. After 4 years with me and three children (two of our own and one adopted) she is is still my Beauty Queen!

 

[PICHARDO]

And they ask why you're always smiling about!

 

[RacerX]

Regarding that house.

This is one of those structures that really needs to be preserved..both for historical and cultural reasons.. they are the ones that give the city its charm...we don't need a bunch of cement buildings with no character besides the almighty DR$$$$$.....


HB

Thinking about it, this might be one of those few buildings that survived the 1863 (?) fire that was set to screw the Spaniards...Is it one owned by Popi Bermudez??

Which house? Club Santiago or the one on Mella? There are a jillion houses like that on Vicente Estrella and side streets. ALL of them for sale and without roofs and such. I dont know what you would do with them besides tear them down. BEsides who wants a house not hurricane resistant?

JJ you sure it is a shoe repair place, now? This is the side street to Iglesia Altagracia, right? It was a colmado when I went there. It has a Presidente cooler in the corner and 2 freezers one for the "high quality" Coca Cola and another for the crap brand cola. There is a banca across the street and a bakery on the other corner

 

[Hillbilly]

They are history. Santiago does not have hurricanes. For God's Sake, they are over 130 years old!!! If they haven't blown down by now!!! These are part of the Nation's patrimony!!

HB

 

[bachata]

Which house? Club Santiago or the one on Mella? There are a jillion houses like that on Vicente Estrella and side streets. ALL of them for sale and without roofs and such. I dont know what you would do with them besides tear them down. BEsides who wants a house not hurricane resistant?

JJ you sure it is a shoe repair place, now? This is the side street to Iglesia Altagracia, right? It was a colmado when I went there. It has a Presidente cooler in the corner and 2 freezers one for the "high quality" Coca Cola and another for the crap brand cola. There is a banca across the street and a bakery on the other corner

The two front doors to Calle Mella is a colmado but the two doors on the lateral Vicente Estrella, one used to be a shoe-repair and the next one is a lawyer's office.
No sure, must be some changes there, remember I'm a North Carolinian now....

In three years a lot of thing have changed in my town!:bored:

JJ

 

[M.A.R.]

Buildings in San Jose de las Matas

 

[MaineGirl]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainegirl/178104994/" title="esperando by Amity Beane, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/65/178104994_3764d7958c_z.jpg?zz=1" width="640" height="426" alt="esperando"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainegirl/178104876/" title="dominican stare by Amity Beane, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/52/178104876_4678cac2f1_z.jpg?zz=1" width="640" height="576" alt="dominican stare"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainegirl/178105191/" title="mangos verdes by Amity Beane, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/178105191_48735e6478_z.jpg?zz=1" width="640" height="426" alt="mangos verdes"></a>


from 2006....

 

[AlterEgo]

This is a photo that few have seen before, but the one sitting in the foreground is an 8yo Jose Franciso Pe?a Gomez! That picture was taken in Mao.

Pichardo, do you know the names of the others in this photo? My suegra is a Pena, and it was a relative of hers who adopted him. One time, way back, he came to her house to hide when someone was chasing him, and she hid him under her bed. True story.

As a matter of fact, one of her godparents was a Pichardo, did you have relatives in San Carlos [SD]? The Pichardos were friends of her grandfather Manuel Piantini. She's 90 now, so we're talking a long time ago!

AE

 

[Frank the Tank]

Great Idea, Frank. You could leave the beautiful people
in this one, and have a beautiful places thread for all of these great pictures!

The Francisco Pena Gomez pic is priceless!

It's already done JD. It's located in the Central Forum. It's called Santiago Through the Ages, A Foto Tour.