Narrow shophouse streets and jewelry stalls run from the Chinatown gate at Jones Bridge along Ongpin Street.
What Binondo looks like
A red and gold Chinese gate spans the roadway at , marking the entrance to Binondo at the foot of . Jeepneys and cars pass under it in both directions, with the bridge's own lamp posts and balustrade running on toward the Pasig River behind it.
is the main commercial spine. Jewelry shops and herbal stores fill its ground floors, with bakeries and noodle houses further along. Bold painted signage and strings of Chinese characters hang above the sidewalk. Delivery carts move through the narrower side streets nearby, too tight in places for cars to pass.
The older commercial buildings along these blocks keep the traditional two storey shophouse layout, a shop on the ground floor and living quarters above, arcaded sidewalks shading the pavement and heavy wooden doors fitted with iron grillwork. The on Dasmariñas Street is one of these, a long arcaded block from 1922 with its old trading name painted the length of the facade.
, officially the Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo Ruiz, has a Romanesque and Renaissance facade and an octagonal bell tower from the nineteenth century. keeps a plain shopfront on Tomas Pinpin Street, one of the noodle houses that fill with lunchtime trade. The on Escolta Street shows its 1928 art deco geometry in bold lines along the sidewalk.
Shot in Binondo
Jones Bridge, at the Binondo end of the span, closed to traffic for both The Bourne Legacy in 2012 and the Korean film Master in 2016. Both productions used the bridge and its approach as one of several Manila locations in extended street chase sequences.
Jones Bridge
Jones Bridge, at the foot of the gate into Binondo. Two different productions, four years apart, closed the same crossing for their own street chase.
The Bourne Legacy, 2012
Jones Bridge
The production closed Jones Bridge as one of the Manila streets used for its extended street chase sequence, filmed across the city in January 2012. The chase itself centers on Leveriza Street in the San Andres district, with Jones Bridge and Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard named among the other closures for the same shoot. Street View
Master, 2016
Master shut down Jones Bridge for its own action sequence, reported as the first Korean production to close one of the city's biggest bridges. The shoot also used Tondo and the wider Binondo district, with additional scenes at Manila Cathedral across the river. Street View
Two storey shophouses with arcaded sidewalks line Petaling Street in the same scale as Binondo's older blocks, shop below and living space above behind painted signage. The street runs just as narrow and just as packed with stalls and awnings. Petaling Street's roof is covered over much of its length by a permanent canopy, which Binondo's open streets do not have. Try searching arcaded shophouses now.
Lebuh Chulia in George Town, Penang, Malaysia
George Town's shophouses carry the same arcaded five foot way along the sidewalk and the same two storey shop and residence layout, built across the same early twentieth century window as Binondo's. Lebuh Chulia keeps its original cement tile floors and timber shutters behind narrower frontages than Binondo's. Pastel paint and Peranakan tilework are more decorative than Binondo's plainer concrete facades, so a wide shot needs careful lensing to avoid that contrast. Try searching five foot way now.
Yaowarat Road in Bangkok, Thailand
Jewelry shops and noodle houses line Yaowarat Road under stacked signage in Chinese characters, and its traffic moves at the same slow crawl as Ongpin Street. Both streets stay lit late into the evening by shopfront signs rather than streetlights. Yaowarat's buildings run taller and more vertical than Binondo's two storey shophouses, so a wide establishing shot needs a tighter lens to hide the difference. Try searching jewelry shops noodle houses now.
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