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| Cubao Expo circa December 2022 |
Araneta Center in Cubao holds many memories for our family. When we were younger, one of the things that my brothers and I dreaded was when it was time for my Mom to have her hair permed. She would often bring us with her to the beauty salon and we would spend hours waiting until her hair gets done. Her go-to beauty shop was located in Cubao's Shopping District. It was a few minutes away from Rustan's Department Store.
What we would look forward to was the freshly-packed caramel popcorn from Goldilocks that she would buy as our reward for waiting patiently and being on our best behavior while doing so. This particular Goldilocks branch was located in the same building as Rustan's. I liked that Goldilocks branch because of their Takeout window. That's where you can see how they make and pack their caramel popcorn. The combination of the scent of freshly popped corn and hot caramel can be quite intoxicating for kids who have spent half a day holed up in a beauty parlor full of hair products and chemicals.
Since this was in the 1980s and early 1990s, there weren't a lot of things for kids to do but watch TV (if the parlor's unit was working) or read the different magazines lying around the salon. My brother, BJ, would bring his own sets of toys, usually, his matchbox cars. One of the best things for us kids was asking for coins from our very distracted Mom to buy chips and candies that the beauty shop was selling on the side.
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| Cubao circa December 2022 |
More often than not, my brothers and I would have staring contests instead to while away the time. If our Dad was with us, we would walk around Cubao, stop by the Mom and Pop store (one of the first Convenience stores) to buy sweet corn with lots and lots of butter, and then go back to the salon to fetch our Mom afterward.
That experience of waiting for hours in the salon made me decide to have a short and uncomplicated haircut which my stylist could do in less than an hour. My Mom and I have the same hair texture, we both have very straight hair. I don't need to have my hair rebonded ever. The stylist's assistant would often ask me if I wanted to have waves or curls but I would always say no since I wanted to have an easy 'wash and wear' type of hairstyle. I don't want to spend additional time styling my hair when prepping for work or going out. The stylist who does my hair already knows what to do whenever I have my monthly salon visit. That's why it's important to take care of your stylist. Don't forget to tip and give extra during the Christmas Holidays.
Sadly, that beauty salon closed during the late 1990s or early 2000s. My Mom stopped going there years before it closed down because we transferred residences and it became a bit far from where our present home is located. The old site of Rustan's and Goldilocks is no longer there it has been demolished and the vacant space is just waiting for a new condo or a high-rise building to be built on it.
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| Smart Araneta Coliseum circa December 2022 |
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