A video featuring an ’80s version of a shopping mall complex, produced with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) technology sparked nostalgia among Filipinos.
Filmmaker Chuck Gutierrez posted a clip on Threads showing Glorietta in the “early ’80s, when an afternoon in the park felt like the whole world.”
The video showed open spaces where Filipinos could hang out and enjoy the fresh air.
It also featured The Quad, the historical name for the original 1970s and ’80s entertainment and cinema complex at the Makati Commercial Center, which was redeveloped into the Glorietta mall in the ’90s.
It was labeled with “AI Info,” indicating that the clip was made with AI.
“AI may have been used for a wide range of purposes, from photo retouching to generating entirely new content. We share information about AI use in the post’s menu. Not all AI content contains the data we need to identify it,” a disclaimer on Threads reads.
View on Threads
Gutierrez’s video has earned 1,700 likes, 95 reposts, 556 shares and 110 comments from other Filipinos, with some feeling nostalgia over the post.
“THANKS for posting this… exactly as I remember it!!!” an online user commented.
“Grabe. Nostalgia overload. Old 80s Virra Mall naman, please. Hehehe,” actor-content creator Chuckie Dreyfus said.
“After classes in CSA [Colegio San Agustin] in Dasma, it’s off to Quad/Glorietta… always excited with Friday Madness [or] Sale… Those were the days!” another wrote.
“Matanda na talaga ako!!! Noong 1983, college kami ng wife ko (Boyfriend/girlfriend pa lang kami noon), UE Caloocan kami, sa tapat ng UE Cal. ay Bus Terminal ng Metro Manila ‘LOVE BUS,’ sasakay kami doon, P2.50 isang tao, at ang baba namin at sa Rustan’s Makati LOVE BUS Terminal (Katabi ito ng QUAD) at magde-date kami sa QUAD,” a different Threads user said.
“Thank you, @chuckpinoy (and AI) for the revived memories. God bless you, Sir Chuck!” the online user added.
“The Glorietta I remembered before. Quad,” another Pinoy commented.
“We used to hear anticipated mass during Saturday with my Dear Aunt, then eat either at McDonald’s or at the coffee shop of Makati Supermarket. Brings back a lot of childhood memories, Missing My Tita Charing a lot,” a different Threads user wrote.
The Quad was an iconic structure in the Makati Commercial Center that housed four cinemas, an amusement center with arcade and video games and shops.
The adjacent Glorietta was mainly an open park, landscaped by the late National Artist Ildefonso Santos, who is credited with designing the entire complex around based on his pioneering concept of outdoor shopping.
By the ’90s, the Zobel de Ayalas decided to redevelop the Makati Commercial Center by merging the structures and enclosing the open space to build a single shopping mall now known as Glorietta 4.
Earlier this month, a video made with the help of AI also went viral, as Filipinos praised its use in bringing old photos to “life” as a birthday tribute to a 60-year-old woman.
