The Plaza Lunch was one of a small number of popular pre-WW2 eating places. Location was Plaza Goiti, the bustling transportation hub of Manila. Electric street cars (Travias) met there coming from north and south. Commuters wanting a quick snack or refreshment dropped into the conveniently located American style counter lunch and soda fountain.. Proprietor was Fred M. Harden a young American from the State of New Jersey. There his family operated a dairy farm. Apparently an adventurer, Harden joined the merchant marine. He came ashore in Manila before WWI. Like many he saw business opportunities. In 1914 he and his Filipina wife opened the Plaza Lunch. The place was a slice out of America; a counter lunch and soda fountain set around a horseshoe shaped counter. About 50 fixed stools provided seating. In the center was a display of confectionaries and a soda fountain.
US Army and Navy men were major customers. Homesick soldiers from the Philippine Division based at Intramuros and sailors assigned to the Asiatic Fleet flocked there to buy cigarettes and snacks. Harden secured the franchise for popular brand Camel Cigarettes and Prince Albert Pipes and Tobacco. American newspapers and periodicals were available at the news stand.
Plaza Lunch gained in popularity throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. Outbreak of WW2 in December 1941 spelled its closure. Harden was reportedly in the U.S. at the time and escaped internment by the Japanese. Plaza Lunch quarters were destroyed in the February 1945 battle of Manila. It reopened in new quarters at Sta. Cruz in 1946. What happened after that is another story. BB
“Plaza Goiti Manila Transportation Center in the late 1930’s” 
“Plaza Goiti in the 1930’s- Note: Plaza Lunch is “H” on the Map” 
“Fred Harden in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s” 
“1939 Plaza Lunch Advertisement-Airconditioning was an added attraction” 
“1930 Advertisement Listing Products and Services” 
“Soda Fountain Menu 1930’s- Some very original creations” 
“Plaza Lunch Interior – Post Card” 
“Plaza Lunch Interior – Post Card” 
“Customers in white business attire-1930’s” 
“Street view with US Navy Sailor crossing the Plaza” 
“Late 1920’s Street view with US Navy Asiatic Fleet Sailors” 
“Early 1930’s – Luxury Roadster Car parked out front (Perhaps Fred Harden’s Car?)” 
“Promotional Pocket Mirror” 
“Camel Cigarette Promotional Item” 
“Camel Cigarette Ad from 1930’s – I’d walk a mile for a Camel – Tag line” 
“The Plaza Lunch site in 2018”