Edgar Ray Woolbright (18 March 1920 - 6 August 1996) was an American entrepreneur who planned and developed the Beverly Hills subdivision of Lahug, Cebu City in the Philippines.
During World War II (1939–1945) Woolbright continued in the Merchant Marine as a second mate.[2] He sailed in a convoy to Russia in 1942 during the Battle of the Atlantic, in which many of the ships were sunk by German aircraft.[1] That winter the convoy was frozen in Archangel until being freed by a Russian icebreaker. After returning from Archangel he went to Australia to collect supplies to be delivered to Russia via Basra, Iraq. He served in the allied invasion of Sicily and in Naples. His ship was badly damaged in an Atlantic storm and he stayed in the Azores for several months while it was repaired. In October 1944 Woolbright sailed on a supply ship from New Guinea to join the American fleet in the invasion of Leyte.[4] He participated in the Battle of Leyte with the forces of General Douglas MacArthur.[2] He served with the US Coast Guard in Leyte.[5]
Leyte (1945–1949)
A set of poker dice from the 1940s, of the type used for balut
After the war Woolbright returned to the United States, but soon returned to Leyte Gulf on a ship where he pretended to be sick and was discharged in Tacloban. As the son of a blacksmith and machinist, he saw huge potential in all the scrap metal on the island, left by the armed forces.[6] He started a scrapyard in Palo, Leyte.[2] At that time Tacloban was lawless, so he was always armed. He had several guards with machine guns at his scrapyard.[7]
In 1947 Woolbright was running a hardware and spare parts store, and founded the Airline Hotel and Coffee Shop beside it. He had his own generators, so was not affected by the erratic electricity supply in Tacloban, and could run ice cream machines.[6] He used skills his father had taught him to build an air conditioner, and his was the first air-conditioned restaurant and hotel in Leyte.[3] He came to know the teenaged Imelda Marcos at his restaurant in Tacloban.[2] Imelda Romualdez, as she was then, would stop in on her way home from school.[6] The balut dice game was invented at the hotel.[8][lower-alpha 1]
Cebu City (1949–1996)
Tacloban began to slow down as the surplus army machinery boom came to an end.[10] In 1949 Woolbright moved to Cebu City, where he opened "Eddie's Log Cabin Coffee Shop" and "Eddie's Auto Supply".[2] Eddie's Log Cabin was in downtown Cebu City near the wharf, and became a place were politicians and celebrities came to be seen.[11] In the 1960s and 1970s Cebu City was a small town, and Eddie's Log Cabin was an important venue. It was air-conditioned and served American diner food, including coconut cream pie from a recipe of Eddie's mother and turkey for Thanksgiving. It had a soda fountain and an ice cream parlor. Later Woolbright built the Beverly Hotel, which also served traditional American food.[9]
Woolbright married Annie Corrales, who was Miss Philippines in 1957.[11][lower-alpha 2] He became involved in land development, construction, water drilling and trading. He saw the potential of the Sudlon Hills in Cebu.[5] The young lawyer Marcelo Fernan, who later became a senator, showed Woolbright a property of more than 33 hectares (82 acres) of undeveloped land owned by the heirs of American expatriate physician Arlington Pond. He bought the land and used army surplus equipment to bulldoze tracts for residential development.[9] His effort to carve lots out of the mountain was seen as crazy at the time.[11]
Beverly Hills, created in the 1960s, was the first large, planned subdivision in Cebu City. It was marketed to affluent residents.[9] The property was in the Salvador Extension of Cebu City and was named after Beverly Hills, California. Woolbright improved the property through grading and filling, and donated these improvements to Cebu City effective 29 May 1969.[2]
President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law on 21 September 1972. In November Woolbright was arrested by the police and detained without charges. In response to a telegram, Imelda Marcos arranged for his release.[2]
On 20 February 1995 the Cebu City Council named Woolbright "An Adopted Son of Cebu". Woolbright died on 6 August 1996.[2] The cause was lung cancer caused by a 5-pack-per-day cigarette habit.[1] He was the father of nine children.[2] In April 2009 a bust of Eddie Woolbright was unveiled in Beverly Hills, Cebu City, at the corner of Woolbright Drive and Third Street, the site of the first "Eddie's Café".[5] As of 2017 his daughter Cebuana Alice Woolbright was running Eddie’s Log Cabin Coffee Shop, still serving dishes like corned beef brisket with cabbage and coconut cream pie.[3]
Notes
↑ The game of Balut was derived from poker dice, which had been invented by a group of GIs who used to meet at Woolbright's airport hotel. Two Danish businessmen staying at the hotel developed a variant that could be played by two people. They went for a walk with Woolbright, discussing what to call the new game. They heard a street vendor calling out "Balut! Balut!", the name of the embryonic duck foetus delicacy that he was selling, and decided that would be the name of the dice game.[8] Another source says the balut dice game was invented at the Log Cabin in the 1970s.[9]
McCallus, Joseph P. (2010), "The King of Leyte and the Junkyard Oakie", The MacArthur Highway and Other Relics of American Empire in the Philippines, Potomac Books, Inc., ISBN9781597974974
Leyte is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region, occupying the northern three-quarters of Leyte Island. Its capital is the city of Tacloban, administered independently from the province. Leyte is situated west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran. To the west across the Camotes Sea is the province of Cebu.
Tacloban, officially known as the City of Tacloban, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, although it serves as its provincial capital. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a population of 251,881, making it the most populous city in the Eastern Visayas. The city is located 360 miles (580 km) southeast from Manila.
Pilar Garrido Corrales is a Filipina pop singer-songwriter, actress, comedian and television presenter. She is dubbed as "Asia's Queen of Songs" and is widely known for her rendition of "Kapantay ay Langit" which eventually became her signature song.
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Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, also known as Tacloban City Airport, is an airport serving the general area of Tacloban, a highly urbanized city in Leyte island in the Philippines. It is the main gateway from Manila and Cebu to Eastern Visayas. It is classified as a Class 1 principal airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the agency responsible for the operations of all the airports in the Philippines excluding the major international airports. As of 2017, Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport is ranked as the eighth-busiest and the third-fastest growing airport by passenger volume out of the 45 commercial airports in the Philippines.
Daniel Zialcita Romualdez was a Filipino politician who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 1957 to 1962. He was first cousin to former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos.
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Sotero "Terong" Barte Cabahug was a Filipino lawyer, legislator, politician, and civil servant from Mandaue, Cebu, Philippines. He was awarded Legion of Honor with the rank of Commander. He was governor of Cebu (1934–1937), member of the House of Representatives for Cebu's 2nd district for two consecutive terms (1928–1934), Secretary of Public Works and Communications (1945–1946), member of the Cebu Provincial Board (1952–1954), the 9th Secretary of National Defense (1954–1956), and associate justice of the Court of Appeals (1956–1961).
Manuel Alesna Cuenco was a Filipino physician and politician from Cebu, Philippines. He was the former Governor of Cebu (1946–1951), administrator of the Overseas Employment Council, and the Secretary of Health (1964–1965).
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