The first movie house in Manila was the Salon de Pertierra, located along Calle Escolta. It opened its doors to the public in 1896 as a phonograph parlor owned by Sr. Pertierra.
The first movies were shown on January 1, 1897, featuring four silent French films.
This was followed by the opening of another movie house in Escolta in August 1897, near Calle San Jacinto. Owned by Sr. Antonio Ramos, a Spanish soldier, the cinema featured 3o movie titles. Ramos owned a Lumiere Cinematograph with which he was able to show films, as well as record several clips, making him the first known motion picture producer in the Philippines.
Cinema would soon take off in the following decades, with several movie houses and studios appearing all over Manila.
The site of the Salon Pertierra and the Ramos cinema is occupied today by the Peterson Building.
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