The Baywalk is a seaside promenade overlooking Manila

Bay along Roxas Boulevard in the City of Manila,

Philippines. The Baywalk is a two-kilometre stretch from
the US Embassy near Rizal Park up to the Cultural Center
of the Philippines just past the Manila Yacht Club. It is a
popular venue at night with open-air cafes that serve
local cuisine while onlookers may watch the Manila
sunset. Many of the venues also feature music and live
band performances. Local artists frequent the area and
free mime, acrobatics, and other art performances can
sometimes be found along the strip.

However, when Mayor Alfredo Lim took office in 2007, he removed the establishments along Baywalk.
Since then, vagrants have occupied the area and the once vibrant seaside promenade was gone.
Afterwards, the national government undertook a rehabilitation of the Baywalk after it was destroyed by
storm surges.

Route description

Roxas Boulevard starts at Rizal Park as a physical continuation of Bonifacio Drive. The road passes
through many tall buildings, restaurants, banks, monuments, and other establishments. The United
States Embassy is in the Luneta area; a kilometer south the headquarters of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP) and Philippine Navy are located within the Malate district of Manila. After the BSP building, the
boulevard enters Pasay, passing through the CCP Complex and Star City. It then intersects with Gil Puyat
Avenue, where it ascends through the Gil Puyat flyover. It then parallels Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard.
It ascends again to intersect EDSA through the flyover of the same name. A few meters after passing
EDSA, it enters Paranaque, continues into a straight route until it ends on an intersection with NAIA
Expressway, where the road continues south as Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX) which is also
known as Coastal Road.
City Beautiful movement

The Cavite Boulevard was part of Architect Daniel

Burnham's plan for beautifying the city of Manila. At
the request of Commissioner William Cameron Forbes,
Burnham visited the country in 1905 at the height of
the City Beautiful movement, a trend in the early 1900s
in America for making cities beautiful along scientific
lines, for the future urban development of Manila and
Baguio City.

Original concept

Construction of Cavite Boulevard, 1912

According to Burnham's original concept of the Cavite

Boulevard, the bayfront from the Luneta southward
should be a continuous parkway, extending in the
course of time all the way to the Cavite Navy Yard
about 20 miles (32 km) away. This boulevard, about
250 ft (76 m) in width, with roadways, tramways, bridle path, rich plantations, and broad sidewalks,
should be available for all classes of people in all sorts of conveyances, and so well shaded with coconut
palms, bamboo, and mangoes as to furnish protection from the elements at all times.

"In order to make the boulevard presentable and useful as soon as possible, a quick-growing tree like
the acacia might be planted, alternating with the trees of slower growth, and be replaced after the latter
attain their growth. The boulevard's seaward side should be planted so as to interrupt occasionally the
view of the sea and, by thus adding somewhat of mystery, enhance the value of the stretch of ocean and
sky. The boulevard would be on reclaimed land to about as far south as the Old Fort San Antonio Abad in
Malate, beyond which it strikes the beach and follows the shore line to Cavite. The possible extension of
the ocean boulevard along the north shore would naturally depend upon the development of the town
in that direction and upon the question of additional harbor works north of the Pasig River.