In Maligayang Pagdating Sa Sitio Catacutan, Perez offers an overview:

“Kung itanong mo sa mga datihan, ang isasagot nila, may tatlong Cubao: ang Cubao ng makukulay na pasyalan, tindahan, at kainan, maingay kung araw at matingkad kung gabi; ang Cubao ng mga lungga ng mandurukot, mangangalakal ng droga, at mang-aalok ng aliw; kung saan anumang oras, palagiang madilim; at ang Cubao na bakas ng pangako ng bagong buhay noong nakaraan, pagkatapos ng huling digmaan, na hinayaan sa alikabok, sa kalawang, sa anay, sa init at sa ulan, kung kaya’t isang bulag na saksi na lamang sa kasaysayan (If you ask the old-timers, they will tell you that there are three Cubaos: the Cubao of colorful attractions, shops, and eateries — noisy by day and vivid by night; the Cubao of pickpockets’ dens, drug dealers, and purveyors of pleasure, where it is perpetually dark at any hour; and the Cubao that still bears traces of the promise of a new life in the years after the last war, now abandoned to dust, rust, termites, heat, and rain, and reduced to a blind witness to history).”