Year of the Golden Rabbits

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Then & Now Joo Chiat (2)

Many prewar buildings in Joo Chiat had been demolished and replaced by modern ones. Fortunately an old building built in 1916 situated at Joo Chiat Road/East Coast Road junction still stands. It is now under URA conservation.                                                                                                                                              

Then                                                                    

Now                                                                      

In the 1950s Joo Chiat Road/Joo Chiat Lane junction was like a market place every morning. Unlicensed hawkers set up make shift stalls to sell fish, pork and vegetables. Housewives took the opportunity to meet and gossip while doing marketting. By midday all the hawker stalls simply disappeared into thin air. Such was the unwritten rule understood by the unlicensed hawkers.  

Then -  Photo credit: National Archives Singapore

 

Now                                                                       

                                                          

Joo Chiat Lane looks so much different now compared to the 1950s photo. The lane is very clean and uncluttered with hawker stalls. At the background a temple building has extended upwards and broader. It belongs to the well known Kwan Im Tng Temple at Tembeling Road                                    

Then & Now Joo Chiat (1)

In the early 20th century, the main thoroughfare between Geylang Serai and the East Coast was known as Confederate Estates Road. It was a dirt road suitable for bullock carts. Later it was taken over by the Municipality who constructed a proper road for motor vehicles. In 1917 the Confederate Estates Road was renamed as Joo Chiat Road
Below pictures show Joo Chiat Road's transformation from a coconut plantation to its present state.

                   Then                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Then                                                                        

Then                                                                       

Now