Joo Chiat Road
Today it is difficult to imagine that Joo Chiat Road was once a muddy cart track in a rural area owned by one man as an arterial road to his own properties. Thanks to his generosity (or self interest), the road has gradually become a beacon of racial and class harmony in Singapore, at least on the subset.
Roads are formed over time, but not all roads manage to keep their historical imprint intact, practicalities for their local residents and allow one to trace back through its phases of development. Character requires the test of time.
As a resident in the area would perhaps realize quickly, even if we were in the pre-internet age, one could survive quite well without stepping out of Joo Chiat Road. But functional practicalities aside, it is the community dynamism and racial harmony that makes this road so full of character.
Let us embark on a thought-induced tour beginning from Geylang Serai.
Functional Dynamism
At the start of the street, the classic Joo Chiat Complex stands as a well documented trading hub for Malays around the region - here you can get textiles and fabrics to make some good clothing. An NTUC Fairprice stands right by the Joo Chiat Road entrance where I, as a former resident, did my regular grocery shopping. Take a spin inside the handful of corridors inside the complex one would find multiple interior design companies ready for those looking for a home makeover.
Across the road from the complex is a kitchen utensils store which sells pots, pans in all sorts of sizes and material. Amongst shoppers, occasional upgrade of kitchen supplies, but more importantly the adjacent store offers customized freezing facilities for those running a food business.
In short, without going more than 20 meters in the road, residents and certain sectors of small business owners can already meet their daily demands.
Racial Harmony in the Singapore Way
Further down the road two Indian run wholesale grocery traders occupy the streets supplying F&B business needs. Walking during daytime one could observe the big sacks of onions, garlic, and oil containers neatly stacked on the roadside of the store fronts and alongside the shade under pillars of peranakan shophouses.
Masjid Khalid sits quietly not far further down the road. The modest mosque is built in the same architectural style typical of the Malayan peninsula - orange brick roof that slants roughly at 30 degrees (useful feature for the daily tropical showers). For the passersby on Joo Chiat, however, one probably notices more of the metal roof that covers the open area outside the mosque, and its relatively low walls with a green and white sign that adorns the mosque’s name. On Friday jumaa, believers fill the mosque and spill onto Joo Chiat Road, praying in unity to fulfill their religious obligations.
Around this area is where Little Vietnam begins. During daylight, this section of the road is home to multiple Vietnamese eateries, offering the usual Vietnamese delights such as banh mi, pho, com tam. At around 5pm onward, this tranquil world begins to transform into another scene. Girls with heavy makeup on and dressed in exposed manner finish their supper and start frequenting the streets, enjoying light conversation. By nightfall, activity is centered on bars with their outdoor glass opaquely covered. On occasion when the door is opened, loud karaoke music lurks out with an uncle singing off tune. What follows are middle-upper aged Asian men, who seem to enjoy hanging about in the streets outside bars, often with a beer in hand.
Muslim faithfuls and karaoke bar girls thus take their turns breathing life into the road harmoniously, each keeping their activities within their own time and space, rarely interacting with each other. An embodiment of racial harmony Singaporean style.
Gentrification & Old Time Residents
The lower sections of the street are more results of a eastern gentrification, an extension from the ever-vibrant crossroads of Katong I12, targeting local expat residents, yuppie crowd, and weekend dine-out families.
The first obvious gentrification establishments are the restaurants offering myriad cuisines from different parts of the world - Thai, Malay, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese seafood, ba kut teh. These F&B establishments are more tightly located nearing East Coast Road, and start scattering toward the upper section.
Targeting a similar crowd alongside restaurants are fitness facilities scattered along the road, mostly on second floors or the peranakan shophouses. There are yoga gyms, fitness clubs, wellness centers, spas. It is not an uncommon sight to see young professionals bringing yoga mats during weeknights and weekdays.
But other modest sports clubs are also present on the upper sections of the street. There's a basketball club near the garden in the middle section of the road. The most eye-catching sporting facility is a boxing ring tucked inside the walls of the Singapore Gujarati School - a sight that still perplexes me to this day.
The final component of a gentrified economic circle are stores offering lifestyle non-essential goods and services. They include several boutique stores selling specially designed notebooks and key chains, vinyl records, pet grooming stores, stylish furniture stores, and fancy international playgroups.
Among all this, it is the residents that stand witness to changes through time. Throughout the road there remain multiple old style residential blocks, built in I guess 1980s or 90s, those typically with a larger floor space. For whom whose roots have fixed in the neighborhood, they will be loyal customers to the businesses of the street regardless which outside visitors frequent the streets. And for their loyalty they are rewarded with a ring of residential essential services which have withstood the test of time - laundry services, car dealerships, small scale corner shops.
To quote an oft-used modern day buzzword - Joo Chiat Road has formed its own ecosystem. But the most valuable of all things on this road is its dynamism, both in range of services targeting different crowds that have developed over time, and racial groups living harmoniously, going about their business in their appropriate corner. Joo Chiat Road will always be my personal version of the ultimate miniature version of Singapore.
Roads are formed over time, but not all roads manage to keep their historical imprint intact, practicalities for their local residents and allow one to trace back through its phases of development. Character requires the test of time.
As a resident in the area would perhaps realize quickly, even if we were in the pre-internet age, one could survive quite well without stepping out of Joo Chiat Road. But functional practicalities aside, it is the community dynamism and racial harmony that makes this road so full of character.
Let us embark on a thought-induced tour beginning from Geylang Serai.
Functional Dynamism
At the start of the street, the classic Joo Chiat Complex stands as a well documented trading hub for Malays around the region - here you can get textiles and fabrics to make some good clothing. An NTUC Fairprice stands right by the Joo Chiat Road entrance where I, as a former resident, did my regular grocery shopping. Take a spin inside the handful of corridors inside the complex one would find multiple interior design companies ready for those looking for a home makeover.
Across the road from the complex is a kitchen utensils store which sells pots, pans in all sorts of sizes and material. Amongst shoppers, occasional upgrade of kitchen supplies, but more importantly the adjacent store offers customized freezing facilities for those running a food business.
In short, without going more than 20 meters in the road, residents and certain sectors of small business owners can already meet their daily demands.
Racial Harmony in the Singapore Way
Further down the road two Indian run wholesale grocery traders occupy the streets supplying F&B business needs. Walking during daytime one could observe the big sacks of onions, garlic, and oil containers neatly stacked on the roadside of the store fronts and alongside the shade under pillars of peranakan shophouses.
Masjid Khalid sits quietly not far further down the road. The modest mosque is built in the same architectural style typical of the Malayan peninsula - orange brick roof that slants roughly at 30 degrees (useful feature for the daily tropical showers). For the passersby on Joo Chiat, however, one probably notices more of the metal roof that covers the open area outside the mosque, and its relatively low walls with a green and white sign that adorns the mosque’s name. On Friday jumaa, believers fill the mosque and spill onto Joo Chiat Road, praying in unity to fulfill their religious obligations.
Around this area is where Little Vietnam begins. During daylight, this section of the road is home to multiple Vietnamese eateries, offering the usual Vietnamese delights such as banh mi, pho, com tam. At around 5pm onward, this tranquil world begins to transform into another scene. Girls with heavy makeup on and dressed in exposed manner finish their supper and start frequenting the streets, enjoying light conversation. By nightfall, activity is centered on bars with their outdoor glass opaquely covered. On occasion when the door is opened, loud karaoke music lurks out with an uncle singing off tune. What follows are middle-upper aged Asian men, who seem to enjoy hanging about in the streets outside bars, often with a beer in hand.
Muslim faithfuls and karaoke bar girls thus take their turns breathing life into the road harmoniously, each keeping their activities within their own time and space, rarely interacting with each other. An embodiment of racial harmony Singaporean style.
Gentrification & Old Time Residents
The lower sections of the street are more results of a eastern gentrification, an extension from the ever-vibrant crossroads of Katong I12, targeting local expat residents, yuppie crowd, and weekend dine-out families.
The first obvious gentrification establishments are the restaurants offering myriad cuisines from different parts of the world - Thai, Malay, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese seafood, ba kut teh. These F&B establishments are more tightly located nearing East Coast Road, and start scattering toward the upper section.
Targeting a similar crowd alongside restaurants are fitness facilities scattered along the road, mostly on second floors or the peranakan shophouses. There are yoga gyms, fitness clubs, wellness centers, spas. It is not an uncommon sight to see young professionals bringing yoga mats during weeknights and weekdays.
But other modest sports clubs are also present on the upper sections of the street. There's a basketball club near the garden in the middle section of the road. The most eye-catching sporting facility is a boxing ring tucked inside the walls of the Singapore Gujarati School - a sight that still perplexes me to this day.
The final component of a gentrified economic circle are stores offering lifestyle non-essential goods and services. They include several boutique stores selling specially designed notebooks and key chains, vinyl records, pet grooming stores, stylish furniture stores, and fancy international playgroups.
Among all this, it is the residents that stand witness to changes through time. Throughout the road there remain multiple old style residential blocks, built in I guess 1980s or 90s, those typically with a larger floor space. For whom whose roots have fixed in the neighborhood, they will be loyal customers to the businesses of the street regardless which outside visitors frequent the streets. And for their loyalty they are rewarded with a ring of residential essential services which have withstood the test of time - laundry services, car dealerships, small scale corner shops.
To quote an oft-used modern day buzzword - Joo Chiat Road has formed its own ecosystem. But the most valuable of all things on this road is its dynamism, both in range of services targeting different crowds that have developed over time, and racial groups living harmoniously, going about their business in their appropriate corner. Joo Chiat Road will always be my personal version of the ultimate miniature version of Singapore.
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