While in Chinatown, Every Face Has A Story To Tell, Every Story Seeks To Be Heard...., some places too had stories to be told...
One such place was the Great Southern Hotel or the Nam Tim (meaning "southern sky" in Cantonese) Built in the 1930s, it was one of the tallest buildings of its times in Chinatown, the first hotel in Chinatown to have an elevator.
The Great Southern Hotel catered more to Chinese travellers, including celebrities from Hong Kong and China, unlike the upmarket hotels like Raffles Hotel, which then accommodated mainly Europeans. As a boutique hotel with shops and entertainment outlets for rich Chinese immigrants, the Great Southern Hotel was considered as the "Raffles Hotel of Chinatown".
The Great Southern had a creepy side to it - being the tallest building in the area, it was a popular place for suicide attempts...
The hotel’s Great Southern Cabaret and Southern Restaurant were legendary, patronised by prominent personalities of that time. The Great Southern Cabaret was located on the 6th floor and was an open-air cabaret where guest enjoyed a bird’s eye view of the surrounding area. It was one of the most glamorous places for wealthy Chinese to gather. Guests could buy tickets to dance with hostess. After a night at the Southern Cabaret, guests often invited hostess for supper at the neighboring Pearl Market.
Equally famous was the Great Southern Restaurant where operas were performed as entertainment for guests. The operas were later replaced with song performance by female artiste. While enjoying the performance, guests would sip tea and sample South Restaurant’s variety of snacks. Although many restaurants had opera performances, a visit to Southern Restaurant was something special. The elevator ride was a novelty and going to a place where the rich and famous gathered added a magical touch to the experience.
(Source: http://www.chinatownology.com/)
Faced with competition, the hotel had to shut shop in the 1990s and was sold to a Hong Kong based conglomerate, which opened a departmental store here. Today, it's known as the Yue Hwa Building. Law mandates that the facade of the building be preserved.
While moneyed folk entertained themselves at the Great Southern, the commonfolk had to make do with teahouses, theatres and opium dens...
In the 1920s, Chinatown got another landmark, the Majestic Theatre that hosted Cantonese operas as well as the occasional silent movie.
In 2003, Majestic Theatre was converted into a shopping center, which shutdown in 2007. Today, the building is unused.
Glimpses of Chinatown in the 1930s...
A layout of the area from the thirties...
Tailoring was a craft that became popular in Chinatown...
When we see Singapore's glitz and glamour, litle do we realise that it had a not so pleasant past, but what matters is that the city-state came out of it...
A simple lifestyle described the lives of the folk here.
Those days were tough....
With currents of change, Chinatown and Singapore as a nation transformed itself...
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