Thursday, October 25, 2007

Roundabout Quiz 2



Question 1.

What was the name of the roundabout located at the junction of Tanglin Road, Napier Road and Grange Road? It had a beautiful fountain in the centre and pineapple shrubs planted around it. See photos below from the collection of the National Archives of Singapore.



Question 2.

What was the name of hotel next to it? Below are some hints courtesy of Peter Chan.

1. This hotel was built by Khoo Teck Puat and named after a country.

2. Then it was sold to a HK consortium and acquired a new name.

3. It had a basement disco and the interiors were plastered with red bricks. The first name of the disco was called THE PUB but later became known as THE LONDON SCENE.

4. The first band to perform every night was Heather and the Thunderbirds. My band, THE REFLECTIONS played there in 1972. We played as the second band.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Q1
Tanglin Circle
Q2
Hotel Malaysia

You played in a band!!Wow. What instrument?

Anonymous said...

Question 1: dunno
Question 2: dunno

New name - Marco Polo Hotel

Ha ha, that's all I know.

Lam Chun See said...

Well done! Answers are: Tanglin Circus (not Circle), Hotel Malaysia and Marco Polo Hotel.

Lam Chun See said...

Here's a follow-up question. Later there was a nearby hotel named Hotel Malaysia. Where was it located?

Anonymous said...

On Cuscaden Road -owned by the Goodwood Park Hotel ppl. Now empty piece of ladn next to Hard Rock Cafe. Could be the back of the Four Seasons Hotel.

Anonymous said...

anybody heard about RASA SINGAPURA of the 1980s? Make a guess on its location

Victor said...

I think I know the answer to the follow-up question. Hotel Malaysia was at Claymore Drive, behind Orchard Towers.

Victor said...

Now it's called Meritus Negara Hotel.

Anonymous said...

No lah the one at Claymore Drive was Hotel Negara

Victor said...

Oops. :P

Lam Chun See said...

Peter's answer is correct for the 2nd Hotel Negara. It was much smaller than the first one.

I think Rasa Singapura was at somewhere present Tanglin Mall or Tourism Centre. I have a couple of photos of the place. They used to have model bullock cart there.

Ngiam Shih Tung said...

There also used to be a Singapore Handicraft Centre and a Cultural Theatre where they used to have tacky "Instant Asia" shows. Rasa Singapura was part of the same complex. All located where Tanglin Mall/Traders Hotel are now.

There are some photos of the Handicraft centre under construction on picas, including a view of Tanglin Circus.

http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/picas/public/internetSearch/advancedSearch.jsp?thesaurusFlag=Y&simpleSearch=singapore%20handicraft%20centre%20tanglin

Ngiam Shih Tung said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Ngiam:
"Instant Asia" Show was once held in a bungalow house during the ealry 1970s in Jalan Loyang Besar, near the former SAF Loyang Camp. It was run by a British x-sailor who later helped to put up the Sentosa Coralarium. When we were doing NS there, we used to go and see the show; typically Malay cultural dances. After the place was demolished the show went to Singapore Handicraft Center. I still can remember that bungalow had a wall panel full of sea-shells.

TRY N GUESS WHERE IS JALAN LOYANG BESAR TODAY? Only the end of Jalan Loyang Besar terminating near NTUC Club Pasir Ris Escapeworld(?) still remains.

Next door to this Jalan Loyang Besar bungalow was the SIA Holiday Bungalow which was used by the airline cabin crew. As usual in the army any girl dressed up with tight-fitting sarong kebaya was good looking, if u know what I mean.

Anonymous said...

your blog's awesome. :)

Lam Chun See said...

Peter. It just occurred to me that in 1972, you were only 18 years or so right? That means you have not even gone into NS?

I am afraid not too familiar with that part of Spore. I do know that it has changed a lot recently.

Lam Chun See said...

Correction - my comment above. I meant:

Peter's answer is correct for the 2nd Hotel Malaysia. It was much smaller than the first one.

Anonymous said...

Hello, I remember Rasa Sayang was located at where they are building the St.Regis Residences now. The broad pathway just outside of Dan Ryan's was the same pathway leading to Rasa Sayang, just across Tomlinson Road. Yes I remember the dummy Bullock Cart too.

I was about 5yrs old when I remembered my mum bringing me along to Rasa Sayang, to eat the famous "Bonus" Chicken Rice. What's so "Bonus" about the Chicken Rice you may ask. Turns out that my 5 year-old ears didn't understand the word "boneless". I could only hear "bonus" because I was playing arcade games at the shopping centres every weekend then. :p

Anonymous said...

Scavin:
It should be "Rasa Singapura". It was open-air hawker center where Traders Hotel is now. St Regis was once a row of shophouses, opposite to the Jade House.

Victor said...

Peter - Rasa Singapura was not open-air. There was no air-con but there was a roof. The lower level was the car park while the hawker centre was on the upper level.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, Rasa Singapura.

I remembered it having 2 storeys, with the food stalls on the 2nd level. Can't remember exactly what was on the lower level though. But I've seen the pictures at picas website. Now I got my orientation correct. Thanks Peter/Victor.

Baba Rich said...

Yes, the first 'Instant Asia' show was in Loyang Besar by the beach. It was owned & run by an angmo by the name of John Smith. He had retired from the British forces here, bought this place by the sea and organised the Malay villagers to come up with an 'Instant Asia' show that STPB then discovered as a gem of a place. It was called Saujana (Smith) Villa. I had the rare chance of being invited 2C this home made cultural show. Smith got old and passed on. Redevelopment creped in and all good things came to a sad end. Some of the performers carried on his show-repertoire with Mr Preggar who was GM of the old Raffles Hotel (B4 renovation and being taken over by DBSLand). It became the Singapore Sling Cultural Show until the mid-1980s.

STPB (SGP Tourist Promotion Board) tried to 'up-market' the 'Instant Asia' show by building a new cultural theatre next to The S'pore Handicraft Centre', Rasa Singapura. But by then, such cultural shows became tourist traps & the commercialism robbed of real cultural values. The building became a nite club called Atlantis (which soon sank and submerged). After many years later, they're All demolished, becoming today's Tourism Court, Hotel & Tanglin Mall!

Lam Chun See said...

Baba Rich. Thanks for contributing that very interesting background info about Instant Asia.

Anonymous said...

This was probably answered--I scrolled through the comments--Hotel Malaysia was later called the Marco Polo and was located on Tanglin Circus.