Articles about ‘90s kids’ are far too many online. Today, we’re going to throw all the way back to a time when our grandparents were young -- the 50s. Shirtless children running around kampungs defined the spirit of the 50s. It was a decade when people had no care about the paper chase or the 5Cs. The children played bare-foot in the fields while adults crouched at the steps of their attap houses and work was just for feeding the mouths under the same zinc roof.
The 50s also saw the rise of cultural icons that eventually shaped Singapore. Show your grandparents this list and you might be wowed by their memories from pre-independence Singapore.
Long gone are the circuses and fear of kicking over spittoons but these are nostalgic elements of our grandparents' past that you can talk about to see their eyes sparkle. Talking about the 50s would awaken the same nostalgia in our grandparents as it does for us when someone talks about waking up at 9am to catch our favourite cartoon programmes:
- We had privately-owned zoos with 50 cent entrance fees
- Magnolia's iconic pyramid-shaped milk packets
- A swimming pool that becomes women-only on Tuesdays
- A scheme for children to save money
- There was a legit reason to squat on chairs in coffee shops
- The Magnolia Ice-Cream man
- Mass weddings were really common
- The “OG” of TCM - the “Koh Yok” man
- $1 circus shows with wild animals
- "Burning the midnight oil" was literal
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Photos and memories from 1950s Singapore
It’s apt that Mimi Somjee named her furniture business Window to the Past – now WTP The Furniture Company. Having grown up here in the 1950s, this redoubtable woman is herself a window to a bygone era, and her Dalkeith Road home a reflection of a more gracious time. She talked to Verne Maree about her childhood memories.
Where were you born? In 1952 there was only one maternity hospital: Kandang Kerbau Hospital, now called KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. My elder brother always teased me that I was born in a cattle pen, because that’s the original meaning of kandang kerbau.
Where did you grow up? I grew up in a very privileged family, although at the time we didn’t realise how fortunate we were. Our family home was in Scotts Road, one of only eight bungalows. Incidentally, my father was born in 1925, in a house on the plot on which Tangs department store now stands. His father came to Singapore from western India in 1916 to assist his brother in his already successful trading business. Our extended family lived in two big houses, one of which was later rented out. The one I grew up in had formerly been a dance studio, and was used as a pleasure house during the Japanese Occupation. My mother remembers that it used to have an exquisite Japanese rock garden inside the entrance hallway. The property stretched down to what is now the middle of Scotts Road; we had a tennis court, fruit trees, chickens and our own eggs.
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1950s – Encik Yusof bin Ishak becomes the Head of State of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew becomes first PM, Hock Lee bus riots
"555" METAL CIGARETTE BOX
"In the 1950s, cigarettes were not sold in cardboard boxes. People could buy individual sticks off the shelf, from round metal boxes. Cigarettes were also packed in metal boxes like those that are shown in the photo. I kept two of these boxes as souvenirs."
related:
1900s & earlier
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s - Japanese Occupation of Singapore
1960s - HDB set up, Bukit Ho Swee fire, Spore becomes independent, race riots
1970s - SIA formed, National Stadium completed
1980s - Singapore Changi Airport starts operation, Hotel New World collapses
1990s - GCT becomes 2nd PM, E-W line of MRT, Ong Teng Cheong becomes
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Headlines that shook Singapore (since 1955)
Below is a collection of some of the biggest headlines that shook the Singapore society since 1955, when Singapore was given self-governance (Extending the timeline from the previous version of “1970 to Present”). The headlines are categorised into Social Unrest, Politics, Accidents, Terrorism, Disasters and Others.
Please feel free to contribute and I will update accordingly.
- 12 May 1955 – Hock Lee Bus Strike
- 24 October 1956 – Chinese Middle Schools Riots
- 25 May 1961 – Bukit Ho Swee Fire
- Merger with Malaysia (1962-1965)
- 21 July 1964 – Prophet Muhammad Birthday Riots
- 10 March 1965 – MacDonald House Bombing
- Post-Independence (1966-1970)
- 31 May to 6 June 1969 – Seven-Day Racial Riots
- Struggles of a New Nation (1971-1975)
- 21 November 1972 – Robinson’s Fire
- 31 January 1974 – Laju Incident
- Rapid Economic Growth (1976-1985)
- January/February 1981 – Adrian Lim Murders
- 29 January 1983 – Sentosa Cable Car Accident
- 12 December 1984 – Gruesome Curry Murder
- 02-04 December 1985 – Pan-Electric Crisis
- 15 March 1986 – New World Hotel Disaster
- 14 May 1987 – McDonald’s Boys
- 21 May, 20 June 1987 – Operation Spectrum
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Rare Color Photos of Singapore from the 1950s and 1960s
The emergence of Singapore as the heart of Asia’s economy has come with many challenges. From its days as a small and underdeveloped nation, Singapore has emerged from the tumultuous financial, social and political changes over the years to transform into the first-world metropolis that it is today.
But back in the 1950s and '60s when people had no care about the paper chase or the 5Cs. The children played bare-foot in the fields while adults crouched at the steps of their attap houses and work was just for feeding the mouths under the same zinc roof.
The 1950s and '60s also saw the rise of cultural icons that eventually shaped Singapore.
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Daily Life and people - Singapore 1950s and 1960s- never before seen photos
From work at the harbour to work at the funeral parlour to street vendors - these photos were taken by RAF serviceman Ted Wilkins and are a series of never before seen pictures of old Singapore.
related:
Opening of Peyar Lebar Airport - Never before seen set of pictures
Amazing aerial photos of old Singapore taken by the RAF seletar squadron
An interview with a Lorong Buangkok Kampong Resident
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Singapore fashion in the 1950s/60s
Fashion show at Raffles Hotel, Singapore, 1958
I ran across this interesting blog from Singapore with many images showing local fashions during the 1950s and 1960s.
I love seeing how fashion reacts, adapts and goes native, integrating local styles and materials, wherever it goes.
The blogger has watermarked all his images and obviously doesn’t want people to appropriate them, so I am only reposting one here (I will beg forgiveness rather than ask permission) — Check out his blog for further interesting images.
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1960S FASHION: THE LEGACY OF MADE-TO-MEASURE
Says retired personal assistant Carol de Souza: “They only needed to see a photo from Vogue or another magazine in order to turn out a dress that looked exactly like the photo.” She ought to know. From her teenage years until store-bought fashion became readily available in the 1970s, de Souza had to rely on tailors for all her sartorial needs, from career clothes to her wedding trousseau. And they never let her down. When she took all her Singapore-tailored outfits with her to Houston, Texas, where she had moved to in 1981, “the cheongsams from Mode-0-Day were always a hit with the guys!”
In the early 1950s, when the local retail scene was still undeveloped, the various ethnic groups would don their own cultural garb, while the Eurasians and British, Australian and New Zealand expat wives would be dressed in foreign fashion imports. These were only available from a handful of boutiques in Singapore. Fashion entrepreneur Judith Chung, who was a fashion reporter for The Sunday Times in the 1960s, still remembers one owner of such an exclusive establishment: the arresting Doris Geddes, an Australian who ran The Little Shop at the Raffles Hotel from 1947 for 30 years. According to the 1967 Olson’s Orient Guide, her speciality was “high fashion with an exotic touch” as she was a dressmaker as well as a retailer of “fine imports” from Asian craft to European couture dresses.
Geddes’ shop had upped the ante for Singapore tremendously in 1957 when Elizabeth Taylor, who was visiting Singapore with her third husband, film producer Mike Todd, wore a fitted strapless dress of Geddes’ own design to a Raffles Hotel dinner. According to a report in famoushotels.org, Taylor was overhead screaming at Geddes the day after because the dress had split at the seams in the middle of dinner. Not one to lose her cool, Geddes had reportedly retorted: “You should not have insisted on this dress, it was too small for you, I told you so!”
related: THE WAY WE WERE: FASHION THROUGH THE DECADES
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A trip back in time to the Singapore of the sixties
For anyone looking to take a trip down memory lane, or perhaps a trip back in time to catch a glimpse of what life might have been like in the Singapore of the 1960s, the Singapore 1960 exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore offers a chance to do just that.
The exhibition which opened on 3 June, the anniversary of self-government, runs up to 22 August and features a display of more than 300 items from the 1960s.
The exhibits include items which were commonly found in the 1960s as well as scenes of the life replayed in black and white providing a view into the vibrant cultural and entertainment scene of Singapore in the 1960s, including a view of the different “worlds”: Gay World, Great World, and New World, which played a big role in keeping Singaporeans amused and entertained.
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A time machine to the Singapore of the 60s
A part of Singapore we can never go back to. The view is of the waterfront and the Inner Roads from a vantage point just across the mouth of the Stamford Canal from Esplanade or Queen Elizabeth Walk. Land reclamation has since taken this view away, replacing it with a view that will include One Raffles Link and Esplanade Theatres by the Bay (David Ayres on Flickr).
It is wonderful that technology allows the wealth of photographs that exist of a Singapore we no longer see to be shared. Those especially taken by those whose stay in Singapore was temporary, offer perspectives of places as they were that the local might have thought little of capturing. One of my favourite sets of photographs are those of a David Ayres. Shared through a Flickr album Oldies SE Asia containing some 250 photographs, they take us back to Mr. Ayres’ days in the Royal Navy and include many scenes of places of the Singapore of my childhood that I would not otherwise have been able to ever see again.
Mr. Ayres interactions in Singapore came from his two stints at HMS Terror (now Sembawang Camp) in the Naval Base. The first in 1963/64, just about the time I was born, and again in 1966/67. Now 71, he finally managed a trip that he said he he just had to make having not been back to Singapore since he last saw it almost 50 years ago at the end of his second stint in 1967.
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Rare old photos of S’pore capture 1960s life, including sale of exotic meats
Such are the photographs of Theo A. Strijker (now 85 years of age), a Dutchman who was employed by Heineken to work at the Anchor Brewery in Alexandra area.
He and his wife, Lies Strijker-Klaij (76 years of age) lived in Singapore between 1961 and 1969, and within that time period, captured the everyday and ordinary life here in our tropical island city.
The couple agreed to share their photos with us, so brace yourselves — they’re gorgeous.
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From Villages to Flats – The Kampong Days
Singapore’s Last Kampong
On the other hand, the community, or kampong, spirit is lost when more people tends to coop themselves up in their own flats nowadays, and interaction with neighbours become a rarity. Children of the newer generation have also lost the chance to come in contact with nature; many of them probably have not seen a live rooster in their life.
Nevertheless, there is still one kampong existing on mainland Singapore today, although the land it is standing on is currently facing the prospect of being acquired by the government.
related:
Singapore 1960s
Singapore 1970s
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This rare 1960s film on S’pore’s economy reveals we were once big-time farmers and shippers
In the last 50 to 60 years, Singapore has developed at a blistering pace to the point that what our little island is today is almost unrecognisable from its past.
We came across a fascinating short film that gives us an intriguing look into how our economy functioned and what its main drivers were, though — entitled “Mangrove to Metropolis“, this mid-1960s work by Cathay Film Services provides a glimpse into what made the Singapore metropolis of the 1960s (yes, it wasn’t a fishing village then) tick.
The 1960s was an eventful period for Singapore. It transitioned from full internal self-government (1959 to 1963) to being part of the Federation of Malaysia (1963 to 1965), and subsequently became independent in 1965. Singapore’s rapid development and transformation into what it is today began from that period.
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Here are pictures to prove that S’pore was not a fishing village before LKY and 1965
When Singapore became independent in 1965, the island that began as a fishing village at the time of Raffles’ founding in 1819 had already grown into an important port city.
However, 1965 Singapore was still much less developed than the likes of Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia, which the Singapore of today is comparable with.
Since Singapore became a fully self-governing country in 1959 under founding prime minister (PM) Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), Singapore’s meteoric development from third world to first is well-known.
related: These photos of 1960s S’pore were rejected in a competition. Today they win our nostalgic senses
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Ways Done in the Past - Medicine Man
"Medicine Man in Chinatown c 1960s"
At the suggestion of Facebook friend, Kok Ah Wang, I found these archived related photos of 'medicine man' curated with the courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore.
Before working on this blog, I posted these photos on my Facebook timeline and wrote: Pls share memories of our nostalgia friends of ways done in the past for traditional medical treatments for toothache, headache, backache, sprained arms or legs, etc. These "hai kow yew" or "buay koh yok" ("卖膏药") were the alternative licensed and trained doctors with recognised MBBS certificates".
These are a few of the comments I received the responses from my Facebook friends with thanks.
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Chinatown’s Sago Lane was once a street of death houses, they were a necessary part of life in the past
In the past when most Chinese immigrants lived in crammed quarters in the Chinatown area, the terminally ill would go to a death house where they literally awaited their fate – death.
Death houses were so prominent on Sago Lane that people called it sei yan gai – ‘Dead People Street’ in Cantonese. On the surface, a death house seems morbid, but it was a needed service for the early Chinese immigrants – many of whom arrived in Singapore with no kith or kin.
Chinese superstition dictates that death must never occur in a house or it would bring bad luck to its inhabitants.
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British photographer who took photos of S’pore in 1966 came back in 2016
David Ayres, 73, is an avid photographer. He was once part of the British Royal Navy and came to Singapore twice in the 1960s.
His first trip here was in 1963 to 1964, and second trip in 1966 to 1967.
Based at Sembawang Naval Base, Ayres took plenty of photos both times he was in Singapore, both in colour and black-and-white.
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80-year-old cleaner takes stunning photos of 1960s & 1970s S’pore
Lui Hock Seng is an 80-year-old with a love for photography
When he is not at work as a cleaner, he explores Singapore with a camera hoping to capture shots within different neighbourhoods.
Lui’s interest in photography started in the late 1950s. He joined a photographic club, the Southeast Asia Photographic Society, so he could learn the skill and art of it.
His first camera was a Rolleiflex mechanical camera, a gift from his elder brother. It was a top-of-the-range camera which cost $300 — a huge sum back in those days.
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Singapore's Cityscape: 1960s-1970s
HOCK NAM STREET SCENE. Source: MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND THE ARTS (MITA) FONDS
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A walk down memory lane: Singapore in the 60s and 70s
Residents cleaning up their estate in 1968. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
How did Singapore go from third world to first?
Because of the spirit of our leaders and the pioneer generation and the foundations they laid for future generations.
In his National Day Message for the nation's Jubilee broadcast today (Aug 8), PM Lee Hsien Loong celebrated the city-state's achievements with a walk down memory lane.
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Images of Singapore in 60s & 70s
These are precious old images of Singapore in the 1960s and 1970s
related:
A Glimse of Singapore's Past
Old Singapore
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French photographer in his 80s donates 182 of his old photos of 1970s S’pore street life
Piollet was in Singapore in the 1970s and captured many photos of street-life here.
This included street food vendors, street opera, and even funerals.
Recently, Piollet donated 182 photos of Singapore to the National Archives of Singapore (NAS). All the photos can be viewed online.
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10 things to know about the 70s
The Straits Times and Business Times are organising an all-star concert in August to celebrate 50 years of popular music in Singapore. In the second of a five-part series, RACHEL CHAN looks at the entertainment scene in the past 50 years in the run-up to the concert:
- Operation Snip Snip
- Songs banned on radio
- Hike in entertainment taxes
- Kung Fu Fighting
- The first colour TV programme
- Divas of Malay pop
- Covers of English songs in Chinese and Malay
- Disco fever
- Yu Ya
- The rise and fall of Bruce Lee
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Masagos gives mini-history lesson on role of hawker centres in S’pore from 1970s till now
Masagos shared that since the early 1970s, hawker centres were built to resettle street hawkers to “improve hygiene and food safety standards”.
However, over time, “a good number” of these first- and second-generation hawkers, who “receive cheap subsidised rentals, only work short hours”, he added. Masagos shared this observation:
“I was at Shunfu Mart Food Centre during a recent Ministerial Community Visit in Bishan East-Thomson Constituency. The hawkers only open for breakfast and lunch; some even just for breakfast. Residents do not have access to affordable food in the evening.”But Masagos was quick to add that hawkers’ well-being must at the same time be safeguarded given that hawker work is physically demanding.
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These photos from the 1980s show how much S’pore has changed
Market and roadside scenes - There are two ways to view the following two photos. They can either be:
- The freshest meat you’ll ever find in Singapore (Farm to table amirite?)
- Your worst sanitation nightmare.
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Singapore 50 years before the millennium
Women along streets of Singapore, 1957
Ask any Singaporean what our local style was and they'll probably compare it to the Southeast Asian delight rojak, of which the dish's name means 'mixture' in Malay. Given our varied racial makeup, there was no single definitive traditional garment that spanned our little island. Tacked onto that was clothing from across the pond — namely, the suit and tie and A-line dress — that also influenced our local style lexicon due to the British presence on our island nation.
Decades on today, the convergence in the type of garments we favour on the daily is as sure as our independence; the threads that hark our tapestry of cultures now tucked away for special occassions. So, as Singapore celebrates its 52nd birthday, we take the opportunity to reminisce the clothing of our past: Some nostalgic reminders of our colourful traditions, some nods at external influences and intermingling cultures. Above, browse a visual diary of clothing in Singapore from the '50s till the '90s.
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The complete history of Fashion in Singapore: A Story of Style through the Ages
Women’s clothing became more Westernised in the 1950s
Think of Singapore and a canvas of rich, vibrant images springs to mind. A melting pot of cultures, beliefs and traditions, it's this ethnic diversity that gives the country its multi-faceted universal appeal. Nowhere is this eclectic blend more visible than in the fashion landscape of what has fast become the fashion capital of South-East Asia.
East meets West in Singapore - How would one describe the fashion market in Singapore? If sales and figures are anything to go by, this island city-state is leading the way in apparel sales and income in Asia. Annually, the clothing industry nets in profits of SGD4.4 billion (or US$3.6 billion) – that translates to a 2% stake of the fashion market worldwide. Home-grown brands like Charles and Keith are just a sample of the world standard of Singaporean brands. It's a little-known fact that Singapore is the biggest supplier for international brands like Nike, Gap and Macy's - impressive for a country only half a century old.
Over the course of those fifty years, fashion within the country has transformed greatly along with the changing times. From the late 1950s to the present, we explore the changing face of fashion in Singapore.
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SG50 Special: Singapore Fashion
Singapore, are you getting excited yet?? We sure are! It’s just 2 more weeks to SG50!
For this week’s SG50 Special, we have been looking at the fashion trends and changes since 1950s! It was an interesting research time for us and not only did we knew about fashion, we also knew more about the culture and the living habits of Singaporeans back in the olden days:
- 1950s:Singaporean women were given more freedom than in the 1940s and hence could have more chances to interact with different races and ethnicities in the neighbourhood. Hence, women mixed and match traditional and western garments/accessories to achieve a more modern look. Men’s fashion was generally the same with white crisp shirts and long pants for formal days.
- 1960s: Fashion in the 1960s were mainly inspired by the ‘a-go-go’ period which spelled mini-skirts, bell bottom jeans, flashy colored outfits and bold prints. With the introduction of Western fashion, this was also where the shift dresses became popular and women started to dress more ‘loudly’ and ‘daringly’. Stiletto heels, bikinis and short dresses were just some popular choices. High-waisted fitted skirts, scarves and batik prints were also found to be popular choices. Not all women dressed like that in the 1960s though. There were still conservative women who stuck to plain and more modest cheongsam tops and pants.
- 1970s :New international brands were introduced and the jeans trend started to kick off.
- 1980s-1990s:Influences of overseas fashion became stronger as Singapore became more willing to invest and focus on this industry. Recession hit in the mid 80s and people’s focus was on career wear, on comfortable and functional wear. This period was also the rise of the local fashion designers in Singapore and Singapore started to develop more shopping centres and this signifies the rise in demand for fashionable clothes. Imports from the bustling ports of Singapore made trendy Singaporeans more exposed to foreign fabrics and styles. This contributed largely to Singaporeans fashion sense. Even in the early days, Singapore was exposed to different types of cultures and clothing and it has definitely shaped our fashion in some way or another.
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Time-travelling in Singapore
Open up any of your social media feeds and you’ll be flooded by your friends sharing posts of 90s routines, rustic restaurants, or even toys from your childhood. There’s always something about the past that people find themselves attracted to.
Yet, in Singapore’s push for modernity, many of these sights have disappeared. Gone are the days of MILO tins, typewriters and big fat computers.
Or are they? With a little image manipulation, we bring the 70s back into modern day Singapore. These interpretations will probably get your parents doing double-takes for the entirety of the article.
- The not-too-smart phone
- The retro soundbox
- The time-travelling public bus
- The MILO cashiers
- The typewriter and its future
- Market within a mall
- The supercar of old
- The shorts parade
- The window-sized Mac
- The slow-dem and the WiFi Mesh
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2000 onwards: Tissue paper packet
Tissue packets are sold the world over, but nowhere else in the world are they used as markers to reserve – also known as “chope” – a seat in a food court or hawker centre.
It is not known when this practice started or how it came about, but news articles about this quirky method of reserving a seat have been written over the last 10 years.
Some have branded it typical Singapore “kiasu” behaviour, while others have praised it, saying it is a creative way to let others know a seat is taken.
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