Five on Friday: 5 ways to step back in time in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Heritage Festival signs off this week after another successful stint delivering nostalgia and tidbits from yesteryear.

But why let the fun stop there?

Hard as it may be to believe, stepping back in time does not have to be a yearly affair. Scratch the surface of glossy, glassy Singapore and you’ll find many ways to connect with numerous strands of bygone eras.

After all, Singapore is not just a city zooming into the future, it’s also a continuum stretching back 200 years. Yup, there’s a hunk of old stuff, old places and even old-school hobbies to enjoy on a daily basis here.

So, put away that smartphone. Get out your lomo, pack your 555 notebook and take a plunge down the retro rabbit hole.

GETTING DOWN WITH ART DECO

Could there be a more handsome style of architecture than Art Deco? With its OCD-pandering symmetry, its bold use of anthropomorphic curves, decorative twists, geometric forms and clean lines, no other architectural movement perfectly captured the zeitgeist of an era quite like it did.  

A bit of background, if you will: The 20th century was a period of unrivalled technological advancement and Art Deco, as a burgeoning aesthetic movement, sought to incorporate and express the speed and intensity – through swishes, swooping facades, curved walls, speed lines and stepped profiles – at which electricity, the motorcar, radio, trains, planes and ocean liners were fast transforming life in the period between the world wars.

At least now you’ll know why certain buildings look the way they do when you traipse around town.

And while Art Deco isn’t quite as common as it is in New York, Chicago or Miami Beach, there’s enough to go around.

Among the highlights: The rectilinear wonder that is the Asia Insurance Building off Raffles Place; the thick-set Old Tanjong Pagar Railway Station; the streamlined moderne sensibility of Old Kallang Airport; and the architectural curiosity that is Parkview Square – aka the Gotham Building.

If you are the ambulatory sort, there are Art Deco clusters to go on walking tours of – particularly around Chinatown, Little India and Tiong Bahru, where a conspicuous feature of the 1950s flats is their pillbox gun turret-like staircases.

YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND – IN SUNGEI ROAD

Ever wanted to know what it was like to get hold of music in a time before Spotify? Well, you’ve got two months left.  

Back in the day, you could, after enjoying a steaming bowl of laksa for S$0.50 in a coffeeshop by Rochor Canal, amble down one of Sungei Road’s offshoot lanes and find yourself in the middle of a thriving bazaar. You could find just about anything here, from wigs to taps, bicycles and even pets.

But one of the real pulls of Sungei Road was its music purveyors. You’d be able to find boxes upon boxes of records from Motown to punk or, if you’re really lucky, a stash of Paul Anka and Nana Mouskouri EPs.

Best of all, these music selling uncles also sold record players.

And props to them, even if it was a tenth-hand turntable, it would still work. In the old days, very few of them sold stuff that didn’t work. If items weren’t in working condition, the sellers would find a way to get them repaired before they put them up for sale.

These days, while records can still be found, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone selling a turntable in working order. With Sungei Road reduced to a sliver of its former self, there’s naturally a limit to what you can find.

But who knows: Sungei Road’s charm lies in never knowing what you may find. You could head there tomorrow and come away with a sputtering, albeit functioning, turntable. Therein lies its (soon-to-be-gone) charm.

BRIC-A-BRAC BOUNTY

In the days before Sungei Road was scaled down, you’d be able to find much more than worn out white goods, rare LPs, barely functioning transistors, records and spare parts.

But all the good old stuff haven’t disappeared for good. There are still a few places where you’d be able to find them.

Odds n Collectibles on 128 Telok Ayer Street is a true imaginarium of period pieces, from rusting clocks to antique rotary phones and rickety typewriters. This is one of the few places in the city to head for if you’re looking to pimp out your pad as a retro niche.

Elsewhere, Yasashii Trading in Bukit Merah (#01-114, Block 123 Bukit Merah Lane 1) is another vintage furniture shop that is a potpourri of evocative knickknacks from ivory bird cages, to ornate grandfather clocks and bulky cathode ray tubes masquerading as furniture.

You’ll also find seasoned copies of Life and National Geographic, soft drink signs, old-fashioned amplifiers and speakers – and even an elegant armoire here.

OLD SCHOOL GRUB

Back in the day when school was out and your exam results good, you could always look forward to a treat at Swensen’s.

Even today, long after the banana split went out fashion, there’s something out of the ordinary about tucking into its creamy goodness amid the stained glass finery of a Swensen’s outlet.

It’s kinda cute that some old school culinary faves continue to cling on for dear life. 

If you thought the banana split was an antediluvian number best left to the 80s, then what about the disremembered dessert that is the peach melba?

Would you also like plate of lobster thermidore and a bowl of prawn cocktail to go with that? You would? Then step into The Ship Bar & Restaurant (#03-16/18, 1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre) for an ineffable platter of long forgotten comestibles.

Another yum throwback treat: The baked potato with sour cream and crispy bacon bits at Jack’s Place.

THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT

No one does retro better than the dead.

A jaunt of Singapore’s cemeteries is always a neat way to get in touch with a past long gone. With its expansive grounds and visitor-friendly paths, Bukit Brown is always worth a visit – even if to only check out the many luminaries (Chew Boon Lay, Chew Joo Chiat, Gan Eng Seng) that rest there.

But there are two lesser known graveyards worth poking about in.

One is the Japanese Cemetery Park in Chuan Hoe Avenue, where you’ll learn about the sizeable Japanese community that existed in Singapore before World War II. There’s also a memorial here for 135 Japanese war criminals executed at Changi Prison for wartime atrocities.

Another cemetery to head for is the Kubur Kassim cemetery in Siglap which served as a burial ground for many prominent Muslims in the area. Some grave plots here are dedicated to the Orang Bunian, which are supernatural human-like beings from Malay folklore. Spooo-keh!