WALKING DOWN MEMORY LANE: BEACH ROAD

This is the Shaw Tower on Beach Road.

In the early sixties or so, where the land on which the building now stands, was the location of one of Singapore's oldest cinemas, known as the Alhambra. Next to it, were rows of satay (meat on skewers, mainly chicken, beef or mutton) stalls, often known collectively as the 'Satay Club'.

In those days, the Alhambra was nicknamed as 'Hai Kee', a colloquial term for 'seaside', due to its proximity to the sea.

The reason why I could remember it so well is that, I had watched my first action movie in Singapore with my late 4th eldest brother, Say Ching, who had brought me there.

[Although born in Singapore, I was brought up in Johore, Malaysia as a teenager, & often returned to Singapore to visit my elder sisters & brothers. Also during the mid-sixties, I had attended the Singapore Polytechnic.]

The movie was 'One Eyed Jacks', starring the one & only Marlon Brando & Karl Malden. It was a taut story about vengeance, against the backdrop of the wild wild west, revolving around two bank robbers, who started off as bosom buddies but ended up as mortal enemies.

One (played by Marlon Brando) was betrayed, caught & locked up in jail, while the other (played by Karl Malden) escaped & later became a sheriff. As usual in such movies, & to complicate the plot, the sheriff's beautiful daughter got caught unwittingly in the middle.

[In the movie, the 'one-eyed jack' referred to one side of the sheriff's personality, the crooked side of the past, known only to his bosum buddy, who was betrayed.]

Interestingly, I read that the Alhambra was built during the early 1900's, in the days of the silent films, by the late Tan Cheng Kee, considered a pioneer of the motion picture industry in Singapore.

If I recall correctly, there was another cinema, located next to it, known as Marlborough, which featured mostly Chinese movies.

Also, the bus depot of the now-defunct Tay Koh Yat Bus Co., the precursor to today's ultra-modern SBS Transit, which ran all those old ramshackled buses in Singapore during the sixties, was located nearby too.

Probably, on hindsight, I reckon the mixture of dirty fumes from the old cranky buses might have contributed to the gastronomical wonder of the 'Satay Club' during those days.

I also remember distinctly that part of the excitement of savouring at the 'Satay Club' came from sitting on low plastic stools & eating from wooden benches, but the skewered meat & cold ketupat (rice cakes) were really yummilicious! Out of this world, according to some aficionados!

[The 'Satay Club' was closed down in the mid-70's or so after the land was acquired for the building of Shaw Tower, & then moved to the Esplanade, from where it was later relocated elsewhere, after the Elizabeth Walk area was repossessed for the development of today's Theatres by the Bay during the mid-90's or so.]

I also have very sweet memories of Shaw Tower, partly because during the late nineties, I often hung out at its high-tech cineplex cinemas, especially Jade & Prince (out of the four, which also included one called 'Alhambra') with Catherine after a hard day's work.

My office/store was then located diagonally across the main road, at the now-defunct 121 Beach Road, a short walk away form Shaw Tower.