Joo Chiat has always been a nostalgic area for me. Not because I lived in the vicinity for several years during my childhood and teenage years, it has a place of good food, beautiful heritage architecture (some restored, and those that aren’t), and where modern advancements and the blatant disregard for tradition and heritage seems not to have ravaged it (too much).

Joo Chiat has been stuck with a bad image of having sleazy massage parlours, small bars and pubs along Joo Chiat Road, popular hang-outs for the budget conscious bar-crawlers.

More trendy shops and establishments that are moving out of the city (due to exhorbitant rents), have found Joo Chiat to be ‘Hip & Happening’, a great leap from its past. Its “Katong Culture” , rich Peranakan heritage and pre-war shophouses are great attractions to merchants and residents who ‘dig this sort of lifestyle’.

All this is great news for residents who have beared with the gambling dens, noisy pubs & karaoke joints, and not mentioning questionable individuals (both male and female), lingering under poorly lighted corners for years.

Merchants that have moved in include art galleries, boutique food outlets, popular restaurants (serving Wagyu beef - Astons), including one of my favourite Pernakan kuih kuih stalls had also moved to Joo Chiat. This place had begun its metamorphysis probably sometime in 2004 when a group or residents came together to revamp its image, promote its Pernakan heritage. Then in 2005, there was a moratorium on new licences issued to pubs and stricter licensing rules (applying to not just Joo Chiat but the whole of Singapore) made massage parlours a non-issue. The police also clamped down on other vice dens and gambling establishments (which many used to operate illegally).

Some people say that Joo Chiat has the potential to be the next Holland Village, but I personally hope it doesn’t, because it would be too commercialised and will lose its “Old Singapore Charm”. It should now stick to what it is – uniquely Joo Chiat.