I'm sure that everybody who was in Singapore in the 1960s will remember the House of Tang which was situated at the corner of Orchard Road.
How times have changed! Orchard Road looks nothing like it does in this picture anymore. Singapore is far more built up nowadays and although Tang's is still there, it totally different to this.
It's interesting to see all the old cars around the building, I wonder if our Triumph Herald is parked there somewhere?
Tangs was a shop that seemed to stock everything. My favourite time to go was at Christmas when a whole floor would be stocked with toys - robots, cars, tin toys and mechanical toys. They would all be battery powered and would all be working on the floor as you walked around. It was a magical place for a kid.
I also remember all the wicker and rattan furniture, the carved camphorwood chests, carved wooden statues as well as just about anything you ever needed. A lot of this stuff seemed very foreign and exotic in those days but now, it can all be bought in your local high street!
Tangs was founded in 1934 and was established on Orchard Road in the 1950s.
Today, Tangs is a very modern store and nothing like it is in this picture. Times change but it seems a shame that the Tangs of the 1960s that we all loved to shop at, has gone forever.
Let me be the first to comment and to welcome your blog which I have just come across via the Memories of Singapore site. I made my first trip back to Spore earlier this year having left in 1962 and the various sites on Singapore helped me enormously in identifying where I wanted to go and what I wanted to find. Its been good fun reading the books and best of luck with the blog.
ReplyDeleteDerek.. I remember that building fondly! It used to be a shambles .. total chaos and you could never go into Tangs with a coherent plan.. which just added to the charm. I can't recall when it was torn down, but it's been replaced with a hideous hotel!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brian and Tess, for the welcome. It's much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the books, hope you had a good time in Singapore, I'll have to go back soon.
ReplyDeleteHari,I remember the chaos of Tangs also now that you mention it. I used to love it there, it's a pity that the old building has now been knocked down. All the photos I've seen of Tangs, as it is in the photo, seem to come from the 1960s, so maybe it was demolished soon after.
I too loved Tangs of the 60's. Today it is part of a modern hotel and lost its atmosphere. It also caters for a whole different marketplace.I remember the cinema across the road where all the St Johns students went on Saturdays.
ReplyDeleteMy mum and sister liked to shop here but Dad used to complain saying that we were actually suporting the Red Chinese, aka Mao and and his merry men, as he put it. In 2006 I went to the new store and asked the oldest assistant I could find and asked if the new store was on the site of the old but she didn't know and even looked at me as if I was from another another planet let alone country!!
ReplyDeleteThe new Tangs is on the corner of Orchard and Scott Road on the site of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The original 60s Tangs was further down beyond Fitzpatricks (I still remember the advertising jingle for Fitzpatricks!)
ReplyDeleteTangs is now on the corner of Scotts and Orchard Roads. In the 60s it was further down beyond Fitzpatricks but before the Singapore Cold Store.
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