Swimming Clubs

Chinese Swimming Club was created in 1905 by 9 young swimming enthusiasts who named their group "Tanjong Katong Swimming Party". It was opened in response to the Singapore Swimming Club which was only for the British. It just enclosed an area in the sea for swimming.

It cost $3.21 per person on weekdays and $5.35 per person on weekends and PHs (applicable to adults and children). The platform of the swimming pool was used as a Japanese killing ground during operation "Sook Ching". That scared away the members and they only returned after the introduction of a lifetime membership fee of $100. However, the Japanese had vandelised the building. There are many notable members of the Chinese Swimming Club such as the father of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew,Mr Lee Chin Koon. The Chinese Swimming Club can be found at Amber Road which is near Parkway Parade. Chinese Swimming Club is one of the oldest swimming club that can be found in Katong. It has an Olympic-sized pool and function rooms that members can make use of. Ballroom dancing, aerobics, karate, wind surfing and the restaurant are facilities that are available only to the members of the Chinese Swimming Club. The Recreation Complex is opened from 10.00am to 12.00am daily while the Sports Complex is opened from 6.00am - 12.00am daily. The Club closes around 15 minutes before the stated time to facilitate the closing operation.

Former Joo Chiat Police Station

The Katong area we know today has a few history to it. The former Joo Chiat Police Station was situated right where the present Hong Kong Tea House is today and was built in the 1930’s. During that time, it was one of the finest buildings in the country, along with others, like Beach Road Police Station, Traffic Branch at Maxwell Road and Kandang Kerbau Police Station and they were few of the more modern buildings in the country and there were few others that was built as well as them, although the Old Hill Street Police Station stood out most. The Joo Chiat Police Station was probably as old as the TBG building, about 80 years old and it was closed down in 1980's if I am not wrong.

Picture from http://timesofmylife.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/my-old-katong-final-pt-other-lost-landmarks/

Bowling

Marine Bowl is one of the few bowling centers that can be found in Katong. It can be found at Blk C, 1000 East Coast Parkway, Singapore 449876. There was another bowling center in Katong called Pocket Bowl. It was located on the 7th floor of Katong Shopping Center but it has been removed to make room for offices. Bowling was a popular sport in the past and there are many tricks for bowling such as curving the ball, spinning it, etc. This made the game more interesting. However, bowling is usually quite expensive. There are appeoximately 28 lanes in Marine Bowl.

Tay Buan Guan

Tay Buan Guan was a popular supermarket in Katong in the past. It was one of the earliest supermarket to be opened in Singapore. It was opened by Tay Leck Teck in 1948. Tay Buan Guan had a Chinese emporium, a costume jewellery shop and a pharmacy within its premises as it occupied a lot of space. The Chinese emporium was called the "Singapura Emporium". The emporium occupied the 1st floor of Tay Buan Guan. The ground floor and 2nd floor were occupied by other departmental shops while the 3rd floor was occupied by the sky garden. A confectionery was added to it, which made it famous for its cakes and pastries. Its founder, Tay Leck Teck, passed away in 1980 at the age of 80. The 1st floor of Tay Buan Guan provided facilities such as banking, and had shops selling jewellery, clothes, flowers and pets. However, when shopping centers started opening in Katong, Tay Buan Guan started to lose its business and finally wound up in 2000. It was separated into sections and sold to others as shop houses. Its entrance is now said to be occupied by the shop called “Rumah Bebe”, which is a Peranakan heritage house. It is said to be the entrance as the pillar with the faint TBG print on it.
(Taken from Times of my life)
However, based on the blog "Times of my life", the real entrance seems to be the unit #83 which is occupied by Greentown Audio Video instead of unit #113 which is occupied by Rumah Bebe.
However, if Rumah Bebe is not the real enterance to Tay Buan Guan, then many sources would have been wrong, such as the URA walking guide and the Singapore Infopedia.

Parkway Parade

Parkway Parade is a popular shopping center in Marine Parade. Since Marine Parade can be considered under Katong, it is safe to assume that Parkway Parade is part of Katong.
It was developed by a company called Parkway Holdings, the company sold the building away in 2000 to Asia Pacific Investment Company, and is managed by Lend Lease. There are many major retailers in Parkway Parade. For example, "Giant Supermart", "Challenger Superstore", "Timezone", "Best Denki", "Cold Storage", "Isetan" and "Harvey Norman".

History of Katong

Katong is a town in Singapore that is well known for its Katong Laksa. The word “Katong” is not only has the meaning of the rippling effect of a sea mirage when looking at a shoreline as well as being the name of an extinct sea turtle. However, many people get mixed up as they do not know whether Joo Chiat is part of Katong, or whether Katong is part of Joo Chiat. In the past, Tanjong Katong was a popular beach in the East Coast but due to land reclamation in the 1960s, it has disappeared. Katong has a rich cultural mix which has contributed to its unique food and culture.

Katong is a big residential area that comprises of Mountbatten, Joo Chiat, East Coast, Marine Parade and Siglap. In the old days, land in Katong near the sea were used by the wealthy to build plantations and traded goods that they received from the plantations such as gambier, coconut and cotton. The first cultivation was started in 1823, when Francis Bernard, son-in-law of William Farquhar , the first resident of Singapore. In the past, there was no Marine Parade before land reclamation. Katong ended slightly before PIE and everything after it are built on reclaimed land. One of the reason why Katong is unique and different from other areas in Singapore is that Katong offers a lot of Peranakan food.

Joo Chiat is a residential conservation area in Katong. It is named after Chew Joo Chiat. Joo Chiat has rows of shophouses near the road. Joo Chiat road was named after Chew Joo Chiat as he willingly gave up his plot of land to the government for them to make a road without asking for repercussion, thus the government named the road after him.Seaview Hotel and the Singapore Swimming Club were opened in Joo Chiat in the 1930s.

Cinemas/Theatres

There were many old cinemas or theatres in Katong in the past. For example, there are old theatres such as Roxy Theatre,Palace Theatre,Odeon Katong Theatre and many others. At that time, tickets cost approximately $1 to $3. For the tickets that cost over $1, the seats will be cushioned. For the ticket that cost $1, the seats were made of wood and were very hard and uncomfortable.
In the past, going to the cinemas to watch movies was a popular pastime. Couples, at that time, would like to go to the cinemas/theatres to watch movies together. At that time, all of the cinemas were called theatres. Roxy Theatre and Palace Theatre were on the same side of East Coast Road and were opposite to the Odeon Katong Theatre. Both theatres were demolished to make way for new buildings. Roxy Theatre was taken over by the Shaw brothers, who had owned 19 cinema halls by 1965. After the takeover, Roxy Theatre still kept its old name and continued to screen English and Non-English films. There was another theatre called the Paradise Theatre. It was demolished to make way for the East Gate Building.

LAN gaming centres

In Katong, many students may know where to find LAN gaming centres as they are widespread. There are many LAN gaming centres in Katong but there are only a few LAN gaming centres that allow students to play in their uniform. The prices for the LAN gaming centres are approximately $1.50 to $2 per hour. The most popular games played in LAN gaming centres seem to be "DOTA", "Counter Strike", "Command and Conquer" and the new game "Hellgate". However, there are some people who also play Maple Story there. Most of the LAN gaming centres are dark and covered in posters or tinted glass. Therefore, it may be difficult to see inside. Examples of such LAN gaming centres can easily be found in Katong Shopping Center.



Futhermore, some LAN gaming centres may only allow members to enter and to play there, you have to sign up as a member. There is a LAN gaming centre in Katong Shopping Center which also have Playstation 2s and Playstation 3s.



However, there are similar stores known as internet cafe. Instead of providing only games, internet cafes allow you to surf the internet and sip a cup of coffee or tea. They seem to charge $1 per hour which includes a free cup of drink.

Big Splash

Big Splash is one of the famous attraction in Katong. In the past, its iconic colourful slide could be seen when travelling past the ECP.taken from Times Of My Life
However, it has undergone a major renovation and has now been changed to "Playground@Big Splash". It is no longer a water theme park but it consist of a few different types of entertainment such as "Kangoo Jump", "LilliPutt", inline skating and cycling. There is a playhouse called "Chiltern House" for young children.

"Kangoo Jump" is a pair of shoe that is attached to trampolines. Although it may sound absurd, it is a trend in Europe and the "Kangoo Jumps Concept Store" at Big Splash is the only store in Singapore that sells and rents "Kangoo Jump" shoes. The shoes cost more than $300 per pair but if you rent them, it will cost $10 for the first hour and $5 for each subsequent hours. This is a picture of the "Kangoo Jump" shoes.
Another source of entertainment in Big Splash is the mini-golf course called "LilliPutt". It consist of 18 different mini-golf courses based on the different attraction in Singapore such as the Zoo, Jurong Bird Park, Har Par Villa and others. However, you must be early to play golf there without interruption as it may get crowded by 11am. It opens it 10 am and may require an hour to finish all the 18 holes.The adult ticket costs $18, student ticket costs $15, the children(12 years old and below) ticket costs $12 and the family package(2 adults and 2 children) costs $54.

There are many other stores in Big Splash that provides entertainment such as "Urban Skate", "Chilten House" and "T3 Bicycle Gear". There are many food outlets there such as "Seafood Man", "KFC", "OldTown White Coffee" and many others.
Parking is free from 5am to 5pm on weekdays, $1 per hour from 5pm to 5am on weekdays and $1 per hour for the whole day on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays.

Information

Here are some information about Katong and our group.

Project done by Katong 5:

School: Victoria School

Class: 2C

Yew Jin Ron

Kumar

Voo Zhi Wei

Ben

Heng Xu Qi

Contents

• 1. Brief Introduction
• 2. Entertainment Entities in Katong
• 3. List of questions
• 4. My assumptions
• 5. Research methods
• 6. Objectives
• 7. References

1. Brief Introduction

Katong is a town in Singapore that is well known for its Katong Laksa. The word “Katong” is not only has the meaning of the rippling effect of a sea mirage when looking at a shoreline as well as being the name of an extinct sea turtle. However, many people get mixed up as they do not know whether Joo Chiat is part of Katong, or whether Katong is part of Joo Chiat. In the past, Tanjong Katong was a popular beach in the East Coast but due to land reclamation in the 1960s, it has disappeared. Katong has a rich cultural mix which has contributed to its unique food and culture.

Katong is a big residential area that comprises of Mountbatten, Joo Chiat, East Coast, Marine Parade and Siglap. In the old days, land in Katong near the sea were used by the wealthy to build plantations and traded goods that they received from the plantations such as gambier, coconut and cotton. The first cultivation was started in 1823, when Francis Bernard, son-in-law of William Farquhar , the first resident of Singapore. In the past, there was no Marine Parade before land reclamation. Katong ended slightly before PIE and everything after it are built on reclaimed land. One of the reason why Katong is unique and different from other areas in Singapore is that Katong offers a lot of Peranakan food.

Last but not least, there may be some entertainment entities that are not mentioned but can be found in Katong as Katong is a place where many old things are present.

2. Entertainment Entities in Katong

Recreation and Entertainment

1. Palace Theatre
2. Big Splash
3. Odeon Katong
4. Chinese Swimming Club
5. Jackie’s Bowl
6. Republic Cinema
7. Roxy Square
8. East Coast Park
9. East Coast Recreation Centre
10. Katong Swimming Complex
11. Lilliputt

Shopping Centres

1. Katong Shopping Centre
2. Parkway Parade
3. Odeon Katong Shopping Complex
4. Tay Buan Guan
5. Katong People’s Complex

Others

1. East Coast Park
2. Tanjong Katong Park

3. List of questions

1. What are the roads and streets under Katong?

2. Where does Katong start and end?

3. How has Katong changed over the years?

4. Why is Katong different from other places in Singapore.

5. What are Katong origins?

6. Is Katong only for the rich people to live in?

7. What is the definition of “entertainment”?

8. What are the tourist attractions in Katong?

9. What sort of entertainment is there in Katong?

10. What is the history of the shopping centers in Katong?

11. What do the entertainment entities do to attract customers?

12. What entertainment entities are commonly visited?

13. What is the culture of Katong?

14. How many cinemas are there in Katong?

15. What sort of entertainment are the most famous in the past?

16. Why are massage centres considered to be part of entertainment?

17. How has entertainment in Katong changed over the years?

18. Is Joo Chiat part of Katong or is Katong part of Joo Chiat?

4. My assumptions

1.East Coast is part of Katong.

2.Katong is an area where the rich people live in.

3.There are only Peranakans living in Katong

4.Katong will take a long time to change.

5.Most of the buildings in Katong are old.

6.Katong has its own culture and identity.

7.There is very little entertainment in Katong.

8.There are very little shopping centers in Katong.

9.All of the shopping centers in Katong are new.

10.Katong is dull and boring.

11.There are no theme parks in Katong.

12.The only entertainment in Katong are shopping centers, LAN gaming centers and bowling alleys.

5. Research Methods

1. First, we met up and decided how to do research on Katong.

2. Next, we went to the library to borrow books on Katong. After searching for a while, we found 2 suitable books “Portraits Of Places” and “Joo Chiat: a living legacy”.

3. We read and analyzed the books, thus gaining a background knowledge of Katong.

4. Having the background knowledge of Katong, we did a research on Katong and paraphrased the main points to avoid getting into trouble with the copyright law as well as to avoid plagiarism.

5. Lastly, we typed and printed out information on Katong and entertainment.

6. Objectives

1. We want to learn more about Katong.
2. We would like to understand more about entertainment in Katong.
3. We hope to learn more about the lifestyle of people living in Katong.
4. We hope to be able to observe how entertainment entities work in Katong.

7. References

Websites

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katong

2. http://timesofmylife.wordpress.com/?s=Big+Splash

3. http://timesofmylife.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/my-old-katong-pt1-katong-shopping-centre-and-odeon-katong/

4. http://mbceo.com/science/more_information.php?c=Katong

Introduction

This blog is created by Jin Ron, Kumar, Zhi Wei, Xu Qi and Ben. We are from Victoria School. This blog is about entertainment in Katong.