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Trip down memory lane

I've lamented many times before that things in Singapore change so fast, so much so that many of us have lost our childhood places due to re-development. With that thought, I had the sudden urge to visit the premises of my old secondary school, Swiss Cottage, along Dunearn Road. I was quite disappointed that the security guard wouldn't let me in, nor would he even allow me to take photographs from the outside. Government property, so cannot, he said.

Thus, I could only manage some shots (without permission, of course) from the outside, from a distance. Then, I decided to do the next best thing - capture images of places we used to haunt. These may not be technically nor artistically the best shots I've taken, but they are amongst the most meaningful to me, and hopefully to the ex-Swiss students of the Dunearn campus era.

I hope they bring back a flood of memories for you as they have for me.

Click on individual images for further captions/write-ups. Please leave a comment, especially if you're an ex-Swiss. And as for the rest of you, take as many pics of your surroundings as you can. You never know what you're going to miss next time. :)
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How can anybody not remember this place? Still as sleepy (or Serene) as before. That was its charm, I guess.
Serene Centre

How can anybody not remember this place? Still as sleepy (or Serene) as before. That was its charm, I guess.

 Inside Serene Centre
Serene Centre

Inside Serene Centre

 McDonald's is still there, but this is what has become of its second floor - Now Tierny's Gourmet Supermarket (used to occupy the ground floor).
2nd floor

McDonald's is still there, but this is what has become of its second floor - Now Tierny's Gourmet Supermarket (used to occupy the ground floor).
Bus stop nearest Serene Centre
Bus stop nearest Serene Centre		 A&W used to be here.
Crown Centre

A&W used to be here.

 This is new. In the late 80s/early 90s, used to be a row of old shophouses there. I still remember the fruit shop and another selling fresh live fish.
King's Arcade

This is new. In the late 80s/early 90s, used to be a row of old shophouses there. I still remember the fruit shop and another selling fresh live fish.
I remember when this station had its operating license suspended because they had incense burning within the safety zone. So they drew up huge banners protesting against that decision. The Bt. Timah area was a flood-prone area during those days, before the Bt. Timah canal was widened. The basement car-park was completely flooded once. We actually had 2 days of school cancelled in 1989. I don't think anyone ever has had school cancelled due to floods ever since then.
Coronation Plaza

I remember when this station had its operating license suspended because they had incense burning within the safety zone. So they drew up huge banners protesting against that decision.

The Bt. Timah area was a flood-prone area during those days, before the Bt. Timah canal was widened. The basement car-park was completely flooded once. We actually had 2 days of school cancelled in 1989. I don't think anyone ever has had school cancelled due to floods ever since then.

 Inside Coronation Shopping Plaza.
Coronation Plaza

Inside Coronation Shopping Plaza.

 Inside Coronation Shopping Plaza.
Coronation Plaza

Inside Coronation Shopping Plaza.
Where to get cheap & good eats - My Cozy Corner.
Coronation Plaza

Where to get cheap & good eats - My Cozy Corner.

 This was the bus-stop to hang out as students from many other schools would get off here to transfer bus. Schools like SCGS, St. Margarets, NYGHS (when they still all had short hair) and occasionally RGS and Crescent Girls' School. :) During those days, the Adam Flyover was parallel to Bt. Timah Road. The Adam Road/Bt. Timah Road junction was notorious for its traffic jams during peak hours. They've since taken down that flyover, dug a tunnel under Adam road, and built another flyover perpendicular to Bt. Timah Road. Amazing.
Coronation Plaza

This was the bus-stop to hang out as students from many other schools would get off here to transfer bus. Schools like SCGS, St. Margarets, NYGHS (when they still all had short hair) and occasionally RGS and Crescent Girls' School. :)

During those days, the Adam Flyover was parallel to Bt. Timah Road. The Adam Road/Bt. Timah Road junction was notorious for its traffic jams during peak hours. They've since taken down that flyover, dug a tunnel under Adam road, and built another flyover perpendicular to Bt. Timah Road.

Amazing.

 Yup, I've walked across this bridge quite a number of times, too.
Coronation Plaza

Yup, I've walked across this bridge quite a number of times, too.
This was THE new place to hang out, opening in 1991, I think. It had a model train running inside the restaurant, the tracks high up near the ceiling. It's not there anymore.
King Albert Park McDonald's

This was THE new place to hang out, opening in 1991, I think. It had a model train running inside the restaurant, the tracks high up near the ceiling. It's not there anymore.

 The big Yeo Hiap Seng complex used to be a significant landmark for that area.
Where YHS used to be

The big Yeo Hiap Seng complex used to be a significant landmark for that area.

 This flyover wasn't there in 1991.
Sherwood Towers

This flyover wasn't there in 1991.
Under Bt. Timah Flyover
Under Bt. Timah Flyover		 This is opposite the Shell station along Upper Bt. Timah Road.
Going towards Bt. Timah Plaza

This is opposite the Shell station along Upper Bt. Timah Road.

 This place has been here since forever. Used to be much more happening, though.
Bt. Timah Plaza

This place has been here since forever. Used to be much more happening, though.
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Guest 15-Jan-2015 02:41
Thanks for posting these. I was at Swiss Cottage in 1978-79 when it was serving as a Pre U holding centre back in the days when there were not enough JCs. I loved it so much that I decided to stay there for my Pre U even though I could have gone to a JC after the "first three months".

We had a creepy incident when we had an overnight class camp; we went on a night walk to the primary school up the hill. We were 10 when we left for the walk. When the team leader counted heads before making our way back, he counted 11. He was smart enough though not to count out the number 11, so as not to alarm the rest but those of us there who realised it were very uncomfortable. When we got back down the slope to the secondary school, we counted heads again, and it was now 10.
David 12-Jan-2009 03:59
Ah!!! the memories!!! Water bombs during ECA camps, crazy prep for speech day performances, playing chatek before classes, basketball after classes, ECA room hangouts, playing RPG's in school & @ Serene Centre, super juicy Texas Fried Chicken, renting Sega/PC-engine/NeoGeo consoles at Serene/Crown/BktTimah Shopping Centre, nice Mr Johari, nice Mr Saifudin, scary but kind Mrs Eli Koh, body builder Mr. Theng, enjoying the company of the final cohort of Swiss Cottage pre-U students.. shiok lah.. class of 94.
Su Yi 18-Jun-2008 13:02
find it so cool that i actually recognise what you said. haha. i grew up in chit-gor since birth til 4 yrs old. n even after tt, i travelled thru bukit timah road almost on a wkly basis til 98. so i could remember all the things u mentioned. truly a trip down memory lane for me.

beauty world n "ugly world" were my playgrounds. there used to be a restaurant in "ugly world" called "the Ship". dunno when it shifted. but i think it's in lido now (as in not sure if it's the same "the Ship"). anyway, that was my 1st restaurant, memorable.

there was a KFC at bukit timah plaza, where we ate with paper plates n METAL knives n forks, high class xia. ha. n YES, strawberry shortcake!! oh manz..... the BIG pink hat. y dosen anyone wonder y human can pop out of cupcakes?? hahahahaha........
Damit 06-Dec-2006 14:51
I was an ex-student of SCPS from 1990 to 1993, and so many of your pictures are so familiar to me. I remember how much of a big thing it was when the 67 was introduced and it went past there, as well as my experiences in being late to school (:P) and going to Far East Plaza after lessons finished to hang out.

The gate from Whitley Road was, if I remember correctly, closed some time in 1992 or 1993, and in any case the field had become so waterlogged/muddy, especially when it rained, that no one really went that way any more.
Joanne 06-Aug-2006 13:10
Hi! I'm a current Swiss '06 here... I think this is so cool. I get to see the old premises of my secondary school with such a long history. Thanks for all these pictures you've taken. It's such a great insight into which was such, and would be, wonderful memory for all us Swiss-ians. Thanks again!
Huai Chien 31-Aug-2005 11:23
Ex-Swiss here 89-92. The original A&W was outside the old NUS/NIE/SMU campus straddling the canal and beside the nurseries before they widened it. Big deal eating there, fast food was an event then. There was this big robot mural on the wall beside the canteen. When Balestier Hill took over, they erased it!
Siau Yen 11-Aug-2005 09:04
WaffleTown has shifted to Balmoral Plaza... No more strawberry shortcakes...
Positive Image Photography30-Jul-2005 10:17
Texas Fried Chicken was there, but later closed down and A&W took over. And yes, there was Fitzpatrick's!
sandman 27-Jul-2005 15:42
hey man, dis d 1st time i checkin out ur site. wana tel u dat if i remember correctly, it was not A&W at crown centre. twas TEXAS FRIED CHICKEN.remember there was also Fitzpatricks on the top floor at bukit timah plaza? was just tellin me girl abt why we called bt timah shoppin centre, Ugly world. :0)
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