now

the best part of joo chiat is that it has 2 sides to it. one one hand, there are shophouses exuding the old world charm of Singapore in the 1960s and 70s. and on the other, swanky cafes and eateries, offering the modern worker a welcome reprieve from a hard day at the office. the mix of new and old buildings and architecture reflects both joo chiat's heritage and modern styles.

 to show that singapore does share a common culture, a peranakan, edmond wong, planned to create a peranakan street in singapore since the peranakan culture has unifying elements which are shared by all singaporeans. the Little Nyonya hit drama series by Mediacorp boosted the number of supporters of the online petition to create the street.

following the peranakan theme in joo chiat, 112 katong recently opened a peranakan-inspired golden village cinema. the cinemas have peranakan designs and even offer sampling of the much-acclaimed peranakan cuisine! everyone goes to cinemas, and as 112 has one of the only cinemas in the east, people of all races will go there and have a chance to be exposed to the peranakan culture.

references:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1111820/1/.html http://peranakan.org.sg/news/article/heritage-town-joo-chiat/ http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles5/103649/projects/2870987/707aa8f5189580bdd52d31f6d5f0c366.jpg

its formation of identity

peranakans moved into joo chiat when their traditional enclave, telok ayer, became overcrowded. they built colourful shophouses which date back to the 1920s and 1930s. the shophouses are now what joo chiat is best known for and people can associate joo chiat with peranakans.

schools and churches were established. the roman catholic holy family church attracted a predominantly catholic eurasian community to the area, so not only peranakans lived there. seaview hotel and the singapore swimming club were also opened in the 1930s, and it provided the wealthier residents in the area with leisure facilities. as joo chiat developed into a small town, the east coast was no longer solely a weekend retreat for the europeans, rich chinese and europeans who owned seaside bungalows there.

residents who lived at the east coast referred to the area verbally as katong because of its close proximity to tanjong katong. therefore, katong was born out of joo chiat.

references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joo_Chiat
http://joochatters.com/joo-chiat-heritage/
http://images.travelpod.com/users/fatkidfrogs/1.1251095676.preserved-shophouses.jpg

its definition

katong is the name of an exotic species of sea turtle which is now extinct. it also means the rippling effect of a sea mirage when looking at a shoreline.

this place was named katong because it was formerly located by the sea. however, land was reclaimed all the way to East Coast Park to provide more land for housing and recreational purposes due to shortage of land in the late 1960s after Singapore gained independence.

joo chiat road was originally known as the confederate estate road before 1917. the road name changed after chew joo chiat owned most of the land in the area to plant spices, and later, coconut trees.

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