Monday, November 17, 2008

match boxes from coffee houses
























































the blog on lesson from a match-box in yesterday.sg makes me take a look at my own collection of match-boxes. i have decided to feature some of the 'kopi how' mentioned in chun see's blog. the pictures of these coffee houses may help him recall the names of some of the those that he used to visit during his courting days.

it was a friend who started me on this collection of match-boxes. do not assume that i had visited or patronised all those places of which i have their match-boxes. to enlarge our own collection, we often asked our friends or colleagues for assistance. we let them know that we were into this 'hobby' and asked them to get and pass to us match-boxes of places they have visited.

my collection of match-boxes were not just from local establishments, quite a number were from hotels which we or my friends and relatives have stayed in.

you do not have to be a smoker to collect match-boxes. both my friend - the one who started me on this hobby - and i are non-smokers.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good stuff man.

It will be a good idea to indicate the year also. Wasn't Omar Khayyam at Tanglin Shopping Center? If that is true then that match box dates back to around 1973/74.

Got night clubs and discos to share YG?

Cannot read the words in the pink colour match box.

yg said...

peter, omar khayyam was at 55 hill street (opp u.s. embassy).

i have never been a happening person, so i hardly stepped into a nightclub or disco but i may have a few from such places in my collection.

the pink match box is from trivoli.

Anonymous said...

O now I remember OMAR at Hill Street on the side of the telecoms bdlg. There was this Moorish looking facade of OMAR.

Now what was in Tangling Shopping Center then?

Lam Chun See said...

At one time there was one at Sixth Ave Centre. Not sure if it is still there.

Did you read my article on Troika?

Victor said...

I passed by Omar Khayyam Restaurant many times in the 1960s when taking a bus home from New Bridge Road. It had a "lattice facade" with the restaurant's name in green neonlights on it.

yg said...

yes, chun see, i read the article on troika. that's why i included the match-box picture.

yg said...

peter, i managed to find match-boxes of the follwoing nite clubs: golden venus, tropicana, mikado (at supreme house) and neptune.

a also got one from a coffee house in tanglin shopping centre called the tenderloin.