06/06/2017

10 Facts About 1950s Singapore

That Only Your Ah Ma Will Remember

Articles about ‘90s kids’ are far too many online. Today, we’re going to throw all the way back to a time when our grandparents were young -- the 50s.

Shirtless children running around kampungs defined the spirit of the 50s. It was a decade when people had no care about the paper chase or the 5Cs. The children played bare-foot in the fields while adults crouched at the steps of their attap houses and work was just for feeding the mouths under the same zinc roof.

The 50s also saw the rise of cultural icons that eventually shaped Singapore. Show your grandparents this list and you might be wowed by their memories from pre-independence Singapore.
We had privately-owned zoos with 50 cent entrance fees
Magnolia's iconic pyramid-shaped milk packets
A swimming pool that becomes women-only on Tuesdays
A scheme for children to save money
There was a legit reason to squat on chairs in coffee shops
The Magnolia Ice-Cream man
Mass weddings were really common
The “OG” of TCM - the “Koh Yok” man
$1 circus shows with wild animals
"Burning the midnight oil" was literal

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