This is the view from the window of my office at Ann Siang Hill as the morning sun warms up the yellow walls of the French wine bar across the street. I have been pretty lucky to get a spot near the window on the ground floor. I have enjoyed seeing the occasional sliver of blue sky and the seasonal pouring rains from this spot. There would be passerby, tourists and flocks of touring schoolchildren staring curiously inside (and at my neighbor's collection of vintage batman-superman-ironman toys). There used to be a lot of the pre-wed photo crowd when the road bears the sign of "ONE WAY." Then it disappeared. I don't know why they removed it, because the road is still a one way street. But since then, we haven't seen the sexy bared-back brides and their army of photographers and lighting assistants back.
This charming historical neighborhood has seen significant changes from a few years back when it looked like a street of crumbling old buildings. My colleague who has been working here for the past eighteen years tells a story of how the shops used to be home to lion dance troupes and artists who would hang their laundry of colorful costumes from the shophouse windows. He tells of an old man who used to sit at the rounded corner junction, making lion dance masks out of papier mâché. He hated having his pictures taken by tourists. The old man would angrily chase them off any who did... which of course, upsets some people and led him to be removed from the spot.
After they went, the shophouse was dilapidated for some time until this wine bar moved in. The bar was, and still is very successful with Singapore's expat community. Many similar venues have sprung up around the area, and today, Ann Siang Hill has become a hip, happening, and expensive place to be. In a classic gentrification story - nothing else but high-end boutique shops and drinking clubs is surviving in the area. Recently, an english literature bookshop folded their place there and moved elsewhere due to the high rent. I hope the children's bookshop around the corner stayed... although I'm doubtful. In the mean time, our office has survived there because our boss has a long-standing tenant relationship with the land owner and enjoyed a discounted rent. But after 20 years of renting... isn't it time to buy the place? (well, ok, not now, since the Singapore property prices are booming hot)
