Nostalgic meet-up spots

These days, getting our friend groups to meet up IRL is probably as difficult as assembling the Avengers post-Civil War, with everyone living different lives and adhering to their own schedules. That’s why we’ve got to tip our hats to the folks back in the day, who didn’t have the luxury of planning gatherings over text.

All they went by were gentlemen’s agreements when it came to settling on a certain place and time to meet. For a trip down memory lane, here are some of the most iconic meet-up spots in Singapore that served as rendezvous points for our parents, in an era where OTW texts came in the form of beeps from pagers in their back pocket.

1. Aquarium at Wisma Atria’s basement

Housed over 100 fishes, including a small shark

Image credit: C.Y. Leow via Facebook

Arguably the most famous meet-up spot of them all, the huge 1.5m tall aquarium within the basement of Wisma Atria was the place to convene at when you had outings in the city centre. The 1,000-litre tank housed over 100 fishes, and functioned as a living, mesmerising screensaver for all who were looking to pass the time.

Not a screen in sight.
Image credit: The Long and Winding Road via Facebook

The aquarium also wrapped around the mall’s bubble lifts, which gave you an alternative view of the marine life as you peered in from the other side of the glass. This therapeutic experience was also blessed with the wafting aroma of freshly baked cookies from the nearby Famous Amos store.

Surprisingly, the aquarium also contained small sharks lurking amongst the darting fishes.
Image credit: Z Rahman via Flickr

The aquarium had been enthralling onlookers since 1986, until its unfortunate removal over 2 decades later, in 2008. In case you’re wondering, its fishy inhabitants found a new home in the now-defunct Underwater World, and the space which the tank used to occupy now stands a Tiong Bahru Bakery outlet.

2. McDonald’s at Centrepoint

Centrepoint Kids’ favourite lepak spot right after hitting the discos

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Before we had TikTok-fueled Gen Zs, Singapore had to deal with the rise of a different subculture of youths – Centrepoint Kids. Without hours of constant doom-scrolling on social media to keep them occupied, they took it to – you guessed it – Centrepoint’s McDonald’s to host their frequent lepak seshes.

The long staircase nearby also served as makeshift seats when there weren’t any at the restaurant itself.
Image credit: Alibaba Ngb via Facebook

What’s there not to like? Burgers under a dollar, breezy al fresco seating; this outlet had everything you ever needed for a perfect weekend hang. Heck, you didn’t even need to set a time and date with your mates; odds are they’re already here, and have set their sights on a trip to the nearby teenage-friendly disco called Fire which was one of the biggest of its kind in the early 90s.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

This particular McDonald’s outlet wasn’t only frequented by the Centrepoint Kids though. It saw much chaos during the height of the Hello Kitty craze in the 2000s, while crowds of BMX enthusiasts and skaters were occasionally seen pulling off stunts right outside the restaurant.

3. “Rocket” structure at Bedok Bus Interchange

Meeting point that every old-school Eastie should know

Image credit: Joni Ang via Facebook

A prominent landmark which Easties are sure to have used in the past as a gathering point was a rocket-looking structure at the old Bedok bus interchange. Utter the words “meet at rocket” and any oldie who grew up in Bedok will instinctively know where to find it; towards the front of the interchange, where the feeder buses stopped for passengers to alight.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Unfortunately, we’ve searched high and low but it appears that no image of the “rocket” exists on the Internet as far as we know. The playground contraption you see above resembles the OG structure, which was also constructed using metal rods.

Image credit: Dolby Thx

The coffee shop which was just a short walk away from the “rocket” also housed a couple of yummy bites that people used to fuel up on before heading to town. Some nostalgic eats include really affordable mee rebus and soto ayam at stores like Wak Din and Inspirasi Stall, both of which are still operating till this day at the revamped Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre.

4. “Small Mac” at Tampines Bus Interchange

Snack on ice cream cones & all-day hash browns while waiting for friends

From one bus interchange to another, the Tampines crowd would patiently wait for their friends at the McDonald’s nestled in their neighourhood’s bus interchange instead.

Image credit: Singapore Atrium Sale via Facebook

Unlike Centrepoint’s expansive McDonald’s restaurant, you couldn’t grab a seat to wolf down your Filet-O-Fishes here; it was dubbed “small Mac”, as this particular joint in Tampines bus interchange only facilitated takeaway orders. Moreover, the Tampines vicinity also played host to a “big Mac”, a much larger McDonald’s outlet which was located a minute’s walk away opposite Century Square.

Image credit: Eatbook

Of course, you had to get a pre-inflation $0.50 vanilla cone to stave off Singapore’s hot weather, and when you craved something savoury, you’d go for their all-day hash browns which were just $1.

You can still get your ice cream fix at “small Mac” as it’s still going strong even after 20 odd years, albeit at prices we’re more familiar with today. Just don’t ask us why Tampines central has 3 different McDonald’s outlets, all within walking distance of each other.

5. HMV at The Heeren

Music store that allowed people to listen to tracks FOC

Image credit: Daily Quotes Singapore via Facebook

Back when CDs and Walkmans were all the rage in the 90s, music lovers would’ve definitely had arranged for meet-ups at The Heeren mall’s HMV. If you didn’t know, HMV, or His Master’s Voice, was a music store chain which popped up around the Little Red Dot in 1997, and it’s most popular outlet had to be their outlet in The Heeren.

Get transported all the way back to 1998 with this walking tour of the HMV in The Heeren.

It was their very first store in Singapore and spanned an impressive 3 levels across the mall, making this 25,000sqft outlet their largest one in the country by far. Fans of all genres of music frequented The Heeren’s HMV on the daily, as the store allowed customers to have a listen to the CDs they wanted to buy before paying for them.

What the music players to sample different CDs at HMV looked like.
Image credit: Simone Lam via Facebook

As such, youngins back then spent entire afternoons perusing shelves and queuing up tracks at HMV. The store not only stocked mainstream artistes, but also the lesser-known ones too from countries like Japan.

Image credit: Kelvin Pan via Facebook

To top it all off, the store allowed local singers and performers to host temporary gigs on a stage, while prominent artistes would occasionally make their way down to partake in meet-and-greet sessions. In fact, Avril Lavigne even graced Singaporeans with her presence decades ago, at the doorstep of The Heeren’s HMV.

Sadly, with the advent of music streaming sites, physical music stores like HMV soon fell out of favour with the masses and in 2015, they shut down their last outlet in Singapore.

6. Borders bookstore at Wheelock Place

Perfect reading nook for city-going bookworms

For a mellow get-together, bookworms would make a beeline for the Borders bookshop at Wheelock Place whenever they’d like to dive into a good book, for free no less.

The Borders outlet at Wheelock Place also had a cafe and bistro within the bookstore, making it a prime spot for dates back then.
Image credit: Josephine Mattia via Pinterest

It essentially served as a public reading nook for people of all ages, and was perfect for visitors waiting on friends who were constantly late as they could pass the time by leafing through a magazine or 2. The bookstore stocked reads from all over the world, in particular American titles that couldn’t be found anywhere else

Image credit: Daily Quote Singapore

It wasn’t uncommon to find reading material whose pages were dog-eared; the work of customers who didn’t want to pay for books and would finish reading them from cover to cover in-store. Perhaps it was exactly this unwillingness to fork over the cash for Borders’ offerings which culminated in the bookstore’s closure in 2011.

7. Popular bookstore under Jurong East MRT Station

Air-conditioned haven for those waiting for friends

Image credit: Boon Wee via Facebook

Another bookstore that saw its fair share of impromptu meetups was this specific Popular bookstore which resided under the train tracks of Jurong East MRT station. Old-school Westies will definitely recall waiting for all members of the squad to show up while cooling off in its pleasant, air-conditioned premises.

The CD-Rama section within the bookstore was also a hotspot, as its shelves were lined with a wide variety of releases, from now-classic hits by Jay Chou to more obscure tracks by J-Rock bands. Many also used this Popular outlet as a shortcut to get to the shuttle buses going to IMM outlet mall, as 1 of the bookstore’s 2 entrances led you straight to the pick-up point.

Image credit: Simone Lam via Facebook

In today’s day and age, you’ll have to seek refuge from Singapore’s sweltering heat at Westgate or JEM instead, as the bookstore has since shuttered for good.

8. At MRT stations’ “control station” & the last cabins of trains

Convenient meet-up points that were available island-wide

Image credit: Land Transport Guru

With the sheer amount of commuters taking the MRT everyday since its conception in 1987, finding your friends amongst the crowd would be pretty daunting. That was, until we figured out that simply meeting at the stations’ Passenger Service Centre was the easiest way to do it.

Commonly referred to as the “control station”, deciding to meet at these Passenger Service Centres was a fool-proof way of locating each other in a jiffy. Every MRT station had one, so there was no excuse for not being able to find your way. This has proven to be so effective that we use it even today, especially for the occasional Carousell dealing.

Image credit: Shaun Ng via Facebook

Another tried and tested method involves hopping onto the last cabins of your train, in the hopes that your friend did the same when it reached their station. We’re not sure how folks used to ascertain which was the correct train to board without the help of instant messaging, but things just worked out magically.

Remembering iconic meet-up spots in Singapore

Looking back, it’s mighty impressive that the people of the past managed to set up gatherings without the aid of messaging apps or even phone calls. It was truly a period of time where everyone took the phrase “be there or be square” seriously, so latecomers were left in the dust pretty frequently; something which is thankfully avoidable today thanks to technology.

For more nostalgia-inducing reads:

• Oriental Emporium Singapore
• Rasa Sentosa food centre
• Jurong Drive-In Cinema

Cover image adapted from: Daily Quotes Singapore, C.Y. Leow via Facebook