People’s Park and Beauty World Plaza are known today as commercial buildings housing shops and in the case of People’s Park, residences. But did you know that before these two buildings were erected, they were also hubs of activity for the neighbourhood as markets?

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, People’s Park and Beauty World were better known as markets where you could find all sorts of things. No such thing as a shopping mall or a hypermarket – pasars like these were where you would do your everyday shopping for food, clothes and household items. yg writes about the markets at People’s Park and Beauty World:

the people’s park complex was built on a site that started off as an open public park at the foot of pearl’s hill. the park later became the people’s park market. the hokkiens called it ‘chin choo pa sat’, the pearl’s market. there were outdoor stalls selling textiles, sundry goods and food, much like the former beauty world town at 7th mile upper bukit timah road.

In fact, the People’s Park market was Singapore’s oldest Pasar Malam. Being a collection of cramped stalls and congested spaces, markets like these were also fire hazards, and both these markets were eventually destroyed by fires. You can read about yg’s memories of the People’s Park Market here and the Beauty World Market here.