On a recent visit to the barber, bullockcartwater reminisces about hairdressers in the heydey of Chinatown.
In the old days, female barbers are unheard of being in the main stream barber business. But of course, there were a few, two of which were famous at the “gao-lao” (9 storey) brick building (now it is gone) of the HDB flat next to Pickering St. I remembered the old men going there for their hair cut (we kids did not dare to venture into the barbershop and so we did not know if there were other activities) and some even bring their favourite barbers to Carpenter St for supper. In the 1970s, along the Carpentar St at night, there were two Teochew Muay (porridge) stalls serving great “hee-kau” (also known as Da Pan or Ikan Batang) muay and Pomfret muay. The stewed duck was also great. I was working then, and when I worked late, this was my favourite place to have my support. It later moved to Gor-Chan-Chiu-Ka (the old Esplanade) where it suffered a “slow death”, overwhelmed by the steamboat stalls there.
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