Han Chin Pet Soo is open! Book now at www.ipohworld.org/reservation
Han Chin Pet Soo is open! Book now at www.ipohworld.org/reservation

September 2013

MORE Scenes from Brewster Road

By |2013-09-18T14:45:48+08:00September 18th, 2013|Categories: Identify Photographs, Ipoh Town, Memories, Natural Heritage|Tags: , , |

john macauley005i

One look and most of you can already guess what this iconic building is. Of course, so much has changed now: the small field in front of this cinema is no longer there; instead there’s a row of food stalls. Also, right next to the cinema is one of the entrances of Sam Tet School. Lately, I did notice that there seems to be some construction going on at this very site. Are they restoring/renovating Odeon?

Photograph courtesy of John McAuley, a former serviceman who worked in Malaya in the 1950s.

December 2012

Cinema Classic?

By |2012-12-17T16:58:09+08:00December 17th, 2012|Categories: childhood, history, ipoh, Memories, movies|Tags: , , , , |

Before the present wonder of CGI of today’s movies, there was the ‘Anamorphic Camera Lens’. The first movie shot with this lens is said to be Broken Lance (see poster above).

Anyone seen the movie? While is was no Lord of the Rings or Avatar, I’m sure it had its special features which left the audience in awe 🙂 If you’ve seen the movie, do tell us about it!

November 2009

Photographer Risks Life and Limb in Ipoh

By |2016-06-15T12:08:38+08:00November 6th, 2009|Categories: Ipoh Town, Memories|Tags: , , , , , |

Well he would be in danger if he was to try and take the same photograph today as he was standing in the centre of the Birch Bridge in Brewster Road, but of course in 1952 life was different in Ipoh, Brewster Road took two-way traffic and as you can see the road is almost empty. Compare that to today if you will.

But as you can see, despite the fact that the photograph has suffered with age, there were so many trees, big trees not some miniatures, overtrimmed, dusty and dry that we are so used to today. Also, some of today’s buildings have not yet been built and the Odeon Theatre stands out in the distance.

Incidentally, the Odeon Theatre in Ipoh seated 850 on its main floor and in the balcony and was built in the 1930’s. Triangular in shape it is adjacent to St Michael’s Cemetery and like the Rex Theatre, Ipoh, rumours of ghostly happenings, spooks and terrifying visions abound. One popular rumour was that if you ever took off your shoes inside, you would never find them when the light came on – even if nobody had sat in front, behind or next to you.

The theatre closed in 1986 and several nightclubs have tried to make a success of it but either because of bad ‘feng shui’ or the ghosts, they have all failed. Today it stands as a marker of failure and ready for demolition unless some serious entrepreneur is prepared to try and change the building’s luck.

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