Penang Road -檳榔律 -  was among one of the first road to be built outside of the "Heritage Zone'". The so-called original town drafted for  George Town, it was named as the main road of Penang - Penang Road.

It ran all the way from Farquhar Street to Magazine Circus.- this could be the dispersion circus having six road junctions forming a roundabout. Started with only 4 major roads -  Brick Kiln Road, Dato Kramat Road, Macalister Road, and Magazine Street.

In later years it really years Penang Road being the principle feeder to this circus also became the main road for Georgetown. So was the most busiest road in Penang. This is especially true during the time when Penang island with a Duty Free status was a hub for the whole region. We had visitors from mainly Thailand due to its proximity and from Indonesia with the Sea Link to Sumatra.

Historical Penang Road

This page now is trying to trace how this Penang Road was started and evolved over time.

First this road would have its one end at a point which would eventually become the Light street. It was a dead end road. A rough guess that point would be  the point where the main gate of Convent School now stands. The road more or less represented a transverse road cutting right across the heart of Georgetown.

Next change -  Penang Road was went on and extended further into where Farquhar Street now stands. The new end would be a point where the Supreme Court and the Church are. That would be mean it meeting up with Pitt Street. I am not sure whether that short segment of road after Quan Yin Temple existed by then. Anyway, with this new extension would make Penang Road to become the longest road in Georgetown.

Of course more changes, this time both Farquhar Street and Light street were created. Northern end of Penang Road changed. Shortened and rerouted the new end of the so-called Upper Penang Road would be where it is now -  the Cemetery. Penang Road was a much straighter and shorter road. The new short segment was then called Battery Street Connected, there was another narrow road called Battery Lane, leading from the Penang Road, past the old burial ground [Cemetery]

Why "Battery" That was the site of the battery guarding the north - west entrance of the Penang North Channel in the period 1780-1860. That segment  of the old Battery road would be where Lowe Motors is and the  marked by the100 years old Shell Station - the first petrol filing station in northern Malaya. So to recap - The original route Penang Road took-  was part of Farquhar Road going into Leith Street then to the Odeon Roundabout. That junction of Chulia street at that time was called the inner end of the Malabar Street. Now Malabar street is another lane, parallel to Chulia Street

I suppose that short segment between Odeon Circus and Battery lane was eventually made passable to create a straight Upper Penang Road where Cold Storage and White House were.

After SXI, there was once a row of colonial residential houses that started with No 7 Farquhar Street, After the 4th house there was the short lane - named Dundas Court. Dundas Court was a cul-de-sac, which was perpendicular to Farquhar Street. It was named after Lieutenant-Governor Phillip Dundas. He succeeded Lt.-Governor Farquhar. After Dundas Court there were 2 more houses with the last and end lot known as No.25,Farquhar Street

 Old Penang Road

Lets see how busy was Penang Road!

Upper Penang Road was quieter with formal activities like hotel guests and those shopping with Cold Storage. The second part of Penang Road from Chulia Street  to Burma Road was again filled with passer bys and not so much shoppers. There was the usual morning crowd at Chowrasta Market and also those needing specialty going to the Bazaar in later part of the day. So was the dedicated crowds going to their chosen shops, like Wing Look and Loke Thye Kee. The tourist and causal visitors looking for bargains were all strolling along Campbell street. In fact all you see on Penang Road in its heydays were heavy traffic, flowing non stop! While pedestrians were moderate. Of course judging by gatherings of people to these two locations - Campbell and Penang Road together, crowd was moderate the whole day long, by modern standard but viewed those days was substantial

Penang road faired better as there were the eateries and restaurant which drew in the crowd till late hours. This was of course boosted by the patrons heading for the few cinemas, Three of them, Capitol, Cathay and Odeon while another two Majestic and Rex not very far away.

In fact I would consider that last segment, Burma Road to Magazine Circus to have the thickest crowd. The big establishments Police HQ and Bazaar in the mid segment, this last segment had two rows of continuously compact small retail shops drew more crowd. It was also a practice in Penang for shops to remain open until 10pm. Rather unusual as elsewhere like Batu Road in Kuala Lumpur, shops in the heart of town would be closed by 6pm. Last if all, the last show from all the cinemas would end minutes just before midnight, there spilled another group of people onto Penang Road in the middle of the night

Chorister Line

In 1811, this Chow Rasta area locality were the gathering of Tamil . Ethnic Tamils from Southern India began settling around this area. In 1890,. Those who had committed offence were kept in a dedicated building. the first convict prison. So this place got the name called "Chorister Lines" It is  located at Penang Road.

When combing for more information on Penang Road  I picked up a clue from the Chinese name 舊跤樞 - An old prison. This information matches those above  This was the Hangman place as well.

As time passed  the number of convicts from India was getting overwhelming, the Chorister Lines was found to be too small. Conveniently a larger jail was erected on the opposite side of the Chorister Lines. The site where the Police HQ would be located. This larger jail would also become part of the new Police HQ complex.

Chow Rasta Market

Georgetown Municipal built a single storey open air Chow Rasta Market. This would be the one of the two markets that still exited till this day. The other is Campbell Street wet Market. The frontage of Chow Rasta Market was rebuilt in 1920 with again upgraded in the 1960's to a 3-storey building. First major renovation came when the whole market was rebuilt. In Urdu Language Chow Rasta meaning "Four Cross Roads" There were no cross roads but four roads forming a square

Chow Rasta Market was given a budget of Rgt 9 mil to be rejuvenated in 2013. Work was finally completed in 2017. Number of traders was increased from 90 to170 traders to filled up the space. This current building also awarded silver green building index for its environmental friendly design

Chowrasta Outdoor Dispensary

The Chowrasta Outdoor Dispensary was located at today's Dickens Street, at the enclaves fronting Penang Road. The Dickens Street was not exist at that time, only footpath Transfer Road with Penang Road. In August 1937, the dispensary moved to No.7, Buckingham Street, opposite Kapitan Kling Mosque.  The doctor in charge of Dispensary then was Dr E.W.De Cruz. After the relocation of the Dispensary, the site was cleared for building of new police headquarter. The police headquarter building was built by Malayalee contractor Ibrahim Kaka. During the World War Two, the new police headquarter was hit by bombing on 11-12-1941. The front, and small section of 3rd and 4th floor near Phee Choon Road end was also damaged.

Phee Choon Road

 Lee Phee Choon 1808-1862 He was a leading merchant and planter from Kedah. The children went on to establish the Eastern Shipping Co. An obituary was seen on the straits Echo on 28 June 1909 from Phee Choon's widow Mdm Quah Say Keow They were staying in Northam Road. The mansion was demolished in May, 1937. The Penang State Police Headquarter building started around that time after the Mansion gave way for construction to start in1937.

 Then came another 寧爵厝前 - In front of Lêng Chiak's house. Now there is a Phee Choon Road and a reference to Police HQ. This Chinese name must have referred to a house in Phee Choon Road fronting the present Police HQ This so-call Leng Chiak Mansion That block was built prior to 1942. The mansion that belongs to Lêng Chiak and who was this Gentleman? The Malay called the Mansion Rumah Phee Choon,

 Police Headquarters

The Police Headquarters along Penang Road is a square block building built just before the Second World War in 1937. It was formerly the detective headquarter. Several other buildings were cleared for its erector, A Chinese mansion Leng Chiak Building, and the Chowrasta Out door pharmacy. The whole square block bordered was by Penang Road, Dickens Streets, Transfer Road and Phee Choon Road. Cantonese called the place "Square Building"

The front portion and part of section at Phee Choon Street were damaged by the bombing during the WW2 and was subsequently repaired. Within its compound, they had police station also have prison facility for penal coolies. The penal lock up place was a transfer from the Chowrasta Market. Later that feature was removed with prisoners properly housed in Jail

Octopus Pedestrian Walkway

Tiaù-kiô-thaû(吊橋頭) - Drawbridge head, after the bridge that formerly spanned the Prangin Ditch (see article on Transfer Road , Mesjid Titi Papan) there. The state police headquarter was located there and opposite is the largest wet market, Chowrasta Market.

The old capital cinema and the oriental supermarket were located here at 70s, but were no longer there. They were gone to give way for Komtar project. The oriental supermarket was considered the first supermarket in Penang. Capital cinema, beside Li Teik School was premier cinema for English movie.

A western restaurant, Wing Look a few shops away from the corner between Penang Road and Prangin Road, and Loke Thye Kee were the two restaurant - one for western food and the other for Chinese food. If you are from Penang, your parent may have their engagement or wedding dinner in Loke Thye Kee."

Chowrasta Market to Burma Road

 Famous Teochew Chedol stall is walking distance from Chowrasta Market, at the off street of Penang Road, Ah Kwee Street. The green 'worm-like' jellies are 'chendol', which was a typical Malaysian dessert, Gula melaka is used for its sweetness, the pannan leaves used for the chendol giving it that fragrant aroma. The dessert is serve with coconut milk and red beans. Remember to try the Char koay Teow and Assam Laksa at the corner coffee shop, but if you order the chendol to the coffee shop, the shop will charged you extra for using the coffee shop, as table charge. The Chendol stall however opened a shop behind the coffee shop, and also sell rojak, but if you order Penang Laksa or Char Koay Teow, the food will cost additional charge.">

 Burma Road to Magazine Circus,

The main attraction today is KOMTAR. Thanks goodness the Seh Ong Kong Xi is still there. Good to recall that once upon a time there was a fire station and a Traffic Registration office.

 人車丁牌館 - The registration office  for Rickshaw All together with e Fire Station facing the "Temple" Ong clans House. I would consider this segment of Penang Road the busiest and giving Campbell a good run. In the old days the row of souvenir shops on and after Burma Road junction was the Japanese tourist attraction.

Opposite the souvenir shops were Capitol cinema and oriental supermarket. The Singapore Hotel where the first building which had lift in Penang. School children after their classes from the Li Teik Seah and Confucius Primary Schools which were nearby, would swarming the place. Opposite the Singapore Hotel is Kek Seng Coffee shop, famous for the durian ice kacang and laksa.

My special memories would be Eastern Photos where we bought our first transistors radios. We had a couple of business associates here. Shu Tong Mau then was a new boy on the block handling spectacles but also do deal with watches. I checked they are stiil around but not as a retail shop but an industrial outlet in Prai. Then there was Khai Meng, an old shop dealing exclusively on Omega Watches

 Komtar Building & Magazine Circus

The old Police Station and the ammunition depot after being dismantled, this corner land was vacant for quite a while was formerly an empty field. So much so Wandering Circus had utilized the land for performance, Some old memories - There was a traditional mamak bubor kacang stall and some street food stall there. People were sitting at the stools, eating their street food, watching the traffic and crowd go by, until the sun set.

I had not visited or better said I had not dropped by the place but the fond memories of the "Craven A cafe" and the Mido over head kept etched in my mind . Gama supermarket is the imposing landmark at the junction of Dato Kramat Road was once a Japanese supermarket,

 Oh yes, I did patronize those couple of stalls serving  Nasi Kandar stalls at the Brick Kiln Road end of this Roundabout, In fact the whole vicinity -  Craven A and adjacent shops just behind which had spilled over into  Macalister Road as well were all famous for Nasi Kandar  I still remember my primary school days in Francis Light, the Nasi Kandar shop just opposite the Jail was so good, I had my breakfast at the Nasi Kandar shop - kosong with only kuah for Rht 0.15cts.  Now that I am working and knowing that the patronage would not be cheap, I too follow that age old Penang frugal mentality. It would be expensive at the Nasi Kandar stall. An up market experience. I am one of the old types -  will advised you not to order big prawn lah, as they will cut your head.

At the apex of Magazine and Gladstone Roads, there was this Shell Station not the oldest but same vintage, there was a bus stop just before the station and reminds me of the hawker center at Gladstone Road. Also gone, was the road where I had my driving lesions - Tek Soon Road

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