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Campbell Street
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Campbell Street
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Campbell Street was named after Sir
George William Robert Campbell, who served as the Penang Inspector
General and subsequently, the acting Lieutenant-Governor of Penang
between 1872 and 1873. Campbell Street (新街)is located between Penang Road(槟榔路) until the junction of Carnarvon Street (沓田仔) and Buckingham Street (新街头), where the Campbell Street Market is located. Across the junction, the street is Buckingham Street which will lead to Pitt Street or Jalan Masjid Kapitan Kling (椰脚街) where Kapitan Kling Mosque is located. It is within the buffer zone of the George Town World Heritage Site.
However, Campbell Street took on an
infamous
reputation soon in years to come. Coincidentally, both terms, Sin Kay and
Sin Kai, can be pronounced in a slanted way to mean fresh 'chickens' (prostitutes)
- young ladies brought to work at quarters in Cintra street and along
Campbell Street. As times went on, Cantonese
refer Campbell Street as "Fa Kai", which literally meant
'Flower Street' - also an euphemism for the prostitutes along the
street. A valuable picture taken in the early 1900 showing the crowd and how busy this sector of Campbell street was - for the vice trade
The new Cantonese arrivals, who mostly worked as coolies, tailors, goldsmiths and ironmongers, populated the area around Campbell Street. This place continued flourishing as a red-light district until the Japanese invasion of Penang during World War 2. Meanwhile, at the eastern end of Campbell Street, the Campbell Street Market was built in the early 1900s. That particular location was formerly part of the land owned by the nearby Kapitan Keling Mosque. Today, Campbell Street Market is one of the only two operational wet markets within George Town city centre. .After World War 2, Campbell Street was given a new lease of life. It became as Penang Island's "Fifth Avenue". By the time of the 1950s and 1960s, it was the street filled with shop for shoes, bags, watches and other forms of textiles To this day, traces of these shops selling jewellery, bags, textiles and Chinese natural remedies can still be seen, although most of the the style of retail businesses have disappeared or evolved with the times In the mid-1970s, the retail businesses along Campbell Street began to suffer dwindling numbers of customers. With the mushrooming of departmental stores and shopping malls, Campbell Street is now past its prime. Nonetheless, several shops selling jewelry, textiles, bags and traditional Chinese medicine, as well as apparel wholesalers, still operate along the street. Collection of Pictures over times In 1999, under the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, the then Penang Island Municipal Council built a walkway at the western end of Campbell Street, complete with an arch gate and benches. With a host of new problems, the concept did little to revive activities in this area
Campbell Street is one of the more
famous retail areas within the heart of George Town. #1 Sketch of Campbell Street For easy reference, here I personally have marked the Eastern sector in green from Buckingham Road to Cintra street in green. Then from Cintra Street to Penang Road the West in Red. In this page most pictures posted revolve around the western sector mainly "D" which was most active during its heydays. Whereas the eastern sector making up the Campbell street market were specialized shop area - "A" Sundries & Goldsmiths had lower walking in traffic, had much less activities after the morning session
Part 1 - Campbell Street - Pre-War and Post War Era #1 Western sector C & D - 3-storey shop lots I was surprised now to see that there were so many 3 floors buildings. By the late 1950, when I showed my face in Campbell Street, many of these tall building were no loner there. Most were rebuilt as Double storey shop lots. Now I could recalled those times I saw some shops having set-back. Now it explained that these were newly rebuilt shops then. The goldsmith shop 3 doors away from our shop was one of these rebuilt shop,
#2 Pre-war sector D At last. Was so happy to see this picture. Right side clearly seen shop Thin Sow Tong [天寿堂] Medical Hall. With that reference. I could then decipher by profile of the buildings to make a guess, at which part of the street was this picture made. 天寿堂 was the shop at the corner of Campbell and Kuala Kangsar Road. I would put it to be in the early 1930's. Before the WWII period
#3 Same locality -Another era There were less Rickshaw but could make out Trishaw. . I still remember the shop well. I was still in primary school in 1957, the year of the Merdeka. The shop was operated by 3 brothers and the second brother taking charge of running the daily business. The first and third brother went into employment. Our shop in the same block was just 3 shops lots away. We had daily interactions with the brothers when they were off from their offices
#4 Fast forward - the 60's in Campbell Street The other way around, from our shop moving down west towards Penang Road, again more departmental Stores. Enter my era in early 1960's. "Keng Wah" on the right was one the more prominent department store dealing in general goods. The shop was directly opposite Hameediyah Restaurant which still operates today
#5 Campbell Street Sector A Campbell Street Market Further east into the street would be more departmental stores and then comes the eastern sector itself, Here this eastern segment contained more the Gold Smith shops and finally ending up with the wet market
#6 Busy Campbell Street That's the Mercedes190D Type #121, produced in 1959-60. Penang had their affluence society then
#7 Sun Cinema Sector C Shaw Brothers accumulated a chain of Cinemas in Penang. Namely - Central, Eastern, Globe, Rex, Sun, Lido, Royal, Federal and Capitol. The last Capitol was revamp from the historical Windsor Theatre. The Sun and Odeon were preferred cinemas. there were the best places to watch movies and showing the latest blockbusters. The Sun beside being a Movie cinema, they also had stage performances, magic shows and Chinese Opera. I was still in primary school Francis Light in Datok Kramat. After school I took a bus down to town to help in the shop. For playing we would sneak into the cinema halls to collect discarded cigarette boxes. Big time then collecting cigarette bores. Sometimes when the show started we would make our way past the curtains at the entrance for some free shows. Too young to know about movies then. Among the live shows, we saw Rose Chan performing. Believe me those days nothing was mentioned about sex and I had not reach puberty to make any sense out of it. Winding down, This Sun Cinema was, the interior was renovated and converted into a place to be used as a fitness centre
Colored Pictures Era - Eastern Part of Campbell street # 9 Campbell Street Market Now we can the modern Campbell street in colour. Campbell Street Market is located on the junction of Lebuh Campbell and Lebuh Carnavon, The bulging is a beautiful Victorian-style market. But first an interesting back ground -The market, started work in the 1900s, on a piece of land that was once a Malay cemetery. The British relocate this the cemetery to Jalan Perak cemetery. According to hear say, strange things happened to the workers when they attempted to remove one particular tomb during relocation works, that tomb of Sheikh Mustafa. Stop work and discussion that tomb of Sheikh Mustafa would stayed in the same place till this day. A wall to protect the tomb kept it hidden from plain sight. Campbell Street Market, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with Chowrasta Market. Built in the 1900s, Campbell Street Market still retains its original architecture. Thus, although Chowrasta Market, built in 1890, is older, the Campbell Street Market building is the oldest of its kind in George Town. The market is scheduled to be upgraded in late 2016.
Campbell Street -Sector C &D #10 Sector B - Luggage # leather goods The story really starts with this sector. Moving in the new kind on the block was Hin & Co. This was a modern outfit as compared to the mostly pre-war shop. Also one of our associates. it in the era but it reminds me that Hin Company was among the textiles shops. This was a shop handling general goods. They too deal with watches and so was one of our associates
#11 Luggage - leather goods Our Mr Lau shop - started with leather goods
#12 Heydays of Campbell street. Sector D I will start off with a picture of the Black & White era 1966
#10 Same scene but in 1970 Yes found. At Last our favorite shop Titman - right edge center! This shop was handling "Clubman" long sleeved shirt .
#11 Another Picture in that same era Looking back - how narrow the street was and the amount of activities!
#11 Same sector - Campbell Street When? 1975- Place still look OK but the crowd was thinning or going! going! gone! Number of signage dramatically reduced. Used back the same reference "Keng Wah" first shop on the right
#12 Campbell Street - comes the heritage era I have my doubt on the claim of the date 2015. Congestion is there, must be fairly recent with the tree planting already activated. So?
#13 Zoom in - Hameediyah Restaurant - 184, Campbell street Our favorite shop for Mee Rebus. We could never find another shop to do preparation their style and meeting with their standard again. I was back in 2022, confirmed that they confined themselves to serving Nasi Kandar and Murtabak. No more offering Mee Rebus
#14 Tit Man - 193, Campbell street The shop where we admired my next "Clubman" shirt. While I slot this pictures together with the color picture era, this picture was taken before the 70's
#15 Campbell Street - End of Sector D and Campbell Street end This tail end part of Campbell Street, the crowd was always thin off. Hastily getting away or those coming heading straight for the dedicated shop.
Covid 19 Era -2020 In this section I will show the state of the building in today's environment, then in some pictures where possible together with an old picture of how it was like in the old days Campbell Street re-visited #16 Boon Wah Textiles No, 59 & 61 Campbell Street Boon Wah is a relatively new comer to Campbell street only in 1982. With better understanding of modern infrastructure, the shop names surfaced easily on most search for items on Penang. So wonderful quirky and colourful blue building is now quite an iconic landmark in the area. Then I have nothing to refer to as far s this place is concern, perhaps talk about the area the shop is in. Boon Wah is located at the corners of Campbell and Rope Walk. This area is famous for its previous activities where ropes made of coconut husk fiber used to be woven here. The ropes were then delivered by hand cart and bullock carts to the port as a means of logistic to transfer goods. Also used for mooring ships. Another interesting fact. this area is also famous the Teow Chew gangsters who run the street. Local merchants pay them protection fees to keep their business running freely. This was a prominent business are before Malls were built. One spin off, the Teow Chew porridge here are also very nice. I am surprised that Sin Ah, the New Asia Hotel is still around. There was a small hawker center where porrige was served late in th evening. My father would stopped by we had super before boarding the Lim Seng Seng bus for Air Itam
#18 Woo Hing Bros Watch Shop # 96, Campbell Street, Penang Uncle Robert Wong, then in his middle age was a soft spoken guy. A regular that drops by the shop. I had 3 uncles and all were chatty attracting quite of visitors daily. Woo Hing was handling Rolex but I saw assign showing Tissot meaning he too were having that. We did on tier lower i.e. Cyma, Longines and Farbe Lourva. Some time later in Kuala Lumpur I met the elder brother Peter Wong who was a Datuk. I had the privilege to buy from him a Patek Philippe
#19 The Rolex center Penang The latest new look on the same premises. This is what we saw when we passed by early April. Just wondering what kind of arrangement was made
#20 Tai Loke Hotel No. 106 Campbell Street The building was built 1903,as a budget hotel housing pilgrims waiting for vessels heading to Mecca. Also to give places for Hainanese sailors working on ships.. By 1920’s the hotel went up market to become a place in the re light district ! In the post war years without the vice business the hotel struggled on and like every other shops in Campbell street, left to fend for itself. Comes a time that the Tai Loke Hotel was left vacant for 7 years. It was eventually sold in 2008,
# 20 Campbell Hotel No,106 Campbell Street The new look! Suppose the new owners were still doing up the hotel
#21 The new Campbell House A husband and wife team Roberto & Nardya, one from Italy and another a mix of Malay and English took over refurbished the building and renamed it as "Campbell House",
#22 Entrance to Sun Cinema complex & Car Park In that era, population of vehicles were low but the very narrow street in fact all streets in Penang made it hard to find places for cars. This Car Park in front of Sun Cinema was a welcome relief. Few patrons to the cinema drove while times when shows were not on, the vacant car park was helpful. I remembered they charges 20 cents for an entry.
We had 2 cars then, the lime colored
Hillman Minx which we pay for parking at the car Park. The second
car a beige Humber Hawk was kept in the garage at Blue Sky Hotel in
Chulia street. From the picture, leaving the car in this alley leading to the car park, no charges was
incurred.
#23 Cafe - at the Entrance to Sun Cinema The irony, this shop lot was abandoned for a while. During my time, it was Kwong Chow Cafe. A coffee shop with stalls. and one of them offered very good tasting braised Duck throttle with noodle, Irony because, it is back into being Cafe!
#24 The block of our shop - the pathetic segment This short block of 8 shops lots was the reason for me to start this page on Campbell Street. After much effort of searching I found teh shop building alright but none of its former traces. It is a pity that I am still chasing for pictures and they are so important to my memory. Anyway recalling those days, let me name all the shops then From left-right. 139 - Nam Wah Shoe Shop, 141 - Goldsmith shop, 143 - Nam Sheng Paperwork shop, 145 -our neighbor Sin Sin General Goods, 147 - Yew Cheong Watch Dealer, 149 Nam Yik Shoe Shop 151 The Oriental Optical Shop and lastly 153 Swee Hin general Goods Could see that shop lots no.143 & 145 had combined and redeveloped as one building, judging from the set back.
#25 Our shop No.147 Campbell Street I still remember the shop. My goodness the shop lot only 14 feet wide. Imagine having 2 rows glass show cases leaving a narrow alley way to walk and serve customers
#26 Directly opposite our shop - Central Shoe Stores I still remember the shops well with another general goods shop "Tai Tong" sandwiched in the center. Signage for Tai Tong can still be seen here. Central Shoe Store occupied the two shop lots, left and right of Tai Tong
#27 Latest scene has being for a long time and still is! I still remember the shop
#28 Corner of Campbell Street - Kuala Kangsar Road No.153 Campbell Street was Swee Hin General Store. Ah Charh our neighbor brother was running a textile stall in the Penang Bazaar. When our friend from the Medical Hall closed business for good, our neighbor took over that opening. At that time, Swee Hin was a leading General Store offering up market products. For me, it is fading paint work and a small signboard bearing the name of the shop in Chinese
# 29 Swee Hin - In its hey days No.153 Campbell Street was Swee Hin General Store. At last I have got a picture though only a side view of the shop but brings back good memories
#30 Continue Westwards - 184 Campbell Street This is the famed Hameediyah Shop. During our time, the Mee Rebus was so good that I could never find another near since I left Campbell. Went back to the shop again in April confirmed that they no longer Mee rebus just focusing on Nasi Kandar and Murtabak. Opening at noon. As voted on the internet, the shop is among the top three. The other being Deen Maju in Jelutong and Line Clear in Penang Road. As most Nasi Kandar outlet are stalls in coffee shops and operating on irregular hours, these few proper seating in decent looking environment. Without doubt I support the rating. Yes, all of them are good.
#31 Finally the "Arch" that marks the beginning of Campbell Street Second time on this page we arrived here
wa #32 Story of Campbell Street cannot end yet! Not with this Arch? There were 2 very prominent shop on Penang Road at the entrance of Campbell street. Zlin Shoe Store & Ho Dispensary
Very good picture indeed. I was trying to compile my story with pictures of shops. Yes, the old shops, many closed and without old signage - the character of the street totally altered. It is not meaningful to compare the old and the new anymore. All of a sudden, a picture of these twos shops in color helps to bring my story over. Away from Campbell street Cintra Street [Jalan Sungei Ujong] Yes, My uncles' family all lived and work in the shop. We had our meals cooked. We couldn't resist all the good food that were around us. Morning we hardly have breakfast, bought something back. But in the evening when the shop was closed after 9.30pm, that's the time we were our hunting for food. A favorite corner for food was besides Woo Hing. Cintra street before the Jalan Malabar Junction on the way to Chulia. Best known stall then was the Pig entrails porridge [Chu Chap Chuk] and right opposite was the very famous "A-Go-Go Fried Koay Teow". The guy was dancing and doing the frying the whole evening. At last seeing this shop again, Still there, still the same, and serving the same meals. Those days in the evening, it was #33 Choo Chap Cheok Pig Entrails Porridge So happy to see this picture, taken in 1981. This was the spot where "A-Go-Go" Char Koay Teow was performing. This Choo Chap Chok stall was directly on opposite side of the road, beside Woo Hing Bros
I cannot remember the reason why we had never been to Tho Yuen Restaurant, which still exist today but instead we frequently patronized these two other restaurants in Cintra Street, #34 Our favorite "Tim Sum" Shop The first one - Tai Tong Restaurant! At last seeing this shop again, Still there, still the same, and serving the same meals. Those days in the evening, they offered only fried Cantonese Noodles. No Tim Sum! Those days, Tim Sum was bettered served by a much smaller restaurant in Kimberly street. Tai Tong couldn't compete with these other shops. That explained why Tim Sum was not their prime offerings in the evening. Most important, customers in Penang were not tuned to having Tim Sum in the evening. This is an offering as breakfast, as the way it was introduced from Hong Komg
#35 Tai Tong Restaurant See the signage on the main pillar says so! They were more into offering banquet dinner and Cantonese pastries. The trend of serving Tim Sum throughout the day and into the late night, had hit Penang a few years back. I suppose that is what Tai Tong is better known for, now.
#36 Foo Heong or our "Wang Tiang" To me, this was the best restaurant, serving very authentic Cantonese cooking. Were there for our regular fried noodles. "What Tan Hor" and "keong chung ngao". The restaurant all these while until now is made up of 2 shop lots we preferred the adjoining shop. The Captain or cashier would shout out the meals chosen by us to the kitchen and notified that we were customers from "Wang Thean" So we nick named this restaurant using the name.
Besides these couple of restaurants, this section of land sandwiched between Cintra and Rope Walk there was a small food bazaar and the cinemas torn down. Now the business abolished and replaced with low cost flats. One stall owner - that selling "Yew Char Koay" still operates at the ground floor of the flats. Famous for that - we bought once, the deep fried stick was still crunchy and crackling after hours in wrappers. Very unnatural, we dare not patronize that product again. #37 Yew Char Kueh - 油条 Cintra Street Penang Yeah! They are still operating @ No. 76 Cintra Street. Now that they have a shop of their own. Really bring back lot of memories. Now you can find them on Face Book!
#38 Fried Yew Char Kueh Yew Char Koay! Picture of the ladies in action
Corner of Campbell street Now over to Kuala Kangsar Road locality The block of 8 shops in the 1960' ended with Swee Hin Departmental Stores. In Kuala Kangsar the road would be jammed packed practically every morning with street vendors and those patronizing the Chowrasta Market. Two coffee shops which I could never forget would be Kim Sun and Keng Lun. I was working as a cleaner cum coffee boy. Each time a visitors came to the shop, I would have to run over either one of these shops to buy a jar of coffee, Depending on the size of the crowd. Varies between 15-20 cents per jar . Daily there would be at a couple rounds of visitors. Kuala Kangsar Road #39 Kim Sun at a time more towards the present. Lately the whole block of shops were boarded up. This shot, must be a picture taking before 2014. The last look in 2021 the shop was boarded up too
#40 The Back lane??? Look carefully Look carefully! I am surprised that it is that narrow. During my time, the play was very clear and tidy. Not a single piece of unwanted material. The reason I make a special mention of this place. This was my playground. Good thought in your mind! What do I play and with whom could I be playing with. Most times by myself sometimes playing with dog tied at the rear of the shops. At my age now as grand father, I admired the innovativeness of kids who can find ways to play ny themselves. Sometimes I do wander way from the back alley an play in the Sun Cinema Car Park. Those were rare occasions. Don't want to be caught missing from the shop's counter.
#41 More from Kuala Kangsar Road This was a much larger coffee shop. I patronized this shop less often though only a matter of 4 shop lots further away. This location of this shop is very close to the Chowrasta Market, There was always very crowded, meaning I may waste those precious minutes. All the while this coffee shop had used 2 shop lots. Earlier, one was also a corner lot across the Sun Cinema exit. Now the picture showed that they are side by sie as a double shop lot
When I joined the group, I was pleasantly surprised to see that so many pictures of the old Penang were readily available. This awareness triggered off an old urge in me to write about my experiences of my early days staying in Campbell Street, Very quickly a page started and a sketchy story compiled. Need not assume, yes much materials - text and images on this page were copied from the internet. I too, then I added quite a few pictures of my own. Now almost complete. But! The most critical picture - that of our shop at No. 147, Campbell cannot be found. Then I have that lousy taste in my tongue, without that important picture, my exercise is not as meaningful as i wanted it to be. Going through my own writing I cannot help but accept the fact that Campbell Street has joined the rank of deserted old mining town. That nostalgic sentiment of mine slowly turning into despair.
New shops serving fusion foods in
Campbell street. Saw the
changing taste of the Penang people. We, old folks longing for the good
memories of the past are actually the few " Mohicans" left, still dwelling
in a bygone era. Put all those useless thoughts aside, I will
continuously upgrade tis page as more pictures surfaced |
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W i t h W i l l W o u l d W a n d e r |
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