I'm going to make this "Old, Old Kuching" post an ongoing series. Hopefully over time and with all your contributions, we will build up a rich online portfolio of historic Sarawak photographs. Thanks to Robert Chin, for sharing this first set of pictures around the Padungan area.
The first one shows the junction of Padungan Road joining Thompson (now Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman) and Mathies Roads. You can see Odeon cinema (top, middle), Capitol cinema (extreme left), and an Austin car showroom & service centre on the front right. Both Odeon and Capitol are gone. At the location of the Austin showroom now stands the Standard Chartered Bank building and the Riverside hotel.
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Next we have another picture of the Odeon cinema in an even earlier time, before the building was expanded to accomodate a restaurant and retail area. Odeon was declared open on 16th June, 1955 by Mrs. A.R Snelus, wife of the Acting Deputy Chief Secretary.
And here is the former Borneo Company Limited building, at the site of the current Hilton Kuching. Interesting to see that a boat race seems to be in progress on the Sarawak River. You can make out the letterings on Speedboat No. 11.
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Ahh, images of history ...
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