Old Cathay Cinema - A Sad Sight

While I was around the Open Air Market area in Kuching last week, I took the opportunity to stroll over to the old Cathay cinema, or rather what used to be Cathay cinema. I haven't been there for some years and have always wondered what had become of this place where I spent many blissful hours watching movies during my school days.

I also remember a few of the shops in the open courtyard in front of the Cathay cinema. There was the ice cream place owned by a Mr F K Lo, who turned politician for a while before his untimely death. He made the best corn-flavoured ice cream! Then there was an Indonesian restaurant upstairs, that I recall accompanying my father to when some of his friends invited him. There was also a men's tailor and a few other retail outlets. I even remember the Indian man selling kacang puteh and other tidbits.

Well, the scene that I encountered last week was somewhat depressing to say the least. Have a look for yourself. I approached from the side entrance facing Open Air Market. and started taking shots as I made my way to the front of the former cinema.

First, I went through a delapidated and not-very-welcoming archway ...

Then I traversed a dimly lit corridor, flanked by a number of small stalls selling clothes, watches and other knick-knacks ...

I emerged into a quiet little lane, where a few shops had been set up against the side of the cinema. Not a single customer was in sight. A motorcycle sputtered past, probably using the lane as a shortcut to somewhere else.

As I turned right and walked towards the front of the cinema, I can see the golden-domed Kuching Mosque (built in 1968) in the background ...

And then I saw it. My first view of the Cathay frontage. It was a sad view - broken structures, peeling paint, even little shrubs growing out of the roof & ledges ...

The once grand-looking structure, which had been a hub of activity and source of celluloid pleasure for countless Kuchingites, just stood there - still, broken and forlorn. The movie posters had all been removed .. even the "Now Showing", "Next Change" or "Akan Datang" signs were long gone.

I approached the iron grills and peered in ...

On the left I saw the old ticket counter. Tickets used to be priced at 50 cents for stalls and about $1.20 or $1.30 for circle seats. Towards the middle, I saw the door which would have led to the main screening hall. The floor was filthy and strewn with litter, bottles and cans. There was a funny smell too.

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In the courtyard, the former ice-cream shop is now a dingy little kopi tiam with a few food vendors selling noodles and rice. Where the Indonesian restaurant used to be is now part of a motorcycle service centre. In fact, the back part of the courtyard seems to have been taken up by motorcycle vendors of one kind or another.

For a good few minutes, I just stood there silently gazing at the old Cathay building. I could almost hear the opening strains of "Cathay Organisation" playing in my mind ... you know, the one they play before each movie begins. And with it came the theme music of some of the memorable movies I had enjoyed within the walls.

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I wondered whether there wasn't something better that could be done with this historical building and site. Instead of leaving it vacant and degenerating, could it not have been renovated and redeployed as an office, a meeting hall, a church or maybe even as a new boutique cinema? Any classmates or friends out there who feel the same way? Anyone keen to discuss this project?

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More Movie Memorabilia : Old Cinemas

I found these really old photos which may bring back pleasant memories of movie haunts for some of us in the 1970s ...

Fig 1: Capitol in the 70s

I remember the days when the same film was screened at both Capitol and Lido (both part of the Shaw Brothers organisation) at roughly the same time, and because the cinema operator only had one copy of the film on (usually) two reels, they would stagger the timing such that one cinema would start showing the film first, while the other started with lots of commercials and trailers.

When the first reel ended in cinema #1, someone (usually on a motorbike so as to avoid traffic jams) would transport the reel to cinema #2. Once the courier was delayed, and we sat in one cinema in mid-film (reel one had just finished but reel two hadn't yet arrived), in pitch darkness, wondering what was happening. Invariably there would be lots of whistles, cat calls, and those with girlfriends would probably have a fumbling, fun time in the dark.

Fig 2: Cathay in the 70s

Regarding Cathay, actually what I remember more is the nearby ice cream shop, just beside the main entrance of the cinema - which sold great durian and sweet corn flavoured ice cream. (it's truly remarkable how one remembers foods tasted decades ago, and yet often forget what one had for lunch the previous day). Anyway, that ice cream shop was originally run by a certain Mr Lo Foot Kee, before he went into politics and even became an assistant Minister for Local Government, Sarawak.

Sadly both cinema establishments are no more. The Capitol building is long gone, with the Tun Jugah shopping mall in its place. I believe the Cathay building is still around, but no more functioning as a cinema.

Happy reminiscing ...