11 Nov 2014 – Former Phoenix Hotel

Many moons and another life ago, this property belonged to my father and his partners! Now it is the one-and-only shopping mall with a library that straddles both sides of Orchard Rd.

A new mall with an overhead see thru’ tunnel glass tubular bridge (Emerald Rd side has yet to open) crossing and linking to the other side of Orchard Rd. When this is completed, it will be the ‘gateway’ to the bustling shopping belt. There is also an underpass…

Cheerful and colourful décor inside the mall with unique sitting areas.

This newly opened library@orchard is the first public library to span two storeys in this shopping mall carries the largest public library collection on design and applied arts. Worth the visit, especially now with the display of old pix of Orchard Rd.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/library-orchard-returns/1430300.html

It was interesting to see old pix of Orchard Rd in the library where the Keller Piano Co was located opp the Cathay, SIN first skyscraper then! Again this property there was owned by my father then and I do remember very well shopping for my music notes in that location. Those were the days!

Today it is a green corner area with a grey electrical or gas box and the drain is still there…

A movie just as colourful as the new Orchard Gateway – The Book of Life****an animated with a unique visual style, is the journey a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure where he must face his greatest fears which encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.

If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret – Jim Carrey