Boston building, part 2

[Note: This story has been updated several times to include new pictures of the Boston building that came to my attention.]

At the end of last month, I had a story about the landmark Boston building on this blog. Here, in no particular order, are more old pictures of the same building at the intersection of Penang Road and Prangin Road, long before the hideous octopus-like overhead pedestrian bridge was erected to block out the building's façade.

First of all are these two black-and-white pictures shown above and below. What's significant about them was the absence of the Labour Soap neon advertisement on top of the building. In fact, the picture above was also devoid of the Time for a Tiger neon lights. This is definitely the earliest picture of the Boston building that I could find on the Internet. It is also interesting to observe that before Ovaltine, there was a Mayfair advertisement on the wall beside the building. Mayfair was supposed to provide "style and comfort" but beyond that, I have no idea what this brand was about. Further up along Penang Road was the Penang Police Headquarters building which was constructed just before the Second World War. Therefore, I would say that these two pictures could well be in the later 1940s but whether it was before or after the Japanese Occupation, I cannot say.  

In this picture, the Time for a Tiger neon sign could now be seen on the building. By the 1950s, the Labour Soap animated neon sign had been added. It was to become synonymous with the building itself. 

From the Ovaltine advertisement beside the building, I would surmise that this picture was from the first half of the 1950s. Penang Road was already a busy street then. There were lots of people on their bicycles; plus a few classic cars on the road. Unfortunately, I'm unable to decipher the name(s) of the movies on the building's circular front above the shop lots.

The clue here is the film The Tomb of Love which was screening at the Odeon cinema further up the road. as the film was released in its country of origin in 1959, it's quite safe to estimate that this picture was taken in 1960 or 1961. The problem with playing sleuth is that there are different versions of the Ovaltine advertisement on the wall. In what sequence did they appear?

I would be a bit hesitant to claim that this picture was from the 1940s. It could be the early 1950s. There's yet another iteration of the Ovaltine advertisement beside the barely visible Boston building. I see a ZLIN store on the far left. Perhaps this was before the store relocated to the corner of Penang Road and Campbell Street?

This picture was taken by Harrison Forman sometime in 1971 or 1972. More of his colour pictures of George Town can be viewed at this link: click here. Goliath and the Barbarians was being screened at the Cathay cinema while Odeon was showing a Chinese film. There was also an advertisement for the Paramount cinema on the panel which said Doctor Z. As the Paramount cinema, located along Maxwell Road, screened almost exclusively non-English films, this could not have referred to the acclaimed Doctor Zhivago movie. Indeed, Doctor Z here was a relatively old Hindi film by the time it had its run in Penang.

This picture should be taken at about the same time too, that is, 1971 or 1972. but the photographer is unknown. When I looked at it, one thing that fascinated me were the row of buildings on the left, which were all painted brightly in contrastingly striking colours.

This picture was from later, possibly the later 1970s or early 1980s. The Labour Soap advertisement atop the building has been removed and a new Boston Bar signage put up. Instead of the Boston Photo Studio, the space had been filled by a small finance company called Sim Lim Finance. (This picture was cropped from an original photograph taken by Alex Koenig.)

And finally, another picture taken in front of the Boston building presumably on the same day as the previous image. It's no longer the Ovaltine advertisement on the wall but rather, an advertisement for the Pagol brand of watches. It is to the credit of this Modern Fancy Store that it could survive this long at the same location. They sold batek, sarong material, shoes, slippers and what not. It was already there in the 1940s. And take note of the cobbler and his bicycle on the five-footway.

Oh yes, one more picture that I found today.  The five-footway outside the Boston building. And that's the same cobbler and his bicycle which were seen in the previous picture. With a stool for his customer to sit while their shoes were repaired. One of these women here were selling something to eat outside a shop in the 1970s. Dumplings? The shop here was most likely, a Chinese provisions store that also sold liquor. But who could these ladies be? What could they be selling?