as mentioned in my previous post, fort road was nothing but a piece of reclaimed land and the areas around it. the key developments around the areas could broadly be discussed in the following:
- pre-70s - the fort road area was non-existent. it was katong park and the katong park beach that extends all the way to the tanjong katong beach fronts. this was where many families frequent with most expatriates congregating around the beaches near to where chinese swimming club is today.
- 70s - reclamation work started and the katong park lost the sea-front. gay men, who previously hanged around the katong park and amber areas now find new areas to cruise. the expansion of the space led to a slow decline and disappearance of gay men hanging around the amber area.
- 80s - a new expressway was built. up till 87/88, the east coast parkway runs on the surface and a traffic light continue to operate until 1987/88 where the fort road flyover was built to allow uninterrupted flow of traffic from the changi airport to the city. with the flyover, the areas under the flyover eventually became a new spot for gay men to meet for sex. this peaked in the 90s through to the early 2000. it continue to attract gay men these days but to a lesser extend. it could possibly be due to the blossoming of gay saunas in singapore in the early 2000. with the new flyover, a circle was also built to facilitate flow of traffic into the east coast park service road.
- 90s, the area, particularly the toilet area, became very popular with the general public, both gay and straight. it was the "in" place to be amongst the yuppies of the 90s. that was the area for sports, runs, walks, roller blade or simply for a picnic. many prominent gay characters you can see today had, at some time or other, "appeared" and socialised there. that was also where i came out, and met many friends in my early years as a gay person. lots of memories.
- late-90s to early-2000s, a road extending into the reclaimed area was built. this road was to serve major construction projects around the area include the construction of the kallang-paya lebar expressway (kpe), as a holding area for the debris from the nicol highway collapse, and for the building of the marina expressway (mce) later. the east coast park running track was, as a result, dissected and to allow park goers continued access and joggers uninterrupted jogging experience across the new road, a new elevated metal track was constructed. there were also reports of frequent police raids on gay men in this area.
- mid-2000s, increased use of the reclaimed land for development. the increased in construction activities led to the eventual cordoning off of the fort road beach from the public. the escape of mas selamat also saw local security agencies making their rounds into the reclaimed land. the intense activities by security agencies and the cordoning off of the areas led to a decrease of gay men visiting the area and marked the start of the decline of the reclaimed land as a gay man's haunt.
- 201x, fort road as a gay man's haunt continued to decline. a new generation of gay men now frequent saunas, head overseas, etc. for many from that 90s era, this place continue to attract us. and while many from the new generation would brand this place as a place for many "doms" or "uncles" or other less than pleasant terms, some would also come here to explore the place and to see first hand what this place is like.
what i have captured probably do not do justice to the rich local gay sub-culture. but certainly, fort road has evolved over the last five decades. its evolution, to me, goes almost hand-in-hand with the evolution of the gay culture in singapore. ironically, it is the relaxing and opening up of the society to gay persons and development to led to the decline of fort road as a gay haunt. but it will continue to live on in many of our mind. in my next couple of posts, i will write about some interesting persons who frequent fort road and has, over time, become icons of fort road (particularly the fort road beach).
picture from http://kim-thenextphase.blogspot.sg/2011/05/right-to-bare.html
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