KL : OLD PHOTO (Part 2)

1916: Selangor Club Padang—what we know today as Dataran Merdeka. Founded in 1884 as the social club for high-ranking British colonial society for cricket, rugby, and networking. 

The hill behind the club is Bluff Hill (now Bukit Aman), the police HQ today, and behind it the Bukit Petaling/Lake Garden area.

1948: Sg. Besi Airport—the wooden CUSTOMS shed, with the old car and lady in baju kurung. This was KL's first airport, built in 1930 on a tin mine, with the first commercial flight in 1933. 

At that time, it was RAF Kuala Lumpur-Malayan Airways DC-3s, and BOAC Agronauts were using them even before it was officially international.

In 1952, the designated main airport, 1 August 1956, Tunku declared it international. On 30 August 1965, it closed for civil use and became RMAF KL, finally closed in 2018 for Bandar Malaysia. 

1950: Madras Lane KL—The Madras Theatre on Madras Lane, off Jalan Petaling / Jalan Tun H.S. Lee area. Today it's the open-air car park + wet market behind Rex Cinema. 

Built in 1930 by a Chettiar to screen Tamil movies. The Shaw Brothers then bought over the cinema in 1947 and began mostly showing Chinese movies. To the locals it was called Chung Hwa Cinema Hall. Following a fire in 1952 and 1978, today it functions as a car park, local wet market, and home to food hawkers. 

1950: TPCA Stadium—one of KL's earliest proper stadiums, before Merdeka Stadium even existed. TPCA means "Town Planning Committee Association", located in Jalan Raja Muda, KL. 

Before 1957, this was the football ground for KL. The Malaya Cup Finals and Selangor League matches were played here. It was eventually renamed Stadium Jalan Raja Muda and later upgraded to become Stadium Kampung Baru. 

1952: Radio Malaya—temporary studios of Radio Malaya at Jalan Young (now Jalan Cenderasari), near the Lake Gardens area. After WWII, the Department of Broadcasting was re-established on 1 April 1946. 

On 1 January 1959, this became Radio Malaya KL, which later became RTM (Radio-Television Malaysia). 

1953: Odeon Cinema KL—located on the corner of Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Dang Wangi, which in 1953 were called Batu Road and Campbell Road.

Built in 1936 by the Cathay Organisation, it's one of the last few surviving colonial buildings in KL and a classic Art Deco link between architecture and the new entertainment industry of the time. 

It was later run by the Shaw Brothers/Loke Wan Tho chain, then showed Chinese movies until 1996, switched to Tamil movies, showed films until November 1997, and is now an arcade. 

1954: KL Double Decker bus – The Double-decker AEC Regent III buses of the General Transport Company (GTC) on the Sentul Pasar route. Note the Capstan cigarette advertisement and Selangor registration BC2824. GTC was one of the first operators to introduce double-deckers in Malaya after 1948. 

1965: Weld Supermarket—located at Weld Road (now Jalan Raja Chulan). It was the first modern supermarket in Malaysia, opened in 1963, and was owned by Cold Storage. 

The site is still there today—it was later rebuilt into The Weld and is currently located at Jalan Raja Chulan. 

3 March 1969: Taylor College—first college building at Jalan Pantai Baru, KL. Founded by George Archibald Taylor and his son George Leighton Taylor. It started with 345 students and offered the Victorian High School Certificate (VHSC), the first Australian pre-university programme offered in Malaysia. The first principal was Mr Peter Burns. 

1974: Jalan Lembah / Jalan Perdana: I had gone through Google Maps to look for the location of this photo. My conclusion is: (correct me if I'm wrong)

"Arch location: Jalan Lembah/Jalan Perdana (now Jalan Perdana), directly in front of Masjid Negara, facing towards Methodist Boy School KL. The white building behind the left pillar is the National Mosque (Dewan Masjid Negara), and the white building on the right with the cross symbol is the Methodist Boy School KL, founded in 1897 by Rev. Dr Kensett. 

The temporary arch spans the road for the 5th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers on June 19-25, 1974. 

1976: Kwong Yik Bank - Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, 1976 vs. 2026. Same street, same angle, 50 years apart. Malaya's first local bank, founded in 1913. Yellow taxis, kapcais, and hand-painted shop signs were the norm. 

Today, the same building stands renovated as part of KL's heritage quarter. The shophouses are now cafes and boutique hotels, but the soul of the street remains. 

1977: Bulatan Chow Kit—The most photographed roundabout at that time. The traffic hub where Jalan Chow Kit, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, and Jalan Raja Laut met. The black & yellow Austin taxi with plate H9577 was the standard KL taxi livery in the 70s.

The roundabout no longer exists today; it was removed in the late 1970s/early 1980s to cope with traffic. It is today a standard 5-way signalised intersection right in front of Chow Kit Monorail Station. 

Jalan Chow Kit was named after Loke Chow Kit, a well-known miner, municipal councillor, public official and also the first local owner of a department store—Chow Kit & Co., which was the largest in KL at the time. 

1977: Bas Sri Jaya - the old Leyland stage buses. Founded as Sri Jaya Transport Company, it started stage bus service in 1959. It was one of the private stage bus companies in KL. 

In September 1993, Diversified Resources Berhad (DRB-HICOM) was approved to consolidate when the government wanted to nationalise 8 operators in 2-3 economic units. DRB-HICOM, with its subsidiary Intrakota Komposit Sdn Bhd, invited others to merge. It acquired Toong Fong, SJ Kenderaan and others. 

In 1998, Intrakota took over all urban routes within 15 km of KL CBD from 1994, and Sri Jaya formally ceased as a standalone brand in 1998. 

1980: Kuala Lumpur: In 1932, the Automobile Association of Malay (AAM) proposed starting a taxi service comprising a fleet of 40 Ford Landauettes as taxicabs.

Taxi has only been a common sight in KL ever since the 1950s. It was called 'Kereta sewa'.

The black-and-yellow taxi Datsun 120Y/130Y, in the above photo, was the undisputed best-selling car and city taxi before Proton. 

From 1985 onwards, the Proton Saga became the main taxi, and since the 1990s, the Proton Saga Iswara saloon has dominated. 

In the early 1990s, the government had classified the red-and-white taxi for easy identification. 

1982 - McDonald's Jalan Bukit Bintang

2024 - McDonald's (same location as 1982)

29 May 1982: Grand Opening of first McDonald's—Malaysia's first McDonald's opened at 120, Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL. This was the first American fast-food chain to open in a Muslim-majority country. The site that still operates at the same junction as today. It's even today as the oldest surviving McDonald's in a Muslim-majority country. 

1989: Mini Buses—The KL Mini buses, or Bas Mini, are one of the oldest and most popular public bus services in Malaysia. It was launched in 1975 and started on 23 September 1975. 

The mini bus ran on a commission basis—operators were paid according to the fare they collected and number of trips per day, which created the infamous racing culture. Drivers would speed, cut through traffic, and sometimes detour from the designated route to beat competitors. 

In 1990, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Paduka Rahman Osman standardised all mini-buses to pink and white. That's why we remember them as pink. 

On 1 July 1998, the service was terminated in KL to be replaced by Intrakota and later RapidKL buses in 2005. 

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

28 September 2026: 8.33 p.m.