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ORCHARD AREA 3

Peranakan Place * Emerald Hill was once nothing more than a wide treeless street along whose sides quiet families lived in typical terrace houses residential units similar to shop houses, with a walled courtyard in the front instead of the usual "five-foot way." Toward Orchard Road, the terrace houses turned into shophouses, with their first floors occupied by small provisioners, seamstresses, and dry-goods stores. Across Orchard was Robinson's department store in a plain, boxy building.

As Orchard Road developed, so did Emerald Hill. A giant shopping mall called Centrepoint was built close to the junction of the two roads, and Robinsons moved into more glitzy digs. Meanwhile, the buildings were all renovated. The shophouses close to Orchard Road became restaurants and bars and the street was closed off to vehicular traffic. Now it's an alfresco cafe, landscaped with a veritable jungle of potted foliage and peopled by colorful tourists-much different from its humble beginnings.

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