Near the time of its closure in the mid-1960s, a Singaporean who visited the bar one night described it as being brightly lit but there was no sign of gay life. The waiters were mainly Hainanese in their 40s wearing starched white shirts with little bow ties. In the bar, there were tables covered with white table cloths and a sprig of orchid in a small vase was placed on every table top. It is interesting that the gay and straight areas both co-existed side by side without much evidence of open homophobia. The bar area itself was predominantly gay, while in the adjacent larger room, there was a band and dance floor that was completely "straight", being much patronised by heterosexual British and Australian servicemen. It was always a mixed establishment rather than purely a gay venue.
The entrance to the Golden Venus was located at the rear of the hotel and could be accessed discreetly through the hotel's open-air car park. The latter occupies the space where a petrol station and terraced shophouses once stood, at the junction of Orchard Road and Orange Grove Road. The former Orchard Hotel, just a few storeys tall, was much smaller than the currently rebuilt one. It flourished from about 1960 until overtaken by Pebbles Bar (see below) in the mid-1960s. Next came the Golden Venus bar, on the ground floor of the former Orchard Hotel along Orange Grove Road, as some locals and gay expatriates who lived in Singapore during the 1960s can recall. It existed in the 1950s but had already ceased functioning by the early 1960s. The proximity of Hong Lim Park to Boat Quay may explain why the former became notorious as the first internationally known gay cruising rendezvous in Singapore to be listed in the Spartacus Gay Guide, the most widely read gay tourist publication in the world.Īs far as locals can remember, but which can only be corroborated by a handful of people, the very first gay bar in Singapore was the Criterion along Orchard Road, not very far from the old Cold Storage building where Centrepoint now stands. It is thought that the first places in early Singapore where homosexual men, especially Chinese coolies, could chance upon each other were the public toilets near the Singapore River, predominantly at Boat Quay (see main article: History of Singapore gay venues). However, as a concession to these conservatives, they are mentioned after the more "decent" venues like bars and discos, although historically and chronologically speaking, the "seedy" rendezvous preceded and were more heavily patronised than the socially sanctioned ones.Īs a counterpoint, it should also be mentioned that perhaps the majority of gay men in Singapore never ventured into any of these cruising areas and that "gay venues" for them meant private spaces in which they indulged in social and sexual intercourse - mostly the homes of their lovers and friends. Thus, even though it may not be palatable to some conservative members of the gay community who would prefer to present a whitewashed façade of gay society, the inclusion of a list of nighttime cruising areas in this article forms an integral part of the documentation of Singapore gay history. Prior to the 1980s, there were no publicly "out" homosexuals, no Singapore gay organisations, no Singapore gay literature, no Singapore gay art, no Singapore gay films or anything remotely "gay" apart from the goings-on in clandestine nocturnal congregation spots. 9.1 General archival photos of Singaporeīefore the relative liberalisation of Singaporean society towards the latter part of the 20th century, local gay culture consisted mainly of activities in venues largely unknown to the mainstream public.5.5 Back alleys in the Central Business District and Tanjong Pagar.