The Straits Times: Hollywood Cinema Now A Church CHILD star Fung Bo Bo made an appearance there, so did Siao Fong Fong, whom older Singaporeans would know as a big Cantonese movie star of the '60s. The 36-year-old Hollywood Theater at Tanjong Katong Road screened its last film on March 31. It has since been resurrected as a church. Owner Wee Thiam Siew & Company, which also owns Lion City Hotel next door, has leased the premises to City Harvest Church, a Pentecostal charismatic church, for three years - after a three-year liaison with Eng Wah Organization. Eng Wah had hoped to turn the 970-seat cinema into a multiplex on obtaining a longer lease. But the owner was willing to give a lease of only two to three years, according to Eng Wah executive director Cynthia Goh. The owner has declined comment. It used to be a bustling place, said a group of middle-aged women chatting near the building last week. The row of food stalls that used to stand in front of the cinema drew crowds, especially a chendol stall which has relocated to the hawker center next to Bedok Interchange. The operator of a duck rice stall in the coffeeshop behind the cinema remembers days of better business. But as other cinemas sprouted with better facilities, Hollywood cinema stood still in time, which might have been accounted for falling attendances. The floor of the lobby still had old-fashioned blue mosaic tiling. Faded color photographs of old Chinese movie stars adorned the walls. Inside, the floor was cold concrete and the seats were vinyl-covered cushions. In the building's new incarnation, a church spokesman said $400,000 to $500,000 had been spent on renovations. Hollywood used to screen Chinese movies, though when Eng Wah took over there were a number of English and foreign language R(A) movies as well. Ironically, the very last screening in this cinema, known for its Chinese movies, was a French film, Le Parfum d'Yvonne. |