The Cathay Gallery

Ever wondered why the Cathay Building, with its mish-mash of ’30s art-deco frontage and avant-garde glass body, looks like it was designed by a mentalist architect with schizophrenia? You can find out at the perenially unsung Cathay Gallery, housed in a quiet, out-of-the-way corner on the second floor, which colourfully relates the rocky past of the 75-year-old entertainment giant that is Cathay, as well as its founders Dr Loke Yew and his son, Dato Loke Wan Tho.

Check out the short documentary about the plane crash which killed Dato Loke, and browse through heaps of retro movie memorabilia. Film diehards will no doubt go gaga at the super-rare antique film projector at the entrance, while within the gallery, old photo enlargers, cinema chairs, vintage movie posters and other oddball silver-screen curios and Technicolor nostalgia make for a diverting hour before catching a somewhat more contemporary cinema experience upstairs. Tip: Catch the black-and-white trailer for the Cathay-produced smash-hit Malay horror flick from 1957, Pontianak. Seah Jun En

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