Blast from the past: Tze char stall owner picture from 1970s surfaces online

SINGAPORE: An old photo of a Tze char stall owner from the 1970s has surfaced on Reddit, causing many to feel nostalgic.

On Thursday (May 25), a Redditor shared a significant throwback photograph that caused many Singaporeans to feel nostalgic. “Tze char stall owner preparing for the evening meal service, circa 1970s,” the heading read.

The image of the Tze char stall, an economical food kiosk, got many netizens talking about the past. With more than a thousand upvotes, the post proved to be a hit among netizens.

In the comments section, the uploader shared a short background story of the photo. “This photo was taken by my grandfather Ivan Polunin,” the comment read. “He came to Southeast Asia in the 1940s and fell in love with Singapore in particular, which is where he decided to set his roots.”

The netizen said, “Throughout his life, he documented his experience in Singapore and the surrounding regions through films and photographs, which he has accumulated over the many years.”

“Your granddad’s visual archive is a valuable record,” wrote one commenter. “Kudos.”

“Looks so much cleaner than many hawker / coffee shops nowadays,” wrote another.

“Looks nicer than some hawker centres I’ve been to,” said a third.

Still, a fourth pointed out, “Amazing photo. So many different things in it, beautifully captured through the magic of film…(you) can even read the word “Milo”.

The post author thanked netizens for their supportive comments, saying, “I did not expect this kind of reaction, thank you everyone for the kind words and encouragement! We are also releasing a book in a few months about Singapore during the 50s to 80s with some seriously cool pictures I think a lot of you will be surprised were even taken in Singapore.”

Netizens were also invited to give the Instagram page @ivanpoluninarchives a follow.

Tze char stall owner preparing for the evening meal service, circa 1970s
by u/Flikounet in singapore