A Reddit user, Daveliot, posted this 1981 photo of the junction of Smith Street and Trengganu Street, in Chinatown:

So many things going on here - the busy roadside market and food stalls that have completely closed off the road; the trishaw rider waiting for a fare on his vehicle; the shophouses still occupied by residents; the old street name plates with four-digit postal codes; the bicycle with a licence plate (back when the vehicles had to be registered with the Registry of Vehicles); the absence of lane markings on the roads.

The same location in 2009, 28 years later:

One word: Gentrification.

(The block of high-rise flats in the distance is part of Hong Lim Complex.)