[1][2] Bugis Street was renowned internationally from the 1950s to the 1980s for its nightly gathering of transvestites and transsexuals, a phenomenon which made it one of Singapore's most notable attractions for foreign visitors at the time.

[3][4] In the mid-1980s, Bugis Street underwent major urban redevelopment into a retail complex of modern shopping malls, restaurants and nightspots mixed with regulated back-alley roadside vendors.

Underground digging to construct the Bugis MRT station prior to that also caused the upheaval and termination of the nightly transgender sex bazaar culture, marking the end of a colourful and unique era in Singapore's history.

Before the arrival of the British, there used to be a large canal which ran through the area where the Bugis, a seafaring people from South Sulawesi province in Indonesia, could sail up, moor their boats and trade.

[citation needed] When transvestites began to rendezvous in the area in the 1950s, they attracted increasing numbers of Western tourists who came for the booze, the food, the pasar malam shopping and the "girls".

It was one of Singapore's most famous tourist areas from the 1950s to the 1980s, renowned internationally for its nightly parade of flamboyantly-dressed transvestites and it attracted hordes of Western gawkers who had never before witnessed Asian queens in full regalia.

[citation needed] The amount of revenue that the trans communities of Bugis Street raked in was considerable, providing a booster shot in the arm for the tourism industry.

[12] One of the "hallowed traditions" bestowed upon the area by sojourning sailors (usually from Britain, Australia, and New Zealand), was the ritualistic "dance of the flaming arseholes" on top of the toilet's roof.

The earliest published description of Bugis Street found by Yawning Bread as a place of great gender diversity was in the book "Eastern Windows" by F.D.

[16] In the mid-1980s, Bugis Street underwent major urban redevelopment into a retail complex of modern shopping malls, restaurants and nightspots mixed with regulated back-alley roadside vendors.

Underground digging to construct the Bugis MRT station prior to that also caused the upheaval and termination of the nightly transgender sex bazaar culture[citation needed], marking the end of a colourful and unique era in Singapore's history.

[18] The fame of the original Bugis Street has spawned many namesakes eager to capitalise on the brand, even though many tourists, as well as some young Singaporeans, have no inkling as to the reasons for its erstwhile "glamour".